Take the warehouse back to the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 287 "Satellite" Steam Locomotive
Zhao Wen looked at the disbelieving faces of the two, and instead of explaining, he directly changed the subject.

"Okay, let's not talk about this. I want to ask, who designed the shape of this steam locomotive?" Zhao Wen put the drawing with the bearings aside, and took out the sketch of the steam engine that he had drawn before. .

"My lord, originally we also wanted to design the shape of the steam locomotive.

But our ability is really limited, and we don't know how to design it correctly.

We simply used the most primitive method, directly installing the steam engine on a platform, and then trying to find a way to turn the wheels under the platform. "

Sun Yuanhua looked at the sketch drawn by Zhao Wen on the table, and then said: "We originally thought about installing a carriage outside the steam engine, but we really didn't know how to install it, so we didn't install it."

Zhao Wen nodded and said: "Actually, it's pretty good that you can do this. In fact, the steam engine on the steam locomotive should be placed in the compartment, otherwise, what should we do in rainy days?
But this kind of thing is still a bit difficult for you, so leave this matter to me. "

"In addition to this, today I took a look at the linkage device you designed. Your linkage device is very well designed, but there are still some small problems that make the transmission efficiency not very high." Zhao Wen looked at Song Yingxing, Said slowly.

Song Yingxing stood up hastily, and said solemnly: "Please enlighten me, my lord."

Zhao Wen smiled and said, "Hahaha, no need to do that, it's not easy for you to do this, it's just that there are some minor problems."

As he said that, Zhao Wen roughly drew the linkage device on today's steam locomotive.

Zhao Wen pointed to the linkage device on the drawing and explained it to Song Yingxing in detail.

Song Yingxing moved to the side of the drawing and stared intently at Zhao Wen's explanation.

Sun Yuanhua stroked his beard, frowned slightly, and kept thinking about what Zhao Wen said.

As the night gradually deepened, the lights of the candles in the study illuminated the faces of several people red.

Listening to Zhao Wen's explanation, Song Yingxing sometimes frowned and sometimes suddenly realized.

As time passed slowly, Song Yingxing showed an excited smile on his face.

He looked at what Zhao Wen changed on the blueprint, and said excitedly, "Your Excellency is really a great talent, I admire you very much."

Zhao Wen waved his hand and said indifferently: "There are specializations in the art field, and there is a priority in hearing the truth."

"My lord, then I will improve the linkage device according to what you said." Song Yingxing picked up the blueprint on the table and carefully read it several times.

Zhao Wen said with a smile: "Okay, you can take this blueprint, and ask me if you have anything you don't understand."

"Haha, I will definitely come to ask your lord when the time comes." Song Yingxing carefully folded the blueprint and stuffed it into his arms.

Zhao Wen looked at the excited Song Yingxing, and asked again: "I saw that the distance between the two railroad tracks you made today is a bit short."

Sun Yuanhua was taken aback, and said in a puzzled way: "My lord, it's not short. It's already four feet wide. This width is exactly the width of a carriage axle."

Zhao Wen shook his head and said: "It's still a little short. The width between the rails in the future will be five feet, and four feet is a bit short. The steam locomotives in the future are used to pull goods and people. If the width is narrow, the things pulled not enough."

The width between the two rails of the trains of later generations is generally about 1.435 meters, which is about 4.3 feet when converted into the ancient measurement unit.This width was established by the International Association of Railways in 1937 and is also known as the Standard Ordinary Railway.

In addition to standard widths there are wide and narrow gauges.

Narrow gauge is available in 1.000m and 1.067m types.

The wide gauge is the rail width of Maozi in later generations, reaching 1.524 meters.

The five-foot-wide rail distance that Zhao Wen requested is equivalent to the standard of later generations of Maozi, and even a little wider than the width of the railroad tracks of later generations of Maozi.

This design has advantages and disadvantages, but for Zhao Wen now, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

The wide gauge can increase the transport capacity, enhance the stability of the train running, and also make the interior of the carriage spacious and comfortable, and the cargo carried at one time will also increase a lot.

The speed of today's steam locomotives is far from the standard of later generations. In order to transport more people and goods, Zhao Wen chose wide gauge.

After all, wide-gauge is much larger than standard track in terms of the weight of goods transported.

Of course, wide gauge is not without its drawbacks.

If wide gauge is used, the cost of bridges and tunnels will increase significantly, especially tunnels.The turning radius will also increase, and the floor area will increase, so the cost of ground lines will also increase.

But for the current Zhao Wen, there is almost no need to think about things like train tunnels. Train tunnels are not ordinary tunnels. This thing does not have a certain industrial level, so it is impossible to make it at all.

Since it can't be made, there is no question of cost.

As for the bridge that allows trains to pass, it's hard to say. If the span is not large and the bridge is not high from the ground, Zhao Wen may still be able to build it.

But the cost of this kind of bridge will not be too high, even if it is a wide gauge, it will not increase the cost much.

However, if it is a bridge with a large span and great difficulty, Zhao Wen can't build it. Since it can't be built, it doesn't involve the issue of cost.

As for the latter issue of the high cost of the surface railway, this issue is not a problem for Zhao Wen.

Manpower is what is most needed for laying railways in this era. With the expansion of Zhao Wen in the future, there will be more and more captives. With these captives in hand, when laying railways, at most food expenses and the cost of railways will be spent.

Apart from these two kinds of expenses, Zhao Wen will hardly spend any other money. In this way, even if the wide gauge is built, it will not cost much.

"My lord, can such a wide rail work? This is the first time I have done this, so I don't know what to do." Sun Yuanhua frowned and said a little nervously.

Zhao Wen chuckled, and said calmly, "Just do what I tell you. Railway tracks are not a high-tech thing, so just do it."

Things like rails are not high-tech things, as long as there are suitable steel and processing methods, they can be built.

The only difference is that the speed is slower than the manufacturing speed of the large steel mills of later generations.

"By the way, there is also the shape of your rails. Your convex rails are good, but they increase the cost. Have you never thought about I-shaped rails?" Zhao Wen looked at the two.

"I-shaped rail? What I-shaped?" The two looked at Zhao Wen with puzzled faces.

Looking at the dubious looks of the two, Zhao Wen didn't talk nonsense, took out another piece of paper, and started drawing on it.

"It's this kind of railway track. Take this drawing and study it carefully to see if you can make it." Zhao Wen handed the blueprint to the two.

"Also, the manufacture of steam locomotives requires standardization.

Although you have done a good job, the parts made by these workers cannot be completely standard.

In order to solve this problem, I plan to write a book to standardize the production standards and production process.

Starting tomorrow, you will find a place in the ironworks and build a workshop dedicated to the production of steam locomotives.

At that time, I will give you some money to deal with this matter.

There is also this equipment for processing rails and steelmaking equipment. Now we have manufactured a lot of steam engines. The efficiency of this kind of indigenous steelmaking is a bit slow, so I plan to improve it. "

Zhao Wen looked at the two and expressed his thoughts.

"Okay, that's all for today, you go back first."

Zhao Wen waved his hands at the two of them and said slowly.

Song Yingxing and Sun Yuanhua stood up, cupped their hands at Zhao Wengong, and then went outside.

After the two left, Zhao Wen took out a huge piece of rice paper and drew a design drawing of a steam locomotive on it.

The steam locomotive painted by Zhao Wen is a steam locomotive designed and manufactured by the English inventor R. Stephenson in 1830, named "Satellite" steam locomotive.

This steam locomotive has the advantages of fast speed, large load capacity and simple structure.

The "Planet" steam locomotive integrated the inner and outer fire boxes and smoke boxes of the horizontal boiler, reducing the size of the steam engine to the greatest extent.

The maximum speed of the "Planet" steam locomotive reached 65 kilometers per hour, and the average running speed was about 55 kilometers per hour.

Zhao Wen recalled the content in his mind, and drew the "Planet" steam locomotive on the rice paper bit by bit.

Zhao Wennai is a bachelor of engineering from Huaqing University, focusing on machinery, so he also dabbles in these things, which is also part of his study.

When the sun was slowly rising, Zhao Wen stood up from his chair. He looked at the sun outside the window, and at the half-finished drawings he had drawn, and couldn't help yawning.

"It seems that it is not easy to finish drawing in one night."

Zhao Wen stretched, put away the drawings on the table, and headed towards the backyard.

When he came to the backyard, Zhao Wen went straight to the room.

After working all night, Zhao Wen was so sleepy that he fell asleep without even taking off his clothes.

When Zhao Wen woke up, it was already dusk, he rubbed his swollen eyes, then got up and went outside.

After having lunch with Li Xiaoying and Hai Lanzhu, they plunged into the study again.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Wen finally finished drawing the blueprint of the "Planet" steam locomotive.

Zhao Wen put the drawing aside and took out another piece of rice paper to improve the current ironmaking blast furnace.

Zhao Wen's improvement this time is not small. He directly built a large iron-making blast furnace that relies entirely on the power of the steam engine to produce steel.

In addition to this, Zhao Wen also drew the simple equipment for forging and processing steel in later generations.

Of course, Zhao Wen's paintings are all low-tech and easy-to-manufacture equipment.

Moreover, Zhao Wen also changed all these devices to be driven by steam engines according to the current situation.

Although Zhao Wenhua's equipment has been eliminated for many years in later generations, it is hundreds of years ahead now.

After another sleepless night, Zhao Wen yawned continuously.

In the next seven days from now, Zhao Wen will often spend time alone in the study, drawing blueprints, standard specifications and production processes for steam engines.

In addition to these, Zhao Wen also wrote an industrial production standard.

Of course, this industrial production standard does not use the measurement units of centimeters, millimeters and decimeters of later generations.

Combining the current era, Zhao Wen revised the measurement units of later generations and made them into the measurement units of the current era.

In fact, the units of measurement of the ancients were not backward, but because the origin of industrialization was in foreign countries, and foreign countries used their commonly used units of measurement to regulate industrial production.

This is why future generations have to abandon traditional units of measurement in industrial production and use internationally accepted units of measurement.

After finishing everything, Zhao Wen put the things he made in the past few days into a basket, and carried the basket to Sun Yuanhua's office with a pair of dark circles under his eyes.

But when Zhao Wen arrived at Sun Yuanhua's office, he was told that Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing had gone to the ironworks again.

Zhao Wen had no choice but to take the basket and a few personal guards, and rode towards the ironworks on horseback.

As soon as he entered the ironworks, Zhao Wen saw a large group of people working in full swing on an open space in the ironworks.

Zhao Wen jumped off the horse, took the basket from the horse, handed the horse to the guards who followed behind him, and carried the basket towards the construction site.

After walking to the construction site, Zhao Wen saw Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing who looked like contractors.

I saw the two of them rolled up their trousers, rolled up their sleeves, wearing a straw hat, and holding a blueprint, directing the workers to build a huge workshop.

"This workshop will be the place to produce steam locomotives in the future. You must do what I say without any deviation. If there is a mistake, you will pack up and leave."

Sun Yuanhua took the drawings and kept comparing them with the construction site, and from time to time he yelled anxiously at the workers.

Zhao Wen looked at Sun Yuanhua who looked like a green-skinned rogue, smiled, and walked up.

"This kind of thing can't be rushed. If you are in a hurry, you will make mistakes." Zhao Wen patted Sun Yuanhua whose back was facing him, and said with a smile on his face.

Sun Yuanhua turned around and found that it was Zhao Wen, and hurriedly said, "My lord, why are you here?"

Song Yingxing, who was standing by the side, also hurriedly turned around and cupped his hands towards Zhao Wengong.

Zhao Wen said with a smile: "After these few days of struggle, I have redesigned a steam locomotive and various supporting equipment. Today I specially bring it to you."

Zhao Wen handed over the basket in his hand to Sun Yuanhua as he spoke.

Sun Yuanhua put away the drawings in his hand and took what Zhao Wen handed over.

"My lord, is there a blueprint of a new steam locomotive?" Song Yingxing looked at the basket in Sun Yuanhua's hand, his face was full of excitement.

It didn't take long for the blueprint of the new steam locomotive to be designed, and my lord is indeed a lord.

Song Yingxing looked at the basket in Sun Yuanhua's hand and was filled with emotion for a moment.

(End of this chapter)