Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that turned logs to boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance across the continent and the globe.
The Original Genuine Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary motion to vertical motion to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while moving on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental components.”
Which brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest creation.
