Are You Able to Solve It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Forged our Contemporary Globe

One can find numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.”

Owing to their rapid automated saw, which converted logs into planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The Original Genuine Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial authentic factory machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted its rotary movement to vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each stroke.

“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts so the machine acted within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward stroke and moving on every return stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of basic components.”

A fact that leads us to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a base, so the components do not fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.