One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working over 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which converted logs into boards using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the world.
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted the circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per cycle.
“Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending motion and moving on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.
