Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged the Modern World

There are many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”

Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that converted timber to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe.

The First True Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed its rotary movement to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.

“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them in order that they operated in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending motion and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”

Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic machine.

Round and Up

Construct a machine which converts rotary motion into vertical action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.