Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged our Modern Globe

There are numerous contenders for the designation as “world’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, though, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced within a week.”

Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned logs into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.

The First Genuine Industrial Machine

The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted its rotary motion into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke.

“Each element was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate these parts in order that the machine acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every descending stroke and moving on every upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of fundamental parts.”

Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)

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

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.