\n<\/p>\n
There are many contenders for \u201cworld\u2019s greatest invention.\u201d The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.<\/p>\n
According to a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,\u201d writes Jaime D\u00e1vila in Forgotten<\/em>. \u201cWith wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Corneliszoon\u2019s sawmill, argues D\u00e1vila, was \u201cmankind\u2019s first true industrial machine.\u201d 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\u2019s motion feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.<\/p>\n \u201cEach element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings us to today\u2019s puzzle. I\u2019d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon\u2019s machine.<\/p>\n Round and up<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 \u201cguide\u201d, 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\u2019t fall down.)<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.<\/p>\n UDATE: Solution is up here.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world\u2019s greatest invention.<\/p>\n Forgotten: How One Man Unlocked The Modern World by Jaime D\u00e1vila is published on December 18.<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been setting a puzzle here on alternate Mondays since 2015. I\u2019m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are many contenders for \u201cworld\u2019s greatest invention.\u201d 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. \u201cBefore mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,\u201d writes Jaime<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[3678,2746,1006,13166,2032,4129,1649,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-36410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-created","9":"tag-dutch","10":"tag-forgotten","11":"tag-invention","12":"tag-mathematics","13":"tag-modern","14":"tag-solve","15":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}