Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which converted logs into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part converted its rotary movement to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion and advancing on every upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
