Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
One can find many contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced within seven days.”
Owing to their speedy automated cutter, which converted timber to boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending motion while moving with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of basic components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.