Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 206 Guandao is black technology (first update, please subscribe)
In fact, as the seller, the shipbuilding of Nanhua Shipyard is also very conscientious.The "foreign trade ships" built are all ironclad ships.Such cutting-edge technology was definitely a black technology in the Yangtze River in 1860.

Of course, these iron-clad ships are said to be iron-clad ships, but they are actually "nailed" a layer of iron armor on the wooden shell, and because there is no reliable enough technology to isolate wood and iron, the final result must be that the wood rots and the iron armor rusts. In fact, France Early wooden ironclads had this problem.

But even so, for the Taiping Army or the Qing Dynasty, they had no choice. The mosquito gun boat was their only choice. Apart from this, they obviously had no other better choice.Even if those iron-clad ships look good, they are still better than wooden ships.

At least, for Nanhua, who has put the construction of the navy on the agenda, he will definitely not choose such a "fair product".

Holding the blueprint tube, Liang Mingwei came to the lord's office. He occasionally turned his eyes to the secretary's room, where the staff and secretaries were busy.

All the way he was grinning.

"It should be able to persuade the lord."

Liang Mingwei said to himself in his heart.

Soon, under the notice of the secretary, he entered the lord's office.

Standing in the middle of the office, Zhu Xianhai smiled at Liang Mingwei after seeing him.

"Ah, Mr. Liang, you came just in time. I just wanted to discuss it with you. Come on, take a look at this."

Zhu Xianhai gestured to Liang Mingwei. On the table in the center of this spacious office, there was a large model. No one knew it was the model of the "Great Oriental".

"The Great Eastern? Huh? It seems a little different."

When he came to the table, Liang Mingwei realized the difference.

"Remove the paddle paddle?"

The huge paddle wheels on both sides were removed.

"The structure of the paddle propeller is heavy and the efficiency is too low. Especially in the wind and waves, it is also very easy to be damaged. Isn't our new type of propeller applied to the breakthrough ship very successfully? I think it is about time for the "Great Orient" to move." Move the knife!"

The so-called "moving knife" is actually a modification. Now Nanhua Shipyard has rich experience in modification, just like the breakthrough ship called "Sea Ghost", which is actually a British Wald ship purchased by removing the paddle wheel. , refit the triple-expansion steam engine, and adopt new propellers and other methods.The effect of the modification is remarkable, not only increasing the speed, but also increasing the cargo capacity.

"The paddles of the Great Eastern are eight meters wide, tens of meters in diameter, and weigh hundreds of tons. After the paddles are removed, the paddle cabins can be converted into cabins and semi-open decks, which can not only further increase the It can also improve the living environment, and of course, more importantly, it can increase the speed. The current Great Eastern is really too slow..."

14 knots!
slow?

It is definitely not slow in this era, even if it is the ironclad "Warrior" of the same period in the UK, that is the speed. However, what Zhu Xianhai is really dissatisfied with is its fuel.

"The speed is determined by the steam engine. The biggest problem with the Great Eastern right now is that the operating cost is too high. Because the four steam engines of the Great Eastern consume a lot of fuel, they need a large coal storage room. After arriving at the destination port, if it is not possible to add more coal, the ship itself must bring more coal for the return trip, so 15000 tons of coal are carried on board. If the new type of triple-expansion steam engine is used, even if the power is not increased, It only needs to carry 5000 tons of coal, which is more than enough to travel between Nanhua and Shanghai, and the saved coal bunker can be converted into a crew cabin..."

Pointing to the "Great Eastern Ship", Zhu Xianhai laughed.

"The saved weight, coupled with the replacement of the new propeller and the use of the sail machine, should increase its speed to 15-16 knots, and the sailing time at sea can be shortened by 10%!"

Since the purchase of the "Great Eastern", that giant ship has indeed played an extremely important role in immigration - on average, it can bring as many as 4 immigrants to Nanhua every four months!
But, this is just theory.

Because the structure of the paddle wheel is complex, it is greatly affected by wind and waves. If the ship encounters wind and waves, it will sway left and right like a duck. The density of air and water is 800 times different. The huge paddle wheel goes in and out of it, and it is easy to be damaged. .Coupled with the general reliability of the steam engine used by the "Great Eastern", it has to enter the dock for maintenance for one month after each return voyage.

No, after returning from the return voyage, he entered the dock again.

"But, my lord, can such a big ship be moved with only one propeller?"

Liang Mingwei said with some worry.

"Although our boats have all been replaced with new propellers, the efficiency has improved a lot, but I am worried that one propeller may not be able to drive it."

In fact, the "Great Eastern" itself also has propellers. It has paddle wheels on both sides of the ship and a propeller at the tail. The blades of that propeller are almost equal to two "iron pieces", and of course the efficiency cannot be so high.

In the development of science and technology, the performance of many mechanical devices has been widely used when people are not yet clear.But before people fully understand its physical law and complete theoretical analysis, it is difficult for these devices to achieve its optimal performance.The propeller is no exception. In 1860, although it had been applied on sea ships, the advancement of the propeller only relied on the accumulation of experience and the intuitive reasoning of experts.

As far as the current situation is concerned, although the efficiency of the propeller has left the paddle wheel behind, it must still be insufficient when applied to the Dafangdong.

"It's definitely not possible to rely on the original propeller, we need a new type of propeller!"

Zhu Xianhai said directly.

"New type? My lord, the efficiency of our propellers is already very high..."

Before reaching the tip of his mouth, Liang Mingwei said in surprise.

"Could it be that the lord has designed a new type of blade?"

In fact, the propeller Nanhua used before was also designed by Zhu Xianhai, but it was just a slight improvement on the original propeller, but even so, the vibration of the propeller was greatly reduced and the speed of the ship was increased.

"Have you seen Guan Dao?"

Zhu Xianhai asked.

"Close the knife?"

"Yes, it's the "Creasing Moon Knife". I made the outline of the propeller blade into the shape of a Knife..."

Zhu Xianhai mentioned "Guan Dao Paddle", which is a great creation of Huaxia in the development of propeller technology.It was in the 60s in the 82th century. A master named Zhou Ting of Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard based on his decades of experience in making propellers, he made the outline of the propeller blades into the shape of Guan Gong’s [-]-jin heavy knife in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The style, he vividly called it "Guan Dao Paddle".Not only does it increase the speed of the ship, but the vibration of the propeller is greatly reduced.In order to transform the "Great Eastern", Zhu Xianhai deliberately chose to "turn off the knife and paddle".In this era, he is definitely a proper black technology.

"I estimate that after replacing the new type of "off-knife propeller", it can almost meet its needs with only one propeller, but it needs to be tested on other ships first..."

After expressing his thoughts one by one, Zhu Xianhai glanced at the drawing tube in Liang Mingwei's hand and asked.

"Huh? What are you pretending here?"

(End of this chapter)