Are You Able to Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy automated cutter, that turned logs to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward stroke and moving with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.