Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
One can find numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, that turned timber to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary motion into vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
