Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion and moving with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
