Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, that turned timber into planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels faster than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion to vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward motion while moving on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
