Can You Crack This? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention Which Shaped the Modern World

One can find many contenders for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

As per a recent publication, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.”

Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, that converted logs to planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part transformed its circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log ahead one precise increment each cycle.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending motion while moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.”

Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.