Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged 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.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted timber into planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary movement to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve 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 collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
