Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many candidates for the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, which converted logs to planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending stroke and advancing with each upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary movement into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
