Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1164 A Quiet Change ([-])

The British expression is not very happy now!To be precise, everyone in a certain house in St. Giles Parish in the West End of London was very unhappy!Because their efforts have failed again.

"Robert, what caused the failure this time?" Maurice Thompson, who had rushed to the messy house, asked helplessly.

"I'm sorry, sir, for causing you to lose five hundred pounds, but we are still far from success." The middle-aged man called "Robert" wiped his dark hands with a towel, and smiled apologetically: " But we are not without progress. Now we have clearly known that the low efficiency of the steam engine is mainly due to two reasons. According to my experience, if it is an ideal airtight container, the pressure of the gas in it is related to the temperature and volume. Generally, the higher the temperature, the greater the pressure, the smaller the volume, the greater the pressure. This has been tested many times Proved..."

"A very good theory, did you come up with it, Robert?" Mr. Thompson asked casually, stepping over the messy metal tools and scraps on the ground, looking at an "unusually ugly" steam engine in the yard.

It is said that since the Almeida family publicly sold the research materials of the steam engine in Lisbon, Mr. Thompson, who has been paying attention to this matter, also spent a lot of money to get a copy from the British businessman who bought it, and then recruited talents everywhere to study it— —He is not a businessman who has never seen the world. On the contrary, he is very aware of the huge benefits that the people of the East Coast have obtained by using this magical machine. He, Morris Thompson, also needs this kind of benefits.

This time, he recruited many scholars from London and Oxford through various connections, and at the same time recruited a lot of skilled blacksmiths in Birmingham, trying to use their ingenuity to jointly create a usable steam engine.It's a pity that after spending more than 2000 pounds, they still failed. The main problem was the lack of cylinder pressure, and the lack of pressure could be attributed to factors such as cylinder seal and gas temperature. It involves many factors including design, materials and processing, and it is not something they can overcome in the short term.

"Yes, Mr. Thompson, I summed it up." Robert smiled a little shyly, and then said: "The steam engine of the people on the east coast is really an epoch-making great invention, really. It is extremely useful for this kind of use." A wide range of machinery, Mr. Thompson, I personally think that no matter how much it costs, it is worth acquiring. Over the years, we have obtained a lot of information about steam engines intermittently, and even some scrapped parts of steam engines have gradually flowed to the Old Continent, but we still have It's a pity that we didn't get a complete physical steam engine - and of course the specific design of a practical steam engine. But as you know, we are overall behind in this regard, and maybe the steam engine is not enough. We You also have to get the best cylinder sealing method from the people on the east coast-I heard that they originally used a metal expansion ring and graphite ring for sealing-and the best cylinder processing machinery, the latter is especially important, because it directly determines the efficiency of the steam engine."

"Yes, you are right. Even if we know all the mysteries of the people on the east coast on the steam engine, we may not be able to imitate it. Or even if it is imitated, the cost will be unacceptably high, because their The technology is a whole set, which represents their overall industrial level, just like these high-priced knives we have smuggled back.” Mr. Thompson bent down to pick up several high-carbon steel knives smuggled from the east coast He frowned and said: "These cutter heads explain the problem in some respects. Without these high-priced cutter heads worth 100-200 pounds, our processing machinery can't even process the cylinder accurately. Every time I think of this, It's all frustrating, England are falling behind really across the board and we have to improve."

Robert nodded and added: "According to the Dutch, the people on the east coast are processing gun barrels with what they call a boring machine, and they have bought some outdated hydraulic or foot-operated boring machines— —Of course, the accuracy and stability are not high, and it is very troublesome to repair after damage, and you have to buy high-priced goods from the east coast——Since the barrel is processed by a boring machine, it is difficult to use the barrel. Of course, the difference between the cylinder and the barrel is also It's not big, so we just need to scale up the boring machine. But the problem now is that we can't make this kind of boring machine. There are too many problems in materials, design and workmanship, especially for such a large knife Heads are only found in some steam engine factories and military factories on the east coast, and it is too difficult to obtain them."

Thompson was speechless. It seems that trying to imitate the steam engine is really ill-fated. Maybe he should contact more people with lofty ideals, raise more funds and technical strength, and work together to overcome this problem-of course, this will take time. Slow planning.After all, the industry and commerce in England is developing rapidly now, and there are more and more East Coast-style handicraft workshops that concentrate production in designated locations. more and more), less and less advantage, because the labor force of the industrial capitalists is more and more abundant.And if there are more centralized production-style manual workshops, there will naturally be a demand for more advanced machines, because this will effectively reduce their costs. Mr. Thompson decided to ask his colleagues in the House of Commons (more than two-thirds of them are industrial basics) entrepreneurs, and the rest are business capitalists), it is precisely the right path to seek help from capital and technical personnel.

After leaving the workshop he secretly set up, Mr. Morris Thompson got into a carriage, and under the guard of his servant Harrison, he walked along the gravel-paved avenue towards St. Vedust Diocese.On both sides of the road, there are many shops opened in recent years—mostly the off-lines of some emerging large wholesalers—mainly selling Indian perfumes, gemstones, refined cotton cloth, silk fabrics, and overseas "unique" commodities such as tea and porcelain from the East. In addition, there are some shops that grow bigger and bigger by importing goods from the East Coast or American specialties. For example, a North American businessman named George Hampton made a fortune quickly by reselling soda ash on the East Coast. Now he is building on this street. It has a large facade and is very eye-catching.

It is worth mentioning that these buildings built in recent years are quite different from the traditional English wooden structures in terms of materials and styles.In addition to using traditional wood, they also imported various building materials such as cement and asphalt from overseas, which greatly improved the fireproof and waterproof performance of the buildings, just like the brick buildings all over the east coast.

Mr. Thompson is convinced of this, and has ordered his new or renovated buildings to use new materials as much as possible.In fact, it didn't cost much, and he also invested in a building material workshop in the suburbs, which was not much more expensive than wood (who made England import wood from abroad in recent years), especially a while ago After a house fire in St. Porterph parish destroyed a whole street, Mr. Thompson became more convinced that wooden buildings were too perishable and that London's neighborhoods were too messy to plan. Well, if you're unlucky, a small fire could theoretically burn down half a London block, which would be a lot of damage.Fortunately, the high-level government has also realized this problem. Recently, some officials have begun to take people to inspect the whole of London and evaluate the safety and fire prevention status of various buildings. difficulty.

The parish of St. Vedust is coming soon.From the moment he entered the door of the parish, Mr. Thompson smelled a strong smell of smoke and the sound of metal knocking.This is the famous metal processing district in London. Although Mr. Thompson started his business with overseas trade (importing Virginia tobacco leaves), he is now investing in industries, such as building materials workshops outside London, such as those located in St. Vedust Parish. a machining workshop.

Well, to be precise, it is a workshop specializing in processing machinery and parts for the woolen textile industry.The original owner of this workshop owed Mr. Thompson a large sum of money because of the failure of the business. In the end, he had no choice but to sell the blacksmith shop, and even he himself became Thompson's employee.After Mr. Thompson took over the blacksmith shop, he invested more than [-] pounds to expand, renovate and update it. Now the company not only has forty or fifty craftsmen and apprentices, but also many mechanical processing equipment. It is the latest East Coast product, it can be said that it is not what it used to be.

"Sir, you are here." Walker, the former owner of the blacksmith shop and the current head craftsman, bowed, "Everything is running normally in the factory. Recently, we have received a lot of orders from the north, most of which are parts of spinning machinery. The business is very good. It seems that it is God's will to hand over the shop to you, because it is only under your management that she has achieved such great development."

After Mr. Morris Thompson got off the carriage, he glanced at Walker first, then looked at the craftsmen and apprentices in the workshop who were processing parts with files or simple machines, and said, "Bless God, Now the export of our country's woolen goods has increased significantly, and we have seized a lot of markets for the damn Dutch. I hope this good luck can continue, because it is the key to the prosperity of our factory. Well, you continue to work, I Look around..."

(End of this chapter)