Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted timber into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part transformed its circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending motion and moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into vertical action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
