Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which converted logs into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed the rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral motion feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending motion and advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
