Can You Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, that converted timber into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed the rotary movement to vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them in order that they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending stroke and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
