Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged our Contemporary World
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary motion into vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending stroke and advancing with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular motion into vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.
