🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Solve It? That Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged the Contemporary World One can find many candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor. According to a new book, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship required approximately 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.” Owing to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted timber to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster compared to anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe. The First True Industrial Device Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part transformed the circular movement into up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step per stroke. “Each element was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing with each downward motion and advancing with each return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent application of fundamental parts.” Which brings us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning Corneliszoon’s invention. Circular to Vertical Design a mechanism which converts circular motion into vertical action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so that the components don’t fall down.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest creation.