Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that turned timber into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted the circular motion to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component changed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending motion while moving on every return motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest creation.