Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged the Modern World

One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.

As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within a week.”

Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, the Dutch could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.

The Original True Manufacturing Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed its rotary motion to vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step each stroke.

“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting on every downward stroke and advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”

Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts do not collapse.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.