Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Modern World
One can find many candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical cutter, which turned timber into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component converted its rotary motion to vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward stroke while advancing with each return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
