Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped our Modern Globe
There are many candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned logs to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the circular movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and advancing on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Design a machine which converts circular movement into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts do not collapse.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.