Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged our Modern Globe
One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which turned logs to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component converted its circular movement to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each downward stroke and advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest creation.
