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There are many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to the automated timber mill invented by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a simple trading ship necessitated around ten lumberjacks working for 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical cutter, that converted logs to boards using almost no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster compared to anyone else, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The Original True Industrial Device

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic factory apparatus.” A wind turbine rotated a gear. A single part converted the circular motion into up-and-down action to power the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the log toward the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead a measured step each stroke.

“Each element was simple by itself. Corneliszoon’s brilliance lay in how to combine these parts so the machine acted in a perfectly controlled order, cutting with each descending motion while advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”

Which leads us to the current puzzle. I’d like you to reinvent a key the basic ideas underpinning this historic invention.

Round and Up

Construct a machine that turns rotary motion into vertical action. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a tube or housing into 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 featuring the answer.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s most impactful invention.