Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, that turned logs into boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every upward motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.