Can You Solve This? The Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged our Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs into boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part converted the circular movement to vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine which converts circular movement to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.
