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There are numerous contenders to claim the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The circular axle. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, though, that honor should go to the mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a modest merchant vessel necessitated around ten sawyers laboring over 90 days,” writes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-driven lumber mills, the same amount of cut lumber could be produced within seven days.”

Thanks to their speedy mechanical saw, which turned timber into boards using virtually no manual labor, the Dutch could build vessels more quickly than anyone else, which sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial as well as artistic dominance in Europe and the world.

The Original True Industrial Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, argues the writer, was “mankind’s first true industrial machine.” A windmill turned a wheel. One component converted the rotary movement to up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed the spinning movement into a lateral movement advancing the log to the cutter. A ratchet system moved the wood ahead a measured step each cycle.

“Every component seemed modest on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius was to combine them in order that they operated within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each descending motion and moving on every upward stroke. It was an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”

Which brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental concepts behind this historic machine.

Round and Up

Design a machine which converts circular movement into vertical motion. Your available these items exclusively: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “guide”, that is a cylinder or housing into which one of the bars will fit snugly. (Consider that it is possible to put things on a stand, so that the components don’t fall down.)

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

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) contenders as the world’s most impactful creation.