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There are many contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, though, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Before mechanised sawing, constructing a simple merchant vessel necessitated approximately 10 lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber might be manufactured within seven days.”

Thanks to their speedy automated saw, that turned logs into planks with virtually no manual labor, Dutch builders were able to construct ships faster compared to anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, economic as well as cultural supremacy across Europe and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

Corneliszoon’s sawmill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s initial true factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed its circular motion into vertical motion to power the saw. Another component changed the rotary movement into a sideway’s motion feeding the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system shifted the wood forward a measured step each stroke.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine these parts so they acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward stroke while advancing with each return motion. It was a remarkably clever use of basic parts.”

A fact that leads us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent one of the basic concepts underpinning Corneliszoon’s machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two bars. A “guide”, that is a tube or housing through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume you can mount components on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)

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

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