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There are many contenders for the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.

As per a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship required approximately ten sawyers working for three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Thanks to their rapid mechanical cutter, that converted logs into boards with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders could build vessels faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, economic and cultural supremacy in Europe and the globe.

The Original True Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues Dávila, was “mankind’s first true industrial apparatus.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component transformed the rotary motion into up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s movement feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.

“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them so they operated within a precisely synchronized sequence, cutting with each downward motion and advancing with each upward motion. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”

A fact that leads us up to the current challenge. I’d like you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic machine.

Round and Up

Construct a machine that turns circular motion to up-and-down motion. Your available these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing into which a single the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a stand, so that the parts don’t fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK with the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (non obvious) contenders as the planet’s greatest creation.