Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Forged the Modern World

There are numerous contenders for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required around 10 sawyers laboring for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”

Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which converted logs to planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and cultural supremacy across the continent and the world.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first true factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular movement into up-and-down motion for the saw. Another component changed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward one precise increment per cycle.

“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic parts.”

Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine which converts rotary motion into vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time with the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s greatest creation.