Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged the Contemporary World
There are many candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs into planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed the circular movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke and moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion to vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest invention.
