Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe
One can find many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”
Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, that converted logs to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle.
“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion and advancing on every return motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components don’t fall down.)
I’ll be back later today UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest invention.
