Can You Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, that converted logs into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending stroke while moving on every upward motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement into vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
