🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Creation That Shaped our Modern World There are numerous candidates for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor. According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Prior to automated sawing, building a modest merchant vessel required approximately ten sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.” Owing to their rapid mechanical cutter, which turned logs into boards using virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build vessels faster than anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the world. The Original True Industrial Device The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the circular movement to vertical motion to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step per stroke. “Each element was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine these parts in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each descending motion while moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental parts.” Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention. Round and Up Design a machine that turns circular movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.) The solution returns at 5pm UK time featuring the answer. In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) contenders for the world’s most impactful creation.