Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged the Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted its circular movement into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every descending stroke and moving with each upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful invention.
