Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged the Modern World
One can find many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs into planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending stroke and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
