There are many contenders for “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila in Forgotten. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned logs into planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the world.
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed the rotary motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.”
Which brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Round and up
Design a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.
Forgotten: How One Man Unlocked The Modern World by Jaime Dávila is published on December 18.
I’ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
