Are You Able to Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Modern Globe
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs to planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement into up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
