Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, which converted timber to boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic and artistic dominance in the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted its rotary movement to vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending stroke while advancing on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.
