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One can find numerous contenders to claim the title of “world’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.

As per a new book, however, that title belongs to the mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of processed timber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Thanks to their rapid automated saw, which converted timber into boards with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Dutch maritime, financial as well as cultural dominance in Europe and the globe.

The Original Genuine Industrial Device

The inventor's sawmill, contends the writer, was “mankind’s first true factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular movement to up-and-down motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning movement into a sideway’s motion advancing the log to the blade. A geared mechanism shifted the log ahead one precise increment each stroke.

“Every component was modest on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts in order that the machine operated in a precisely synchronized order, cutting with each descending stroke and advancing with each return stroke. It was an astonishingly intelligent use of fundamental components.”

Which brings us to the current challenge. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.

Circular to Vertical

Design a mechanism which converts rotary movement into vertical motion. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pegs. Two bars. A “guide”, which is a cylinder or sleeve into which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Consider that you can mount components on a stand, so the parts don’t collapse.)

I’ll be back later today UK time with the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.