Are You Able to Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped the Contemporary Globe
One can find many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.
According to a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.
“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”
Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, that turned logs into boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the world.
The First Genuine Industrial Machine
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary movement into vertical motion for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per stroke.
“Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts so they operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending stroke and moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.
Circular to Vertical
Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.
In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.