Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Modern World
One can find numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted timber to boards with almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so the machine operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion while moving on every return motion. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
