Are You Able to Solve This? The Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged our Contemporary World
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which converted timber to planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular motion to vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.”
Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
