Can You Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged our Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that converted timber into planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion into vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement into up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
