Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs to planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed the rotary movement to vertical action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns rotary movement to up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
