Can You Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are many candidates for the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that title belongs to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, that converted logs into planks using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and cultural dominance across Europe and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed its circular motion into up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component changed the rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per cycle.
“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving with each return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.
Round and Up
Design a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest creation.
