Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe
There are many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be manufactured in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy automated saw, which turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.
The Original True Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them so they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each descending motion and advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the parts do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.
