Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, that turned timber to boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward motion and advancing with each upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever application of basic components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. 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 bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
