🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack This? That Forgotten Netherlands Creation Which Forged the Modern World There are many candidates to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The combustion motor. As per a new book, though, that title should go to a automated timber mill invented through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593. “Prior to mechanised cutting, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than a week.” Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber to planks with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the world. The Original Genuine Industrial Device Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical action to power the saw. A separate mechanism changed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead one precise increment per stroke. “Each element was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them so they operated within a precisely synchronized order, sawing with each downward stroke while advancing on every return stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.” Which brings us up to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine. Round and Up Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a base, so the parts do not collapse.) I’ll be back later today UK featuring the answer. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.