Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention Which Forged our Modern Globe

There are many candidates to claim the title of “world’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor.

According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the automated timber mill conceived through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Owing to their rapid automated saw, which turned logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch naval, financial as well as artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Device

The inventor's lumber mill, argues Dávila, was “humanity’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed the circular motion to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the log to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead one precise increment per cycle.

“Each element seemed modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke while moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”

Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind this historic machine.

Round and Up

Design a machine that turns circular movement into vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s greatest invention.