Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged the Modern Globe
There are many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.
According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.
“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest trading ship required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”
Owing to this rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.
The First True Industrial Device
Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component converted its circular movement to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step per cycle.
“Every component was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion while moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”
A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.
Round and Up
Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)
The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the solution.
Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.
