Can You Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern World
One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted timber into planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary motion into up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest creation.
