🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation That Forged our Modern World One can find many contenders for the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor. According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill invented through Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. “Before automated sawing, constructing a modest trading ship required approximately ten lumberjacks working over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber might be produced in less than seven days.” Owing to their rapid mechanical saw, that converted logs to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, financial and artistic dominance across the continent and the globe. The First True Manufacturing Machine The inventor's sawmill, contends Dávila, was “mankind’s first true factory apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part converted the rotary movement into vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward a measured step per cycle. “Every component was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward stroke while moving with each return stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental parts.” Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the basic concepts underpinning this historic invention. Round and Up Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a base, so the parts don’t fall down.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the planet’s greatest invention.