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

According to a recent publication, however, that honor belongs to the mechanised timber mill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks working for three months,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of cut lumber might be produced in less than a week.”

Thanks to this rapid automated cutter, that converted logs into boards using almost no manual labor, the Dutch could construct vessels more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Device

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “mankind’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part converted the circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. Another component transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement feeding the log toward the cutter. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step each stroke.

“Every component was modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion and moving on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental parts.”

Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the basic ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into vertical motion. Your available these items only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the parts don’t collapse.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK time with the answer.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.