Chapter 470: Power
"Your Highness, the steam engine exploded..."
Wang Chong blushed a little while scratching his head. Reading
During this period, the King of Yan and the soldiers of Yanzhou fought bloody battles and once again thwarted the plan of Beidi to go south.
He was not idle either, and was busy with the task given to him by the King of Yan before the war, researching and manufacturing a compound steam engine.
According to the drawings of the King of Yan, he asked his father to spare five hydraulic boring machines for him to cast five solid steel columns with a diameter of one and a half meters and a length of one meter.
It took a month for the hydraulic boring machine to cut these five steel columns into a structure similar to a wooden barrel.
Then, he and the students personally polished the cylinder plugs and made connecting rods and other parts needed for compound steam engines.
They experienced leakage, deformation, and other problems one after another, and eliminated four steam engines.
Finally, a complete compound steam engine was built.
At this time, the war in Yanzhou was also coming to an end.
Originally, he wanted to test it several times.
If the steam engine could run normally for more than half a day without any failure, he would come to report the good news to the King of Yan.
But he didn't expect that there was a problem with the valve stem, and the valve was not pulled open, resulting in the high-pressure steam in the cylinder not being discharged, and it swelled like a balloon and exploded.
Thinking of this, he told the King of Yan the whole story.
"Hahaha..." Zhao Xu laughed, he didn't mean to blame Wang Chong and others for this accident.
What he cared about most was whether the explosion hurt anyone.
If something was broken, it could be rebuilt, but if Wang Chong was gone, the loss would be great.
So, he said: "As long as you are fine, but you still have to be careful in the future. As for failure, this is a common thing in technical exploration, so there is no need to feel guilty."
As he spoke, he walked into the physics laboratory.
This laboratory was newly built for them by the officials of the Gongcao.
It was a one-story bungalow with a cement red brick structure.
After letting Wang Chong lead the physics, he gave Wang Chong some authority, including applying for silver from the government office and asking the government office to provide them with convenience.
At this time, the bungalow was in a mess.
There was something like an iron barrel that was completely deformed and lying on the ground.
The connecting rod, crankshaft, flywheel and other parts of the steam engine were also scattered everywhere.
"Have you figured out the reason for the failure of the sliding valve stem?" Zhao Xu asked.
The Northern Expedition ended, and the war on the long border of Dasong will only focus on Yanzhou.
Relying on Yanshan, Yanguan and the fleet, he was confident that he would not let a Beidi soldier enter Yanzhou.
Therefore, even if Beidi intended to rely on its strong national strength to fight a war of attrition with him, it would not affect Yanzhou in the short term, but it would be troublesome in the long run.
The only way to solve this problem is to use the knowledge in your mind to improve the technical level and productivity level of Yanzhou.
There is no doubt that the steam engine is the answer to all problems.
It is also the key for Yanzhou to move towards the first industrial revolution.
Why?
The height of human civilization development is closely related to power.
From primitive society to modern society, it has experienced four stages: manpower, water power, steam power, and electrical power.
The leap in each stage will greatly improve the technical level and productivity.
One person operating a machine can even do the same amount of work as hundreds or thousands of people in a day.
It can be foreseen that as long as the steam engine is put into use in Yanzhou, it will greatly alleviate the problem of insufficient labor in Yanzhou.
Even if more young and strong people are recruited to join the army, it will not cause much damage to Yanzhou's production.
After all, with the steam engine, women's productivity will also be liberated.
Mechanical textiles that appeared with the steam engine are the world of women.
"Found it, the connection between the sliding valve stem and the flywheel is loose, and it happened that the student in charge of guarding it was in a hurry to go out, so..." Wang Chong turned his head and glared at the student behind him.
The student immediately lowered his head.
"So, this compound steam engine is basically fine?"
"Yes, Your Highness, this is the only one left among the five steam engines." Wang Chong looked proud.
Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.
In his opinion, the main difficulty of the steam engine lies in the bore cutting of the cylinder.
As long as there is no problem with the sealing of the cylinder, most of the problems of the steam engine are solved.
In the final analysis, the steam engine is equivalent to a modern kettle with a spout.
The kettle body is equivalent to the cylinder, and the spout is the lid on it, which is equivalent to the slide valve.
When the spout is held, the lid is lifted up by the steam, which is equivalent to the cylinder plug of the steam engine being pushed out by the steam and moving outward.
At this time, the spout is released to let the excess steam dissipate, and the lid will fall, which is equivalent to the cylinder plug moving inward.
Thus, the reciprocating motion of the steam engine was born, which is also the origin of the name of the compound steam engine.
As for the functions of the connecting rod, crankshaft, and flywheel, they are actually to convert linear motion into wheel motion.
The connecting rod is a stick-mounted iron piece with round holes at both ends.
The flywheel is a wheel equivalent to a wheel.
The crankshaft is the most important of the three things, which can convert the force transmitted by the connecting rod into torque and make the flywheel rotate.
It is a continuous short metal crossbar in a roughly N shape.
"Well, your next task is to get the steam engine out of the laboratory and teach the craftsmen how to produce it." Zhao Xu couldn't help but get excited.
Speaking of which, the war has been going on for two or three months.
It is indeed good that Wang Chong was able to build a qualified steam engine during this period.
"Yes, Your Highness." Wang Chong responded loudly.
The test results of steam engines during this period made him fully aware of the horror of steam engines.
Nowadays, the hydraulic drilling machines and hydraulic boring machines in military departments and workshops can replace ten or even a hundred with one.
If they were replaced with steam power, he couldn't imagine what the efficiency of the military division and workshops would be like.
The group of people were talking.
At this time, there was another messy sound, and then Wang Ying appeared nervously.
Seeing that Wang Chong was still fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing King Yan also there, he immediately came over to salute.
"Wang Chong is fine, just keep your heart in mind." Zhao Xu said to Wang Ying.
Wang Ying said calmly, "I'm just here to take a look. If he is killed, we can collect his body."
"Dad, why don't you hope for my well-being at all?" Wang Chong's face turned green when he heard this.
Wang Ying said seriously: "What's wrong with this? The research and development work is like soldiers fighting on the battlefield. If something unexpected happens, they will be wrapped in horse leather just like the soldiers. There is no need to be pretentious."
Zhao Xu knew Wang Ying well and knew that he was not a man who beat around the bush.
When he said this, he meant it.
Both father and son are fulfilling their vows to themselves.
Thinking of this, he patted Wang Ying's shoulder, and then patted Wang Chong's shoulder.
Let Wang Chong go back to clean up the mess, and he and Wang Ying walked out alone.
"Wang Chong has done a good job. The steam engine has taken shape. The war department and the workshop will benefit from the steam engine in the future. But before that, I have a very important thing for you. You and the craftsmen should explore it first." Zhao Xu said.
Once this happens, he will beat Beidi very hard.
Yanzhou will be more stable from now on, and it will be easier for the fleet to open up maritime trade.