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There are numerous candidates for the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.

As per a new book, however, that title should go to a mechanised timber mill conceived by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Before automated cutting, constructing a modest trading ship necessitated approximately ten sawyers working over three months,” writes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be produced within a week.”

Thanks to this speedy mechanical saw, that converted logs into boards using virtually no human effort, the Dutch were able to build ships more quickly than any other nation, an advantage that sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance across Europe and the world.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Device

The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “humanity’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component transformed the circular movement into vertical action for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism changed the spinning motion into a sideway’s motion feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment per cycle.

“Each element seemed modest by itself. Corneliszoon’s genius was to integrate them in order that they acted in a precisely synchronized order, sawing on every descending motion while advancing on every return stroke. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of fundamental components.”

Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the basic concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Round and Up

Construct a mechanism which converts circular movement into vertical motion. You have these items exclusively: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve into which a single the bars will fit perfectly. (Assume you can put things on a stand, so the components don’t fall down.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK featuring the solution.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (less celebrated) contenders for the world’s greatest invention.