🔗 Share this article Can You Crack This? The Overlooked Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe There are numerous candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor. According to a recent publication, however, that title should go to the mechanised timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. “Prior to mechanised cutting, constructing a simple trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced in less than seven days.” Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that turned timber to planks with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders could build ships faster than anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the globe. The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part transformed its rotary motion into vertical motion to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the log forward one precise increment per stroke. “Every component was modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s brilliance was to combine them in order that they acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every descending motion while moving with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent use of basic components.” Which leads us up to today’s puzzle. I’d like for you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind this historic invention. Circular to Vertical Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement to up-and-down action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so the parts don’t collapse.) I’ll be back later today UK time with the answer. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates for the world’s greatest invention.