Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated sawing, building a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, which converted timber into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary movement to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending stroke while advancing with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.
