Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, that converted logs to boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the rotary movement into vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine these parts so the machine operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion while advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts circular motion to up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
