Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted logs to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed the rotary movement into vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so they acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each descending stroke and moving on every upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
