Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged the Contemporary World
One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
According to a new book, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”
Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted timber to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted its circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so the machine operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement to vertical motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.
