Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, which turned logs to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary motion into vertical action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while moving on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
