Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Modern World

There are numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”

Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, which converted timber into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.

The Original Genuine Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted its rotary motion into up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment per cycle.

“Every component was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward motion and moving on every upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.”

A fact that brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine that turns circular motion into up-and-down motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful invention.