Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Contemporary Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which turned logs into planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.
The First True Industrial Device
The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed the circular motion into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.
“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every downward motion while advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”
A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular motion to vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
