Chapter 334 Leaving the Whole World Behind

On December 26, the sixth year of the Qingli period, Wang Shouzhong came to the Political System Institute in the morning and reported to everyone the good news that the rubber was ready.

Zhao Jun was overjoyed and went to the back garden with many prime ministers to observe the finished product.

Zhao Zhen introduced to everyone that the finished product was processed by him, and 90% of it was rubber raw materials.

Then he added about 0.5% egg white, 1.5% resin, 8% petroleum, carbon black, clay, stone powder, sand, glue, etc. as fillers.

By mixing and stirring many materials and cooling them, he finally made a durable, strong, heat-resistant and frictional rubber.

After watching various experiments, everyone praised Zhao Zhen's great invention.

Although Zhao Jun believed that its quality was still a certain distance from the rubber tires of later generations, it was already very good.

You have to know that this was in the ancient society without mechanization, chemical engineering capabilities, professional knowledge, and the scientific system had just been perfected.

Zhao Zhen's operation was as fierce as a tiger, which was like exploring a path in the dark, which was already precious.

At least the rubber now is much better than the rubber that has just been used in industry in history.

Zhao Jun immediately sent someone to send the rubber to the Institute of Physics, and at the same time sent the formula prepared by Zhao Zhen to the Institute of Chemistry to see if they could improve it better on this basis.

After the Institute of Physics got the finished rubber, they quickly began to cut and polish the rubber, and then made rubber rings to serve as the sealing rings of the steam engine.

In the morning, Zhao Zhen showed everyone his new invention, and it was over soon.

He was a little tired and went back to sleep.

In the afternoon, Zhao Jun took the prime ministers to the Institute of Physics north of the palace to see their progress.

At this time, the Institute of Physics was quite lively. Many researchers heard that they had finally found a perfect material to solve the sealing problem, and they put down their research and ran out to watch the excitement.

The institute was very large. It used to be the residence of the Ten Kings. There was a huge parade ground, which was used to experiment with various inventions.

Including the steam engine, which had been experimented on this parade ground before.

There was even a long track on the parade ground, which has now been dismantled and part of it has been used to make samples and sent to the suburbs to build the railway tracks to be displayed.

When Zhao Jun came with many prime ministers, Dean Guo Zi was leading people to conduct the final debugging.

They saw that there were about 200 people surrounding the three layers outside the third floor on the parade ground.

Among them were some doctors, teachers, and academicians from the School of Physics. There were also some newly admitted Jinshi, clerks, or errand boys who were responsible for helping them.

The crowd surrounded the track in the center of the parade ground and stretched their necks to see if the experiment could meet the standards.

"Make way, make way, the dean and the deputy dean are here."

Someone shouted outside the crowd.

Hearing that the prime ministers were coming, many research officials hurriedly made way.

Zhao Jun walked in with Lu Yijian and others.

"Meet the dean and the deputy dean."

Officials such as Guo Zi and Su Song who were debugging inside immediately came over to salute.

"No need to salute, you continue, don't worry."

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

He looked up at the field.

At this time, a huge steam engine was placed on the rails of the parade ground, and five iron carriages were pulled behind the steam engine.

Rails and iron carriages are not difficult to make. There is no need to say more about the carriages. The rails are made by first making the mold of the train wheels, and then making the mold of the rails so that the wheels and rails can fit together tightly.

Then lay the sleepers below, nail the rails one by one with iron nails, connect the sleepers and rails, and lay them on the ground to form a track.

The difficulty in making a steam train lies in whether the steam engine pulling the car in front can provide enough power.

The Institute of Physics has done experiments before. If copper rings and lead pads are used for sealing, the sealing is seriously insufficient and the power generated is insufficient.

At the beginning, it can reach a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour, but over time, the speed will drop. It can only pull the iron carriage to run seven or eight kilometers per hour, which is no different from the speed of a person jogging.

This is the same speed as the first steam train in history.

Because although Watt improved the steam engine in 1765 AD, his initial improvement effect was relatively general.

After many improvements in 1769, 1776, 1782, and 1785, the efficiency of the steam engine reached its highest level, which was three times higher than before.

Even in 1785, when Watt's steam engine was basically perfected, it was not popular in Britain at that time.

It was not until after 1860 that Watt's steam engine became completely popular in Britain, from the initial more than 500 units to more than 7,000 machines nationwide.

But the steam locomotive was invented in 1814, and when it was first invented, it could only run 8 kilometers per hour.

It was not until 1825 that the steam engine improved by Watt reached a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. By 1840, it could reach 40-60 kilometers per hour.

This shows how significant Watt's improvement of the steam engine is.

Today, the improvement of the Institute of Physics has been completely perfected, with separate condensers, insulation layers outside the cylinder, oil-lubricated pistons, planetary gears, parallel motion connecting rod mechanisms, centrifugal governors, throttle valves, pressure gauges, safety valves, etc.

The efficiency has been improved, so when it first started running, the steam engine could reach the speed of the steam engine after Watt's improvement.

After running for a period of time, the copper ring will be exposed to high-temperature steam for a long time. It will expand due to thermal expansion and contraction, and a large number of cracks will appear on the surface, causing serious air leakage in the steam engine.

The same goes for lead gaskets, which can cause leaks or even explosions due to uneven pressure.

Therefore, the early steam engines using copper rings and lead gaskets were not considered reliable, and their sealing and power were also seriously insufficient.

Even if you improve the internal structure of the steam engine, the fatal problem of sealing will prevent the steam engine from being put into mass production.

Unless it's like a racing car, every time the train runs a certain distance, the steam engine changes its copper rings and lead pads when it reaches the next train station.

But that cost and time were not as good as riding a carriage, so before Watt improved it, this was an unsolvable problem.

Now that rubber has finally arrived in the Song Dynasty, the unsolvable problem of sealing is finally understood.

At this moment, Guo Shen led Su Song and others to dismantle the steam engine casing, remove the remaining copper rings and lead pads in the steam engine except the high-pressure boiler, and install the cut and polished rubber rings and rubber pads.

In addition to high-pressure boilers, the temperature of high-pressure boilers can reach more than 200 degrees, and the rubber cannot withstand it and ages easily, so copper rings are still needed inside to support it, and rubber pads can be used outside.

In this way, even if cracks appear on the surface of the copper ring due to thermal expansion and contraction, the rubber pad can ensure that the steam inside cannot escape and is still in internal circulation.

It was not until this time that Zhao Jun and many prime ministers saw clearly the internal structure of the steam engine.

It is extremely large, with the front end alone weighing more than two tons. Its main components include a reciprocating steam engine, a high-pressure boiler, a throttle valve, a centrifugal speed regulator and other large components.

There are countless other various pipes, cylinder pumps, and iron chains. The entire structure is extremely complex and dazzling, and it is completely incomprehensible to non-university science majors.

This also shocked many prime ministers, including Zhao Jun, at the power of industry, and also filled them with admiration for the researchers from the School of Physics.

Although the imperial court spared no effort to support the college, the imperial court basically gave them as much as they wanted. Raw materials such as iron, copper, and lead were piled in huge quantities.

Zhao Zhen even directly found the structure and production methods of steam engines in historical novels, which greatly saved their research time.

But it's like in later generations, Big Brother Bear's experts left behind a lot of drawings before they withdrew. But without expert interpretation, our experts would not even understand what these drawings mean.

It does not mean that you can restore it by finding the structure and production methods from historical novels. This requires great wisdom and countless attempts.

In just ten years, scholars from the Institute of Physics have almost reproduced a complete steam engine, which proves that the wisdom of the ancients was far greater than we imagined, but they were just not as knowledgeable as later generations.

After about half an hour, they finally reinstalled the entire machine.

Many technical officials climbed down from the ladder regardless of the oil stains or gray on their bodies. They simply wiped it off, and then a few climbed into the front of the train and started working.

About twenty minutes later.

"Boom!"

As large amounts of coal are added to the furnace, the hot water in the boiler quickly begins to boil, and steam overflows.

"Beep beep beep beep beep."

It was a bit like the roar of a tractor, and then the more than ten iron tires below began to slowly rotate under the push of the mechanical rod, and the locomotive also slowly started to start.

"OK!"

"It started again."

“It’s shocking every time I watch it.”

Warm cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd.

Since the School of Physics often needs to debug the performance of steam engines, it often starts trains for experiments.

But every time they watch it, they still find it extremely shocking.

The terrifying behemoth made of steel, the gray-white smoke billowing from the chimney above, the metal sparks splashing from the iron wheels on the track when braking, and the huge noise are all deeply intoxicating.

Even for someone like Zhao Jun who comes from a later generation and is used to seeing Harmony that can reach more than 300 kilometers per hour, seeing this classic steampunk is still touching.

The first industrial revolution I learned in history textbooks in middle school was the Spinning Jenny in 1765 and Watt's complete improvement of the steam engine in 1785.

I didn’t feel much about it at the time. I thought it was just history and too far away from my own life.

It's really impressive to see that this kind of power can still be operated in reality. Every leap in science and technology is really shocking, and the tens of millions of people who create these technologies are even greater.

Those princes, generals and ministers are just a fleeting flash in the pan. You sing and I come on stage. Only the people are the creators and subjects of history.

"Snap, snap, snap!"

Zhao Jun took the lead and started applauding.

This form is not popular in the outside world and only appears within the Constitutional Yuan.

But he applauded, and the prime ministers started applauding too.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding crowd of onlookers began to clap their hands with thunderous applause.

The locomotive slowly drove the carriages behind it, and the speed was getting faster and faster. From the initial 7 or 8 kilometers per hour, it quickly climbed to 30 or 40 kilometers per hour, and even had a rising trend.

The parade ground was already very large. The train ran farther and farther, and soon drove out one or two kilometers, then slowly slowed down, turned, and slowly drove to the left front with the melodious whistle.

The train could not make sharp turns, so the tracks were laid diagonally and turned slowly. Finally, after passing through an area of ​​one kilometer, it was finally moved back.

The "Gudong Gudong" sound of the wheels first went from near to far, and then from far to near. The buzzing whistle seemed like a flute that was sometimes far and sometimes near.

"Swoosh!"

When the train came back, it passed in front of Zhao Jun and others again. At this time, on the straight road, it had reached the power limit, with a speed of almost 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.

That is, the site approved by the court for the Institute of Physics was large enough, estimated to be the size of more than a dozen football fields, especially the length was three or four kilometers, and the width was also one or two kilometers, with a total length of twelve kilometers.

Otherwise, there really is no place for the train to show its strength.

The train is still running.

Because this experiment is to test whether the rubber ring and rubber pad can ensure the sealing after long-term work, it must not stop in a short time.

Zhao Jun and others watched for a long time, and he turned his head to look at Lu Yijian and others, who were still staring at the train in a daze.

"Let's go."

Zhao Jun said: "There are still official business to do in the afternoon."

"Let's go."

Lu Yijian wiped his eyes and said.

Li Di saw this and teased: "Is there still a day for Lu Xugong to cry?"

"I am moved by this great cause."

Lu Yijian said seriously.

As he spoke, he was quite emotional, looking at the roar in the distance, and whispered: "Only by seeing this with your own eyes can you experience the greatness and shock of industry."

"Yes."

Wang Zeng next to him rarely did not add insult to injury to his old opponent, but sighed and agreed: "Who would have thought that we would also witness this day of traveling a thousand miles a day with our own eyes?"

"At least it is enough to see such a shock before we die."

Zhang Shixun also sighed.

Today's steam locomotive is almost perfect. If it goes directly, it can travel nearly a thousand kilometers in 24 hours at 40 kilometers per hour.

Not to mention traveling a thousand miles a day, even two thousand miles can be done.

This is the greatness of industry.

It is also a great proof of historical development.

The crowd walked out of the crowd under the protection of the guards.

The roaring train behind them was still ringing.

When Zhao Jun was about to leave the Institute of Physics, he turned his head and looked into the distance.

The roaring sound of "woo woo woo" continued.

If this experiment is successful.

Then the industry of the Song Dynasty will officially set sail, and it will be far ahead, leaving the whole world behind.