Can You Crack It? That Forgotten Netherlands Invention That Forged our Contemporary World

There are many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, though, that title should go to a automated sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within a week.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, which converted logs to boards with virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic dominance across the continent and the globe.

The First True Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary movement into vertical motion for the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each cycle.

“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them in order that the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”

A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind this historic machine.

Round and Up

Design a machine that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which one of the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)

I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.