Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned logs to boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement to vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward stroke while moving with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement to vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.