Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged the Modern Globe

One can find numerous candidates for the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be manufactured in less than a week.”

Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.

The First True Industrial Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the circular movement to up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead a measured step per cycle.

“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward motion while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic components.”

Which brings us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)

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

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