Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Shaped our Contemporary World

There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers laboring over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Thanks to their speedy automated saw, which turned timber to boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build vessels faster compared to any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s initial true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular movement to vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the log forward a measured step per cycle.

“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke while advancing with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”

A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement to up-and-down motion. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t collapse.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.