Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a modest trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed the rotary motion to vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending motion and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
