🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack This? That Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine. As per a new book, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. “Before mechanised sawing, building a simple merchant vessel required around 10 lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” notes the author. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than seven days.” Owing to this rapid mechanical saw, which converted timber into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders could construct vessels more quickly compared to any other nation, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch naval, financial and artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe. The First True Industrial Machine Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed the rotary movement to vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same spinning movement into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle. “Each element was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending motion and moving on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent application of fundamental components.” A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention. Round and Up Construct a machine which converts circular motion to up-and-down action. Your available these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.) I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the solution. Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.