🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack It? The Forgotten Dutch Invention Which Shaped the Modern World One can find many candidates for the designation as “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor. As per a new book, however, that honor should go to the mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple trading ship required around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical quantity of cut lumber could be produced in less than a week.” Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that turned timber into boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders could construct ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the globe. The First True Industrial Machine Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part converted the circular motion into vertical motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke. “Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while advancing on every upward motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic components.” A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention. Round and Up Construct a machine which converts circular movement to vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution. In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the world’s greatest invention.