Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.
As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”
Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, that converted logs to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them in order that the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”
A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism that turns circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.
