Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, that turned timber to boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
