Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
