Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged our Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, which turned timber to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into vertical motion for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke while moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
