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There are many candidates for the designation as “planet’s greatest innovation.” The wheel. The movable type. The combustion motor.

According to a recent publication, though, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutch inventor Cornelis Corneliszoon during 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, building a modest trading ship necessitated approximately 10 sawyers working over three months,” notes Jaime Dávila. “With wind-powered lumber mills, an identical amount of cut lumber might be manufactured in less than seven days.”

Thanks to this rapid mechanical cutter, which turned timber to boards 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 Dutch maritime, financial and artistic dominance in the continent and the globe.

The First True Industrial Device

The inventor's lumber mill, contends Dávila, represented “mankind’s first authentic industrial apparatus.” A wind turbine turned a gear. A single part converted its rotary movement to up-and-down action for the cutting blade. Another component changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber toward the blade. A ratchet system moved the wood forward one precise increment each stroke.

“Every component seemed simple by itself. The Dutchman’s brilliance was to integrate these parts so they acted within a perfectly controlled sequence, cutting with each downward motion and advancing on every upward stroke. This constituted a remarkably intelligent application of basic parts.”

A fact that brings us up to today’s puzzle. The task is you to reinvent a key the fundamental ideas behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Circular to Vertical

Construct a machine which converts rotary motion to up-and-down action. You have these components only: A rotating disc. Two pins. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a cylinder or housing through which one of the rods will fit snugly. (Assume you can put things on a base, so that the components do not fall down.)

I’ll be back at 5pm UK with the answer.

Meanwhile, NO SPOILERS. Instead, feel free to propose (non obvious) candidates for the world’s most impactful invention.