Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated saw, which turned logs into boards with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary movement into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward motion while moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.
