Are You Able to Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that converted logs to boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial and cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every downward motion and advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.
