Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Modern Globe

One can find numerous contenders for the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”

Owing to their speedy automated cutter, that turned logs to boards using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the globe.

The First True Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary motion to up-and-down motion to power the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.

“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.”

A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)

The solution returns later today UK with the solution.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.