Are You Able to Solve It? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Shaped our Modern Globe

There are numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the circular movement to up-and-down motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment each stroke.

“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and advancing on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a mechanism that turns circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components don’t collapse.)

I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.