Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, that turned timber into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so they acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion while moving with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
