Are You Able to Crack It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Modern World
One can find numerous candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than a week.”
Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which converted logs into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could build ships more quickly than anyone else, which sparked a century of Dutch naval, financial and cultural dominance across the continent and the globe.
The Original True Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward motion while advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts do not collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest creation.
