Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Forged our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required approximately 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that turned logs to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary motion to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion and advancing on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement to vertical action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful creation.
