Can You Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Contemporary World

One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.

As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”

Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber into boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe.

The First True Industrial Device

The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted the rotary motion into vertical motion for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.

“Every component seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion and moving on every return motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”

Which leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine that turns rotary movement to vertical action. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)

I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.