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There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “world’s most significant invention.” The circular axle. The movable type. The steam engine.

According to a new book, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill invented through Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Before automated cutting, building a simple merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks laboring for 90 days,” writes the author. “With wind-driven sawmills, the same amount of cut lumber might be produced within a week.”

Thanks to this speedy automated saw, that turned timber into planks with virtually no human effort, the Dutch could build ships more quickly compared to anyone else, an advantage that unleashed one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic supremacy across the continent and the world.

The First Genuine Industrial Device

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first authentic factory machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. One component converted the circular motion to vertical motion for the cutting blade. A separate mechanism transformed that same spinning motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber toward the cutter. A geared mechanism shifted the log forward one precise increment each cycle.

“Every component seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to combine these parts so they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting on every downward stroke while moving with each return motion. This constituted a remarkably clever application of fundamental components.”

A fact that leads us up to the current puzzle. The task is you to reimagine one of the fundamental concepts underpinning this historic invention.

Round and Up

Design a machine which converts rotary movement to vertical motion. You have these items only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods will fit snugly. (Assume it is possible to put things on a base, so the components do not collapse.)

The solution returns at 5pm UK time with the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Rather, please propose (less celebrated) contenders for the planet’s most impactful creation.