Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which turned logs to planks using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement into vertical action for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts so the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.
