Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Modern Globe
There are many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that turned logs to boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and cultural supremacy in Europe and the world.
The First True Manufacturing Device
The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted its circular motion into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental parts.”
Which leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so the components don’t fall down.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.
