Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, which turned timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted its circular movement into vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward motion while advancing on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
