Are You Able to Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are many contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, that converted logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial 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 rotary motion into up-and-down action for the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion to vertical action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
