Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped our Modern World
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs to boards using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
