Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that converted logs to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion while advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts circular movement into up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
