🔗 Share this article Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged our Contemporary World There are many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine. As per a recent publication, however, that title belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593. “Before automated cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel required approximately ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured within a week.” Owing to their rapid automated cutter, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic as well as artistic dominance across Europe and the world. The First Genuine Industrial Device The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion to vertical action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step per cycle. “Every component seemed simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward motion while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of fundamental components.” A fact that leads us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention. Circular to Vertical Design a machine which converts circular motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the parts don’t collapse.) I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution. In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.