🔗 Share this article Are You Able to Solve This? The Overlooked Netherlands Creation That Shaped the Modern Globe One can find many candidates to claim the designation as “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine. As per a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593. “Before automated sawing, building a modest trading ship required around ten sawyers working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.” Owing to this speedy automated saw, that turned logs to planks with almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic dominance across the continent and the globe. The Original True Industrial Machine Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. One component transformed the circular movement to vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a sideway’s movement feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step each stroke. “Each element was simple by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and moving on every return motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.” A fact that brings us to today’s puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s machine. Circular to Vertical Construct a machine that turns rotary motion to up-and-down motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.) I’ll be back later today UK time featuring the solution. Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful creation.