Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention Which Shaped our Contemporary World

One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”

Thanks to this speedy automated saw, that turned timber to planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed its rotary motion to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward one precise increment each stroke.

“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each descending stroke and moving on every upward motion. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”

Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism which converts rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time featuring the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.