Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
There are many contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, that turned logs to planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke while moving with each return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
