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There are many candidates to claim the title of “planet’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The steam engine.

As per a new book, however, that honor belongs to the automated sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Prior to automated sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated approximately ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-driven sawmills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Thanks to this speedy automated cutter, which converted timber into boards with virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build vessels more quickly than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands naval, economic as well as artistic supremacy across Europe and the globe.

The Original True Manufacturing Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine turned a wheel. One component transformed its circular movement to vertical action to power the saw. Another component changed that same rotary motion into a sideway’s movement advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood ahead a measured step per stroke.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so the machine acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing on every downward stroke and advancing on every upward stroke. It was a remarkably clever application of basic parts.”

A fact that leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine which converts rotary movement into up-and-down action. You have these components exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time featuring the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) contenders as the planet’s most impactful invention.