Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous candidates for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated saw, that converted timber to planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted the circular motion into vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward motion and advancing with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.
