Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary World
There are many candidates for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that turned timber to boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance across the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending stroke and moving on every upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
