Chapter 265 The Textile Industry's Counterattack

Chapter 266 The clarion call of the textile industry's counterattack

Joseph suddenly showed a look of surprise, stepped forward and stroked the machine with a simple shape - in this era, it might be considered a sci-fi appearance - and turned to Louis XVI and said: "You are definitely the greatest mechanical master in France, no, in Europe!

"It took you less than half a year to perfectly build this machine!"

"It's just a copy. Louis XVI curled his lips, "and it's just a boring thing for weaving cloth..."

As he said, his eyes flashed again: "By the way, son, when will we start developing the rifle you mentioned last time?"

"As long as you want, you can do it anytime." Joseph smiled, and then patted the automatic loom beside him, "And I must say that this is not a 'boring thing', but the hope of French industry!

"Do you still remember the most important source of finance for the British? It's their textile exports.

"Now the British have begun to use this machine in their factories. It can reduce the cost of textiles by more than 20% and increase production several times.

"Without your hard work, Lyon's textile factories will soon be driven to the brink of collapse by the British and eventually close down in large numbers. Now, we have the capital to compete with the British!"

Louis XVI began to smile: "Well, so, I at least saved Lyon?"

"Not only Lyon, but also the fashion industry in Paris, as well as a large number of silkworm farmers, cotton farmers, and hemp farmers. You gave them hope."

Joseph continued: "And according to the news I received, because this machine is expensive and needs to be driven by a water wheel, there are not many British factories using it. If we use a steam engine to drive it and promote it on a large scale, we can even narrow the gap with Britain in the textile industry.

"And this will increase France's textile exports and obtain high fiscal revenue.

"In other words, you also saved our finances. Archbishop Brian will be very grateful to you. "

In fact, according to Joseph's plan, it is far more than just narrowing the gap. If the French-invented automatic jacquard machine and the American-invented automatic cotton carding machine are used on the basis of the automatic loom, and the industrial chain is formed in Lyon, it can even surpass the textile efficiency of Britain!

These advanced concepts can only be proposed by him who has seen industrial integration and integration in this era.

"Aha," Louis XVI was immediately excited when he heard it, "This is just a small gift from me as the king to France."

He waved to the weavers standing outside the door: "Ettore, Dominique, come and show His Royal Highness the Crown Prince how this machine works. "

Seven or eight weavers came in immediately, saluted Louis XVI and Joseph, and then placed a large frame of combed cotton on the automatic loom, then carefully set up the machine, tied the thread ends and the shuttle, and finally connected the connecting rod connected to the large water wheel in the Palace of Versailles.

The automatic loom started to move immediately, the stirring plate rotated slowly, and a large number of shuttles flew back and forth under the operation of the weavers - well, the automatic looms of this era were far from being fully automatic, but this was already much more efficient than the manual looms.

Not long after, a section of cotton yarn more than two meters wide appeared at the end of the machine and continued to lengthen at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Louis XVI leaned close to his son's ear with some pride and said, "Look at the connecting roller in the middle. The British machines often get stuck. I added a spring there to adjust the distance, and there are almost no problems. "

"You are simply the Hephaestus of France [Note 1]! "Joseph immediately gave his father a string of rainbow farts. He originally thought that it would be great to be able to copy the British automatic loom, but he didn't expect that the "number one craftsman in France" could actually improve it! You know, this thing is basically equivalent to the technical content of the five-axis linkage machine tool in later generations, and it is definitely a high-tech product.

Louis XVI happily showed his son a thick stack of manufacturing process flow, and then summoned more than a dozen assistants who worked with him to build the loom: "With these process drawings, Mr. Frauhang and others can make automatic looms."

Joseph nodded and thought, should the factory producing looms be placed in Saint-Etienne or Nancy. However, if the factory is built from scratch, it will take at least several months to start production...

He suddenly thought of a place, looked at Frauhang and other craftsmen, and smiled: "The first batch of looms will be manufactured in the Royal Ordnance Factory. Please complete at least ten as soon as possible and then ship them to Lyon. "

The arsenal has all kinds of machines, and there are a large number of carpenters and blacksmiths who can help, so the production efficiency is definitely not low.

Although the craftsmen were a little surprised, they still bowed their heads and took orders, and began to carry blueprints and tools with the servants of the royal workshop.

Louis XVI looked at his son and said with expectation: "Then let's start developing that new gun."

Joseph silently gave his father a thumbs up. He just completed such a big project, and he didn't ask for bonuses or vacations. You are the role model of the French model worker!

He took a deep breath, asked the servant for paper and pen, and then lay on the platform where the cotton basket was placed on the side of the automatic loom and drew a sketch of a gun: "We first need to combine the percussion cap firing device with the existing rifle."

"This is not difficult." Louis XVI nodded, "There is the experience of modifying the percussion cap with the flintlock before. "

Joseph nodded: "Then we will perfect the rifling process and modify the size of the firing chamber. I only know that the firing chamber needs to be slightly enlarged, and the specific size needs to be determined by you through experiments.

"After that, we will use a new type of bullet, so that rifled guns will no longer be useless!"

...

East of Paris, on the wooden track leading to Reims, an exquisite carriage is running at high speed.

In the spacious carriage, Joseph looked at Minister of Agriculture Vergniaud and said: "After the spring sowing is completed, you need to ensure that the 'stone fertilizer' can be transported to each parish immediately."

"Stone fertilizer" is the French popular name for the phosphate ore shipped from Nauru. Joseph heard it so much and followed suit.

"Your Highness, the usage of each parish was counted last month. The stone fertilizer mined from Tunisia has also arrived in large quantities. "

Vergniaud said with some embarrassment: "But, with our current transportation capacity, I'm afraid it will be difficult to deliver on time. You know, stone fertilizer is very heavy..."

Joseph nodded: "So we still have to lay a lot of wooden tracks.

"For areas where transportation is too difficult, it is better to use large-scale composting as a transition."

[Note 1] Hephaestus is the god of craftsmen in Greek mythology, who is good at forging tools and carving.