Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned logs to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels faster than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted the circular motion into vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while moving with each upward stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.