Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, that turned timber into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed its rotary motion into vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke and moving with each return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the components do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.
