Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe

One can find numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”

Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.

The First Genuine Industrial Device

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the circular motion to up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the log ahead a measured step per cycle.

“Every component was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every descending stroke while moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Round and Up

Construct a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.