Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, that turned logs into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion to vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”
Which leads us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to vertical action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.