Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which turned logs to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance across Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending motion and moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”
Which leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
