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There are many contenders to claim the title of “planet’s greatest invention.” The circular axle. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a recent publication, however, that honor should go to a automated sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Before mechanised cutting, building a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten lumberjacks working over three months,” notes the author. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical quantity of processed timber could be produced in less than a week.”

Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards with almost no manual labor, the Dutch were able to build vessels faster than any other nation, which sparked a century of Netherlands naval, economic and artistic dominance in Europe and the globe.

The Original Genuine Manufacturing Machine

The inventor's sawmill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill turned a gear. A single part transformed its rotary movement to up-and-down action for the saw. Another component changed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the log to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward a measured step each stroke.

“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius lay in how to combine them in order that the machine acted in a perfectly controlled sequence, sawing with each downward motion while moving on every return motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever application of basic parts.”

Which brings us up to today’s challenge. The task is you to reimagine a key the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s machine.

Round and Up

Construct a mechanism which converts circular motion into vertical motion. You have these items only: A spinning wheel. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or sleeve into which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, PLEASE NO HINTS. Rather, feel free to suggest (non obvious) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.