Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Modern Globe
One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to the automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, which converted timber to boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part converted its rotary movement to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion while advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.
