Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged our Modern World

There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a new book, though, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced within seven days.”

Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, that converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural dominance across Europe and the world.

The Original True Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component converted its circular motion into up-and-down action to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke.

“Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each descending stroke while moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.”

A fact that brings us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Round and Up

Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.