Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Shaped our Modern World
There are many candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned logs to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed the circular motion into up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
