Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, that converted logs to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the log to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward stroke and moving with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
Which brings us to the current challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
