Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World
There are many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical saw, that converted logs to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its rotary motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest invention.
