Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern Globe
One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.
As per a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.
“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within seven days.”
Owing to their rapid automated cutter, that converted logs to boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.
The Original True Manufacturing Machine
The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement to up-and-down motion for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step each cycle.
“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending stroke while advancing with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.”
Which brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.
Circular to Vertical
Design a mechanism which converts rotary motion into vertical motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)
The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.
In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest creation.
