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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 recent publication, though, that honor belongs to a mechanised sawmill conceived by Dutchman Corneliszoon van Uitgeest in 1593.

“Prior to mechanised sawing, constructing a modest merchant vessel required around ten lumberjacks laboring over 90 days,” writes the author. “Using wind-driven lumber mills, an identical amount of processed timber might be produced in less than a week.”

Thanks to this rapid mechanical saw, which converted timber to boards using almost no human effort, Dutch builders were able to build ships faster than any other nation, which unleashed a century of Netherlands maritime, economic and artistic supremacy across Europe and the world.

The Original Genuine Industrial Machine

Corneliszoon’s lumber mill, contends the writer, was “humanity’s first authentic factory machine.” A wind turbine rotated a wheel. One component transformed its rotary motion to up-and-down action for the saw. A separate mechanism changed that same spinning motion into a sideway’s motion advancing the timber to the blade. A ratchet system shifted the log forward one precise increment per stroke.

“Each element seemed simple on its own. Corneliszoon’s genius lay in how to combine them so the machine operated within a perfectly controlled order, sawing with each descending stroke and advancing with each upward motion. This constituted a remarkably intelligent use of fundamental components.”

A fact that leads us to the current challenge. The task is for you to reinvent one of the fundamental concepts behind Corneliszoon’s invention.

Circular to Vertical

Design a machine which converts circular motion to vertical action. You have these components only: A spinning wheel. Two pegs. Two bars. A “sleeve”, that is a tube or housing through which one of the rods will fit perfectly. (Consider that you can mount components on a base, so that the parts don’t collapse.)

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

In the interim, PLEASE NO HINTS. Instead, please propose (non obvious) candidates as the world’s most impactful creation.