Can You Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, that converted timber to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted its rotary motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing with each return motion. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
