Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs into planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Manufacturing Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted its circular motion to up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step each stroke.
“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
