Can You Crack It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, that turned timber to planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement into vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward stroke and moving on every return motion. It was an astonishingly clever application of basic parts.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.
