I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 374 I brought a furniture revolution to Europe
After Joseph finished giving instructions for the trial production of bulletproof inserts, a feeling of fatigue suddenly washed over his body.

Working non-stop in the arsenal these past few days made him feel like he was back in his past life, working on a project with his mentor. Fortunately, he had his father to help him, so he wasn't too exhausted.

He watched Louis XVI go to the Petit Trianon - His Majesty the King had indulged in his craftsmanship these days and missed his wife a little - but he did not delay and immediately drove to the Royal Gunpowder Bureau in Paris to discuss the production of casein glue with Lavoisier.

Without solving the problem of mass production of adhesives, the huge strategic value of bullet-proof inserts cannot be realized.

When Joseph's carriage stopped in front of the Royal Gunpowder Bureau's office building, the entire bureau immediately became agitated. The management and craftsmen here all had some connection with the military and were very concerned about the victory on the front line. People dropped their work and came to see the legendary hero who created the "Great Victory in the Southern Netherlands" - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

In the end, Joseph, who was "strongly surrounded", had to drag Lavoisier away from the gunpowder bureau and go to his office in the Tuileries Palace to discuss things.

At the gunpowder bureau, people watched the prince's carriage go away. After a long time, they finally went back to work reluctantly under the roars of the supervisors.

In Joseph's carriage, after listening to the Crown Prince's request, Lavoisier frowned slightly and said, "Your Highness, it is not difficult to produce casein glue, but the demand for your bulletproof inserts may not support large-scale production."

Joseph was stunned when he heard this, and he was also busy too much. Yes, in the pre-industrial era, as long as you were willing to invest and there were no technical obstacles, almost anything could be mass-produced.

But the problem is who will sell the products to? If we can’t sell them, we will just keep losing money.

Although he was willing to lose money in manufacturing important military equipment, it was not a good idea to continue like this.

He looked at the "Father of Chemistry" and asked: "Mr. Lavoisier, who do you know of who needs this adhesive?"

"Oh, in the past only carpenters used it in small quantities, and leather workers occasionally used a little to glue the soles of shoes together. They usually went to the drugstore at the beginning of each year to order a small bottle."

"carpenter?"

"Yes, sir," said Lavoisier, "casein glue was first invented to meet the needs of carpenters. But you know that this invention did not make him any money."

Joseph thought, "Can you tell me in detail how a carpenter would use this thing?"

"Anywhere you can't use nails, Your Highness. Casein glue is very strong when bonding wood. After drying, the bond is even harder than the wood itself..."

As Lavoisier introduced the properties of casein glue in detail, Joseph's eyes gradually lit up.

If casein glue has such high drying strength and excellent affinity with wood, can't it be used to make artificial boards?
But he knew that ordinary people in later generations rarely had access to pure solid wood furniture, and 90% of the furniture on the market was made of synthetic boards such as density boards and particle boards.

These artificial boards are made by pressing "waste materials" such as wood residue and sawdust mixed with adhesives.

Don’t underestimate this kind of “waste utilization” thing. Artificial synthetic boards triggered the furniture revolution in the late 19th century!

First of all, the price of synthetic board is much lower than that of solid wood. This is mainly because the solid wood that can be used to make furniture is basically limited to the straight trunk of the tree, and those branches or crooked trees cannot be used.

The composite board can use a whole tree to make furniture, because no matter whether it is crooked or broken, it can all be crushed and glued into a standard square board. Although there are more adhesives and processing costs, the overall price is still very low.

Similar to the shipbuilding industry in the 18th century, which is a major consumer of wood, the amount of unused wood thrown away every year is enough to replace the furniture of all French people.

If an artificial board manufacturing plant can be built near the Brittany shipyard, an industrial chain of wood-shipbuilding-synthetic boards-furniture can be formed, which can even reduce the cost of shipbuilding a lot.

In addition, and more importantly, the biggest advantage of synthetic boards over solid wood is not cost.

This may be different from people's usual impression, but the reason why synthetic boards can trigger a furniture revolution is mainly because they have several incomparable advantages:
The first is that it is easy to process. Synthetic boards are basically square and flat on both sides when they leave the factory. Carpenters can quickly assemble furniture with just a saw. However, carpenters who make furniture with solid wood are still struggling to process the boards.

As a result, the output of furniture will increase several times or even dozens of times, and the number of styles will increase accordingly. People who buy furniture will have more choices and lower prices, which will naturally trigger a sales boom.

You know, the most profitable industrial products are never the most sophisticated ones, but the ones that can meet the basic needs of the largest population. Just like Mercedes-Benz and BMW in later generations, they were eventually defeated by Toyota and Volkswagen, which catered to ordinary consumers.

Second, the nail holding performance of synthetic boards is much stronger than that of solid wood boards. Since the wood of solid wood boards is dense, it will generate a force that pushes the nails outward, but synthetic boards that are glued together with wood residues do not have this problem.

This means that furniture made of synthetic boards is more durable than solid wood boards.

Of course, this can be solved by using the Eastern mortise and tenon structure, but at present, European furniture is still mainly made of nails. If you want hundreds of thousands of carpenters to change their usual skills, it would take a miracle from God.

Finally, the insect resistance of synthetic boards is dozens of streets ahead of solid wood boards. Well... adhesives are more disgusting than dog shit to termites, not to mention that they are toxic.

Durable, moth-proof and cheap furniture can easily overthrow solid wood furniture and occupy the market.

Thinking of this, Joseph suppressed his excitement and asked Lavoisier: "If I can find a market, for example, more than 500,000 kilograms per month, can you help me build a casein factory with such a large production scale?"

"Five hundred thousand kilograms?!"

Lavoisier was shocked. At present, the whole of Europe consumed only tens of thousands of kilograms of casein glue a year. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could sell 500,000 kilograms in a month. This was simply incredible!
However, when he saw Joseph's serious expression, he lowered his head and began to think seriously.

After a moment, he shook his head slightly and said, "Your Highness, it is impossible to produce 100 kilograms per month in a short period of time. If you are willing to invest million livres, I can try to increase the production to kilograms per month."

"One million livres!" Joseph almost cursed. When he first started the United Steam Engine Company, his initial investment was only one million. How could this "glue factory" with a monthly output of 100 kilograms be compared with a steam engine?

(End of this chapter)