Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned timber to boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component converted the rotary motion to vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke while moving with each upward stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest creation.
