Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Modern World
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine that turns circular motion to vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
