Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary movement into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.
