🔗 Share this article

One can find numerous candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within a week.”

Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, which converted timber into planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic and cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Device

The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. A single part converted the rotary motion into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.

“Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to integrate them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending stroke while moving with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”

Which leads us up to today’s challenge. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic invention.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or housing into which a single the bars can slide snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a stand, so the components don’t collapse.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, please propose (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s most impactful invention.