🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Solve It? The Overlooked Netherlands Invention That Forged our Contemporary World There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine. As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593. “Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.” Owing to their rapid automated cutter, which turned timber to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic as well as cultural supremacy across the continent and the world. The First Genuine Industrial Machine The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component converted the circular movement into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke. “Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine them so the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward motion while advancing on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.” A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine. Round and Up Construct a machine which converts rotary motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so the components don’t collapse.) The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution. In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.