Can You Crack This? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged the Contemporary Globe

One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”

Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted timber to planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the world.

The Original True Industrial Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted the circular motion into vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.

“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward stroke and advancing with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Design a machine which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts do not fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s greatest creation.