Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped our Modern World
One can find many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, which turned timber into planks using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted its circular motion into vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each downward stroke while moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
