Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that turned logs to planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed the circular movement to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending stroke and moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine that turns circular movement into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
