Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which turned logs to boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and moving with each upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion into vertical motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.
