Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Modern World

One can find many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than seven days.”

Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that converted logs into planks using almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, which sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part transformed its circular motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood forward one precise increment per stroke.

“Each element seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every descending motion while moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”

Which brings us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic machine.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine that turns rotary motion into up-and-down motion. You have these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)

The solution returns later today UK with the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.