Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
One can find many candidates for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten sawyers laboring for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, that converted logs to planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its circular movement into vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke and advancing on every return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary movement to up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.