Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation That Shaped our Contemporary World
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that converted logs to planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its circular movement to vertical action to power the saw. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.
“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing with each upward motion. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a machine which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.
Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful creation.
