Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, that converted timber into planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement into vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion and advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
