🔗 Share this article Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary World There are numerous contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor. As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to the automated sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Before mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.” Owing to their speedy mechanical cutter, which converted logs into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance across the continent and the world. The Original True Industrial Machine The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted its rotary motion to vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log ahead one precise increment each stroke. “Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending motion and advancing on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of basic parts.” Which leads us to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine. Circular to Vertical Design a machine which converts circular motion into up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.) I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.