Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find many candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, which converted logs into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed the circular motion to vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Each element was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every descending motion while advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
