Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, that converted timber into boards with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could build ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed the circular motion to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward motion and moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns circular movement into up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
