Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated saw, which converted timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward stroke while moving on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.
