🔗 Share this article Can You Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Shaped our Contemporary World There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine. According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593. “Before automated cutting, constructing a simple trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.” Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, which turned timber to boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct ships faster than any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, economic and cultural dominance across the continent and the globe. The First True Manufacturing Device The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “humanity’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed the rotary movement into vertical action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward one precise increment each stroke. “Each element was simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to integrate these parts in order that they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each descending motion and advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.” Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention. Circular to Vertical Design a machine which converts circular movement to up-and-down action. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution. Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.