Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated cutter, that turned logs into planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary movement to vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.