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One can find many contenders to claim the title of “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, however, that title belongs to the automated timber mill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before automated sawing, building a modest trading ship required approximately 10 lumberjacks working over three months,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced within seven days.”

Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, which turned timber into planks using almost no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that unleashed a century of Dutch maritime, financial and cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The First True Manufacturing Device

The inventor's sawmill, argues Dávila, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. One component transformed its circular movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed the spinning motion into a lateral movement advancing the timber to the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the wood forward a measured step each cycle.

“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so they acted in a precisely synchronized sequence, sawing on every downward motion while moving on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental parts.”

A fact that brings us to the current puzzle. The task is for you to reimagine one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a mechanism that turns rotary motion into up-and-down action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Consider that you can put things on a stand, so that the components do not fall down.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK time featuring the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.