Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, that turned logs into planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its circular movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion and moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.
