Can you solve it? The forgotten Dutch invention that created the modern world | Mathematics

There are many contenders for the title of “the greatest invention in the world”. The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.

However, according to a new book, that title should go to the mechanized sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Before mechanized sawing, building a modest merchant ship required about ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila in Forget. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed wood could be produced in less than a week. »

Using their fast power saw, which turned logs into planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships faster than anyone else, sparking a century of Dutch maritime, economic, and cultural dominance in Europe and the world.

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, Dávila asserts, was “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A component transformed the rotational motion into an up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotational motion into a side-to-side motion feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system advanced the log a precise increment per cycle.

“Each element was modest in its own right. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward stroke and advancing with each returning stroke. It was a surprisingly clever 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 transforms rotational motion into up-and-down motion. You only have these elements: A rotating disk. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Suppose you can place the objects on a stand so the components don’t fall.)

I’ll be back at 5pm in the UK with the solution.

In the meantime, 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 putting up a puzzle here every other Monday since 2015. I’m always looking for great puzzles. If you want to suggest one, send me an email.