Can You Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Modern Globe

There are many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor.

As per a new book, though, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs to planks using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.

The Original Genuine Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step per cycle.

“Each element seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every descending stroke while advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of basic parts.”

Which brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reimagine a key the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.

Round and Up

Construct a mechanism which converts circular motion into vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the parts do not collapse.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.