Are You Able to Crack This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, which turned logs to planks using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its rotary motion into vertical motion to power the saw. Another component changed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion while advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
