Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a simple trading ship required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated saw, which converted logs to boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
