🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Crack It? That Overlooked Dutch Invention That Forged the Modern World There are numerous contenders for the title of “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The combustion motor. According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to a automated sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593. “Prior to automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of processed timber might be produced within a week.” Owing to this rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber into boards with almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch naval, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the world. The First True Industrial Device The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s first authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. A single part transformed its circular movement into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood forward a measured step each stroke. “Every component was simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine these parts in order that the machine operated in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each downward motion and moving with each return motion. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic parts.” A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention. Circular to Vertical Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement into vertical action. You have these components exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts do not fall down.) I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer. Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders as the world’s most impactful invention.