Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated saw, that converted timber into planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component changed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them so the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending stroke while advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”
Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion to vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
