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There are numerous candidates to claim the title of “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

As per a new book, though, that honor belongs to the automated timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated around 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Owing to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted timber into boards with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic as well as artistic supremacy in Europe and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. One component transformed its rotary motion into vertical action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.

“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to integrate them in order that they acted within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reimagine a key the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a mechanism that turns rotary movement to vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the answer.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.