Can You Crack This? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, that converted logs to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component converted its circular movement into vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.
