Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern World
There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that converted timber to planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward stroke and moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts rotary motion into vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.