🔗 Share this article Can You Solve It? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged our Modern Globe There are numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor. As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593. “Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.” Owing to their speedy mechanical cutter, which turned logs into planks with almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly compared to any other nation, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, financial and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe. The Original Genuine Industrial Machine The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the circular motion to vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each cycle. “Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate them so the machine operated within a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each downward stroke while moving with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.” Which brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine. Round and Up Construct a machine that turns circular movement into up-and-down action. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components do not fall down.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the solution. In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s greatest invention.