Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which converted timber into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural dominance across the continent and the world.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the circular motion to vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion and moving with each return motion. It was an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary movement into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.
