Can You Solve This? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Shaped our Contemporary Globe

There are numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, which turned timber to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.

The Original True Manufacturing Machine

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted its rotary movement into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.

“Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each descending motion while moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”

A fact that leads us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine which converts circular motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.