Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
