Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Modern World
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted timber into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed the rotary movement into up-and-down motion to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
