Are You Able to Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged the Modern World

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

According to a recent publication, though, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”

Thanks to their speedy automated saw, that converted timber into planks using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world.

The Original True Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed its rotary movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.

“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke while advancing with each upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever application of basic components.”

Which brings us up to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement to vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t collapse.)

The solution returns later today UK featuring the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.