Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Shaped the Contemporary Globe

There are numerous contenders for the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.

According to a new book, though, that title belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”

Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that converted timber into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke.

“Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine them in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward motion and moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever application of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic machine.

Circular to Vertical

Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK with the answer.

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.