Chapter 652 Hugo Is Here (5)
As soon as Hugo left the shelter, he saw Hillfeld Street, one of the busiest streets in Vienna at that time.
The endless bustling streets on both sides made it hard for Hugo to imagine that this was once the dirtiest, most chaotic, and worst-security and infrastructure area in Vienna.
French newspapers said that there were beggars and pickpockets everywhere, gang members were fighting every day, half of the boys did not live to adulthood, and half of the girls would become prostitutes before adulthood.
Rats would eat the dead into a skeleton within a few hours, and those bones would be eaten by cockroaches within three days, and then the rain would completely erase the traces of human existence.
At this time, Hillfeld Street was crowded with people, and gorgeously decorated carriages and various strange steam locomotives were parked on both sides of the road.
Franz did not intend to study steam locomotives at this time, but Austrian technology naturally went astray.
However, since there was no internal combustion engine yet, these so-called cars had a steampunk feel. Franz thought these things polluted the environment, so he used the ban on smoking in Vienna as an excuse to come up with a mechanical tobacco tax.
The high-level officials of the Austrian Empire always welcomed things that could increase taxes. But even with the addition of a mechanical tobacco tax, the Austrians' enthusiasm for developing new means of transportation did not diminish.
In fact, many people found that the royal family had a gap in this field, so a large amount of private capital and "knowledgeable people" poured in.
But Franz did not have too high expectations for them. After all, the necessary pre-technology had not been completed, and Franz had already given the design concept of the internal combustion engine. As for when these Austrian scientists could figure it out, it depended on God's will.
In addition, Franz's requirement for steam locomotives at this time was agricultural use. After all, steam tractors, which were high-power, low-speed, and low-flexibility machines, were much more reliable than lightweight manned cars during this period.
As long as the fault tolerance rate was large enough, it could be driven even without an internal combustion engine.
And after a period of research and development, gratifying progress was indeed made, and steam tractors were also proven to be feasible and efficient.
Of course, this is only suitable for large farms. In fact, for small farms and ordinary farmers, this new type of machinery is too big and too expensive.
At this time, steam tractors weighed more than ten tons or even dozens of tons. The first test vehicle made by the Royal Academy of Sciences in Vienna was 13 meters long and weighed 31 tons, but it had only a pitiful 25 horsepower and a speed of only 4 kilometers per hour (a normal human walk is about 5 kilometers per hour).
(A modern 50-horsepower domestic tractor that is not outstanding usually weighs only one ton.)
However, this does not prevent it from being the most advanced agricultural machinery in human beings at this time, and Franz believes that a simplified version will soon appear.
In fact, as Franz expected, a simplified version of 50 horsepower soon appeared, and then a special version of dual steam engines appeared. Although it reached 80 horsepower, it required four drivers, which was very troublesome.
Back to the point, Hugo was curious about the strange vehicles on the street. At this time in history, only Britain and the United States paid more attention to steam cars, but even on the streets of London, it was difficult to see steam cars.
Hugo was not an avid technology enthusiast, so naturally he had not seen steam cars very often. However, his curious look made him look like a thief or a "country bumpkin".
As a result, he was naturally driven away by the butler with the whistle and the bell, but fortunately, the dazzling shops next to him attracted him again.
The huge glass windows displayed all kinds of strange and bizarre goods, including all kinds of goods from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
In addition, fine wines, delicacies, and musical instruments from all over the Austrian Empire also gathered here, but what attracted Hugo's attention the most were those precious mechanical devices and rubber products.
At this time in Paris, the price of a pair of rubber waterproof shoes was as high as 100 francs. Due to the extreme scarcity of rubber, only a few dignitaries could afford it.
And in the store on Hilfer Street, it only cost five florins, which really made Hugo feel a little dumbfounded.
The exaggerated number of people on the street also made him feel strange. After all, he heard that the population of Vienna was only about 400,000, and Hugo felt that the street was more crowded than Paris, which had a population of one million.
In fact, since Vienna joined the German Customs Union in 1836, the permanent population has doubled. In addition, as the political, economic, cultural, transportation, scientific and technological center of the Austrian Empire, the floating population is so large that it is difficult to count.
Hugo also noticed one thing, that is, in addition to those exquisite and luxurious old buildings on this street, there are more newly built tall buildings.
These buildings are too tall, and Hugo even doubts whether they will collapse.
In fact, there are almost no reinforced concrete buildings in Paris at this time, so he has this question.
Historically, Paris began to build reinforced concrete buildings on a large scale after 1880. At this time, it was still an old brick and stone structure, so it was naturally impossible to have "high-rise buildings" everywhere.
The buildings in Vienna in the book are not high, only four or five floors, but they are still much taller than old buildings.
What attracted Hugo the most was not those tall buildings, but the huge display windows in those buildings.
During this period, large pieces of glass were still very expensive. Although the invention of molds after 1830 made the manufacture of large pieces of glass no longer a secret known to a few people, the production was still very low due to technical limitations.
Historically, Austria was still the world's largest glass producer until 1848. At its peak, the glass production in Bohemia alone accounted for one-third of Europe.
However, due to the destruction of the Great Revolution, coupled with the fact that Austrian glass manufacturers were complacent and still used small family workshops for manual production, they finally fell tragically in the torrent of the industrial age.
As the world's number one glass producer, only 32 years later (1880), the glass production of the entire Austrian Empire was not as much as that of a factory in Sunderland, England.
Franz did not want this situation to happen again, so he used various names to promote new ideas and new technologies to these people several times.
As a result, they were considered to be deliberately spying on their secrets to making money, and Franz could only choose to slap them in the face.
The result was that this slap directly made Franz the largest glass manufacturer in the Austrian Empire, because these unpromising people were still fighting among themselves when Franz slapped them.
Franz's slap brought huge capital and technological innovation. If these people joined forces to form an alliance and work together, they could still compete with the former.
Of course, if these people can unite to regain their glory, Franz can even choose to give up the market to them for development.
But before Franz's slap was swung, these people had already fought each other to the death line. In addition, the affairs of the Winster family at that time involved many businessmen, after all, those were not clean in themselves.
When Franz finished this move, the glass industry of the Austrian Empire was actually monopolized by him for a short time.
Then there were drastic structural reforms and technological innovations, so at this time Austrians could use such cheap glass.
As the richest city in Austria, it is not surprising that the best glass is used on the most prosperous streets in Vienna.
While Hugo was wandering around, he "ran into" a "girl" named Tina. The two had a good chat, and Tina naturally took on the responsibility of being a guide.
In fact, any man would be wary of a "beautiful girl" who suddenly jumped out and took the initiative to lead the way, but who made him a romantic Frenchman?