Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
There are many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted logs into boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement into up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
