Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation That Forged the Contemporary World

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

According to a new book, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Owing to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned logs into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch naval, economic and artistic dominance across the continent and the world.

The Original True Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component converted its rotary movement into vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate them so the machine acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every descending stroke and moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic components.”

A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent a key the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention.

Round and Up

Construct a machine which converts circular motion into up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, 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 the components do not fall down.)

I’ll be back later today UK with the answer.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.