Can You Solve It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe

One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical action for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning movement into a lateral movement feeding the log to the blade. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead a measured step each stroke.

“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them so they operated in a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward motion and moving on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”

A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine which converts rotary movement to up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components do not collapse.)

The solution returns later today UK featuring the answer.

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.