Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which turned timber into boards using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted its circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts circular motion into vertical motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.
