Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary Globe
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted the circular motion to vertical motion to power the saw. Another component changed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
