Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Contemporary World
There are many contenders for the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that turned timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them so they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending motion while advancing with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.