Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber to boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
