Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged our Modern World
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that turned timber into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed its circular motion into up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion and moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
