Can You Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”
Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which turned logs into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the circular movement into vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment each stroke.
“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts so the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke and advancing with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”
Which leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.
