Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that converted timber to boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the rotary movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each downward motion while moving with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
