Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, that turned logs to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural dominance across the continent and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted the circular motion to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending motion and moving with each return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.
