🔗 Share this article Can You Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped the Modern World There are numerous candidates for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine. As per a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Before automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.” Thanks to their speedy mechanical cutter, that turned logs into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly than anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic supremacy across the continent and the globe. The Original True Industrial Device The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary motion into vertical action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead one precise increment each cycle. “Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending stroke and moving on every return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic components.” A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention. Circular to Vertical Design a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.) The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer. Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s greatest invention.