Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Contemporary Globe

One can find numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the automated sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber could be produced in less than seven days.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs to planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The Original Genuine Industrial Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted its circular movement into up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per cycle.

“Each element seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that they acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every descending motion while advancing with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic parts.”

A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.

Round and Up

Construct a machine which converts rotary motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t collapse.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful creation.