Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately 10 sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, that converted logs into boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the rotary movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending motion while advancing on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement into up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful invention.
