Can You Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped our Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its circular movement to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion into vertical action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
