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

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

“Before mechanised cutting, constructing a simple merchant vessel required around 10 sawyers working for three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “Using wind-powered sawmills, the same quantity of cut lumber could be manufactured within seven days.”

Thanks to their rapid automated cutter, which converted timber into planks using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than any other nation, an advantage that sparked one hundred years of Netherlands naval, financial and cultural dominance in the continent and the globe.

The First True Industrial Machine

The inventor's lumber mill, contends the writer, represented “humanity’s initial authentic industrial machine.” A windmill rotated a wheel. A single part converted its rotary motion into up-and-down action to power the saw. Another component transformed the rotary movement into a lateral motion feeding the log toward the blade. A geared mechanism moved the wood ahead a measured step per cycle.

“Each element seemed simple on its own. The Dutchman’s genius was to combine these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending stroke and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted an astonishingly clever use of basic components.”

Which brings us to today’s challenge. I’d like you to reinvent one of the fundamental ideas underpinning this historic machine.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a mechanism that turns circular movement to up-and-down action. Your available these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two rods. A “sleeve”, which is a cylinder or sleeve through which a single the rods can slide snugly. (Assume it is possible to mount components on a base, so the components do not collapse.)

The solution returns later today UK with the solution.

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, feel free to suggest (less celebrated) candidates as the planet’s most impactful invention.