🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged our Modern World There are numerous contenders for the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor. As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. “Before mechanised sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” notes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.” Thanks to their rapid mechanical saw, that turned logs to boards with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the world. The First Genuine Industrial Device Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed its rotary movement into up-and-down action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle. “Every component was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them so the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting on every descending stroke while advancing on every upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of fundamental components.” Which leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine. Round and Up Construct a machine which converts circular motion into vertical motion. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the rods can slide perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.) The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution. Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.