Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that converted logs to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward motion and advancing on every return motion. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.
