There are numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as cultural dominance across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary movement into vertical motion to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a machine that turns circular movement into vertical action. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.
