Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, which turned logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending stroke while moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion to up-and-down action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful creation.
