Can You Solve This? That Forgotten Dutch Creation Which Forged the Modern Globe

One can find numerous candidates to claim the designation as “world’s most significant innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to a automated sawmill conceived through Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest during 1593.

“Prior to automated cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around 10 sawyers laboring for 90 days,” notes the author. “With wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of processed timber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which turned timber to planks using virtually no human effort, Dutch builders were able to construct vessels more quickly than anyone else, an advantage that sparked a century of Dutch maritime, economic and artistic supremacy in the continent and the globe.

The First Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, argues the writer, represented “humanity’s initial true industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a gear. One component converted the rotary movement to vertical action for the saw. Another component transformed that same rotary motion into a lateral motion feeding the timber to the cutter. A ratchet system shifted the log ahead one precise increment per stroke.

“Every component seemed modest by itself. The Dutchman’s genius was to integrate these parts in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled order, cutting on every downward stroke and moving on every return stroke. It was a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”

A fact that brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas behind this historic invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine that turns rotary motion to vertical motion. Your available these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or sleeve through which a single the bars can slide perfectly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)

The solution returns later today UK time with the answer.

In the interim, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please suggest (non obvious) contenders for the planet’s most impactful invention.