Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped the Contemporary World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, that turned timber into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement to vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
