🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Solve This? The Forgotten Dutch Invention That Forged the Contemporary World One can find many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor. According to a new book, though, that honor should go to a mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. “Before automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers working over 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within a week.” Owing to this speedy automated cutter, that converted timber to planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders could build vessels more quickly than anyone else, which unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe. The Original True Industrial Device Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. A single part transformed the circular movement to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed the spinning motion into a lateral motion advancing the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the log forward a measured step per stroke. “Every component was modest by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing on every descending motion and advancing with each return motion. This constituted an astonishingly intelligent application of basic components.” Which brings us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic machine. Circular to Vertical Construct a machine that turns circular movement to vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing through which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components don’t fall down.) The solution returns later today UK with the solution. In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.