Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Shaped the Contemporary Globe

One can find many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to a automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel required around ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.”

Thanks to this speedy automated saw, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the world.

The First Genuine Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per cycle.

“Every component seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts so they acted within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every downward stroke while advancing on every upward motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”

A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism which converts circular motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.