Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 579 The Steam Engine

At the beginning of September, there was another huge roar in the open field by a small river in the north of Chenliu County. The roar came from a large courtyard, and the high wall blocked people's sight. The farmers stretched their necks curiously, trying to figure out what happened?
In the middle of the courtyard, dozens of craftsmen surrounded a black machine, which was as high as two floors. This machine was the eighth steam engine built by the craftsmen.

It is divided into two parts, one part is the boiler for generating steam, the other part is the cylinder and piston, and there are also connecting rods, cranks and runners, which are the key to ensure that the forward and backward motion becomes circular motion. Solved the problem, which was smooth.

The key is the power of the steam. In fact, in December last year, the craftsmen built the steam engine according to Fanning's drawings, but there were two problems. One problem was that the power generated by the steam cylinder was too small, and the seven steam engines in front had at least All five of them failed due to insufficient steam, resulting in insufficient power. The solution was to make it bigger and bigger. The sixth steam engine was once built as high as a three-story building. It was extremely huge, and its water and carbon consumption were astonishing. , The efficiency of steam use is too low.

At the same time, the second problem also arises. This kind of steam engine can be used on land, but it does not consume so much fresh water at sea. Fanning's drawings did not solve this problem.

Later, a craftsman discovered that most of the steam was wasted, so he proposed to increase the cylinder so that the steam could be used again.

Another craftsman came up with the recycling scheme of returning the steam to the boiler, instead of draining the condensate directly,
The craftsmen negotiated repeatedly and installed a reversing valve so that the waste steam after one use can enter the second and third cylinders, and then the steam in the three cylinders expands and pushes the pistons respectively, which greatly improves the efficiency of steam use and power. greatly increased.

At the same time, the craftsmen created a fence-style copper condenser and invented a copper condenser pipe to allow the steam to cool down quickly and then return to the boiler. It needs to be recycled.

But the third new problem came out again. How to ensure that the forces driven by the three pistons can be used in a coordinated manner. The craftsmen continued to debug and made three gradually increasing cylinders. The connecting rod makes it a composite connecting rod, which changes the power from one-step linkage to three-step linkage, successfully solving the problem of insufficient power.

It took eighty craftsmen a whole year to build eight steam engines successively, costing tens of thousands of dollars, and the eighth steam engine finally succeeded, pushing the runner strongly.

The steam engine turned all night, and it always kept strong power. The axles were spinning, and the craftsmen cheered excitedly and hugged each other tightly.

Of course, this marine steam engine is still very primitive and heavy, weighing two thousand catties. The steam engine is not big, but the boiler is two stories high, and there are still many areas that need further improvement. Bulky flaws.

However, the invention of the high-pressure boiler also needs to solve the explosion problem, which requires the use of control valves and low-melting-point metal bolts, which requires time to explore and accumulate.

In addition, there is another difficult problem, that is, the consumption of carbon is too large. Although the Song Dynasty has widely used coal, there is no problem with using steam engines on land, and coal can be replenished at any time, but how to solve the problem of coal when sailing on a long sea.

The craftsmen have no choice but to consider carrying a charcoal supply ship, or replenishing at ports along the way.

The news of the successful test of the steam engine was the first to be published on the headlines of the "Letter" on the front page. This news did not feel much to ordinary people, but it was undoubtedly a huge sensation for all the large workshops that were striving to improve the efficiency of spinning.

The large spinning machine driven by it can produce [-] catties of cotton thread per day, which is twice that of the large hydraulic spinning machine.

But the significance of the steam engine is not to greatly increase the production of cotton thread. The large hydraulic spinning machine itself has already replaced manpower with water power, but it is subject to relatively large restrictions and must be used by the river or at the foot of the mountain, but the steam engine can be used anywhere. .

However, it is not realistic for the steam engine to be used in the textile industry, at least for now. The output of pig iron is not large, and pig iron is mostly used in military affairs. In addition, its use cost is also high. The coal in the Song Dynasty is also relatively expensive. The efficiency is a little higher than that of the hydraulic spinning machine, but the overall cost is much higher, which will increase the price of cotton cloth. Therefore, after the invention of the steam engine was published in the "Mao Bao", it disappeared soon.

It will take at least ten or 20 years to develop and promote.

The main function of the steam engine is still in ocean voyages, freeing up hundreds of manpower. In addition, the horsepower is strong, and the speed of the ship is faster.

Zhu Yuanfeng transported the steam engine to Zhu's shipbuilding workshop in Jingkou with a large ship of [-] shi, and craftsmen began to manufacture more steam engines on a large scale in Chenliu.

Fan Ning and his party returned to Quanzhou in mid-September. After resting at home in Quanzhou for ten days, Fan Ning took Ming Ren and Ming Li to Beijing to buy an island. At this time, Fan Ning did not know the news that the steam engine had been manufactured. Jingkou built the first steamship of Song Dynasty.

The Fan brothers converted into inland river boats on the Qiantang River and went north along the canal. They first went to Mudu's hometown to visit their father's tomb, and then went north to the capital.

In the early morning of this day, the passenger ship they took sailed into the territory of Wujiang County. Fan Ning stood at the bow and looked at the scenery on both sides of the river. There is quite a feeling that things are right and people are wrong.

"Ah Ning, do you regret the decision to buy the island?" Ming Ren asked with a smile beside him.

They inspected the North Island for a month. The majestic nature, the absurd wilderness, the vast land, and the long distance made them feel the difficulty of building this big island.

Fan Ning shook his head, "Exploring overseas has been my dream for many years. This is by no means my personal preference, but I want to do something for our future generations. We are clearly capable of occupying these vast continents, but we are arrogant I ignored it, dismissed it, and in the end hundreds of years later, it was occupied by Westerners traveling thousands of miles away. At that time, our children and grandchildren will blame us."

Akihito nodded, "Maybe you think further than us, but we will support you no matter what. When we buy the island, we will start recruiting volunteers to open up a new home on the North Island."

Fan Ning hugged Ming Ren's shoulders forcefully, and said with a smile, "My brother is still reliable!"

"That's right, you have to rely on your own brothers to fight a tiger!"

At this moment, Fan Ning's eyes were suddenly attracted by a small cargo ship of five hundred stone.

There are many such vehicles and boats in inland rivers, but the problem is that Fan Ning did not see the paddle wheel.

"Ming Ren, look at that ship, isn't it weird?" Fan Ning pointed at the ship.

Ming Ren looked at it for a moment and said, "It's a bit weird, I didn't see the paddle wheel."

"Go and see!"

They immediately asked the boatman to stop the cargo ship in front, and when the two ships approached, Fan Ning and Ming Ren jumped onto the opposite ship.

Ming Ren clasped his fists and said with a smile: "Your ship is amazing, we want to come and have a look, excuse me!"

The owner of the boat was a little unhappy, but let them look at the stern.

"This is a new boat just bought this year. It is a new boat from Zhu's Shipyard in Jingkou. It does not need to be sculled. One person steers and two pedals, which saves five people compared with the previous scull boat."

Akihito asked strangely: "Since it's a pedal, but I don't see where the wheel is?"

"It's also a running wheel, but it seems to be placed sideways."

Fan Ning leaned over the stern of the boat and looked down for a long time, then he got up and said, "I see, it's not a paddle wheel, it's a propeller."

Mingren also got down on the ground to look at it, and said with a strange expression: "How can you push it in this way, and it's still so small."

Fanning asked the owner again: "What are the advantages and disadvantages of this propeller?"

The boat owner shook his head and said: "The advantage is that the boatman is saved and the speed is a little faster, but the disadvantages are too many, it is easy to damage, there is something in the river, it breaks when it hits the paddle, and the seal is not good, it is easy to enter the water , what’s more terrible is that it gets entangled by aquatic plants every now and then, I really regret buying it.”

Ming Ren whispered to Fan Ning: "I don't know which idiot invented this kind of thing."

Fan Ning gave him a hard look, "Go back to the boat!"

As soon as he jumped onto the boat, Mingren came to his senses, could it be that this thing was also invented by Ah Ning?
(End of this chapter)