Are You Able to Crack It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern World

There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.

As per a new book, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before automated sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs into boards with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial as well as cultural dominance in the continent and the world.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement to vertical motion for the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per stroke.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke while moving with each upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.”

Which brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine that turns circular motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so that the parts do not fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest creation.