Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed its rotary movement into up-and-down motion to power the saw. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.