Wentang

Chapter 701 The Steam Engine

Hearing that it was both great and difficult, Tian Shungu was very excited and found fourteen teachers and students as quickly as possible.

"Dean, they are the best talents in my School of Physics. If you have any tasks, just tell me."

Looking at the group of old and young, Yue Shan nodded and said: "I want you to make a machine called a steam engine."

"What is a steam engine?"

"You come with me."

Yue Shan led them to a stove with a boiled kettle on it.

"This white water mist is called water vapor. You can see that the steam generated by boiling the kettle can push the lid of the kettle away. This is the power of steam. What I want you to build is a machine that can use this power to push the mill and pull the cart. .”

"Huh?" Everyone was dumbfounded.

"This... this... Dean, how could there be such a machine... No, I mean you think too highly of us, we can't make this kind of machine." Tian Shungu said.

"I know it's not easy to make this kind of thing, don't worry, I'll give you a hint, you just follow it and improve it." Yue Shan said.

"Oh, then I can rest assured." Tian Shungu wiped off the sweat from being scared, and said.

This is the design drawing I drew, you can make things according to the above method first.

The eyes of Tian Shungu and the others lit up immediately, and they snatched away the design drawings, and whispered together to discuss the strange things on it.

At the beginning, Yue Shan planned to imitate Watt's steam engine, because he had seen the schematic diagram in the history books, and he probably knew what was going on, and he should be able to build it after slowly studying and trial-and-error.

However, the book "Mysterious Island" reminded him that maybe some inconspicuous thing he saw in his previous life could solve a big problem.

So he sorted out all the memories of his previous life again.

As a result, he really thought of a lot of useful things, one of which was related to the steam engine.

He once saw a mini steam engine on a shopping website, made of all glass, with a total length of only about [-] centimeters.

The structure is very simple, just a water tank the size of a teacup, two pipes connected to the middle piston, and a big wheel behind it.

With alcohol as fuel, of course, you can light a few candles if you are not afraid of the glass water tank being blackened.

Because this mini steam engine is made of all glass and completely transparent, you can clearly see how the steam engine works, full of alternative steampunk-style aesthetics.

He couldn't help but want to buy one to take home, but the family seems to be made of special wear-resistant and high-temperature resistant glass, and he is not willing to buy one for a few hundred yuan.

But he has watched the video several times, and he is very clear about the structure, so it is no problem to draw it now.

Of course, the structure of this steam engine is simple and the power is not very high. It is completely used as a work of art for appreciation. It is impossible to use it to drive trains and ships in industry.

But this is a key, through which others can intuitively understand what a steam engine is, and then improve it.

The ones selected by Tian Shungu are indeed excellent talents. I don't know about the theory, but their hands-on ability is definitely first-class.

All the parts were built before noon, except that instead of glass they were made of copper.

After assembling all the components together according to the design drawings, various problems arose.

For example, the valves that adjust the air outlet and intake air are not coordinated, for example, the piston is a bit small and the gap between the cylinders is a bit large...

It took another half a day to adjust, and a miniature steam engine similar to Yue Shan's memory appeared in front of him.

The next step is to test, fill the water tank with boiling water, and ignite the alcohol in the fire nest under the water tank.

Everyone stared at the steam engine intently, looking forward to witnessing the moment of history.

After a while, there was the sound of boiling water... However, the piston part just shook a few times and remained motionless.

Yue Shan is not surprised by this, but it would be strange if he succeeds once.He came to the piston to check the situation, and found that there was a serious air leak at the valve of the air inlet and outlet.

If there is rubber, this problem is easy to solve. A few rubber mats are enough. If there is no rubber, you can only think of other ways.

But fortunately, this is just a mini steam engine, the air leakage problem can be easily solved, just get some kraft glue or something to stuff it in.

Then he turned the rear wheel by hand again, and found an obvious sense of blockage, which should be due to incomplete polishing of the cylinder and piston with burrs.

This problem can also be solved, just put some cooking oil in it, and then turn the wheel back and forth to rub and rub it.

Now there is no problem at all, with the steam gushing the piston starts to move, and then the rear wheels start to rotate under the push of the connecting rod.

"It's moving, it's really moving." Tian Shungu and others exclaimed in surprise.

Yue Shan was also very happy, the steam engine was finally built, although it was just a miniature toy.

"The dean is indeed the dean, with unpredictable abilities." Looking at the wheels turning faster and faster, Tian Shungu praised.

"..." Yue Shan was very speechless, would he praise others?What is unpredictable?It's obviously a scientific thing, so don't make it the same as fortune-telling.

"Now you know what a steam engine is. But this steam engine is the simplest kind. The power is too low to be practical. What I want you to build is a steam engine that can drive thousands of pounds of heavy vehicles."

"Don't worry, Dean, we will definitely build the steam engine you mentioned." Tian Shungu and others clapped their chests and said.

Without seeing the real thing, they have no confidence at all, and even think it is a fantasy.If it wasn't for Yue Shan who said this, they would definitely think that the other party was looking for trouble.

Now that I have seen the real thing and understand how the steam engine works, my attitude has naturally changed.I understand the principle, is it difficult to imitate and improve?

In fact, it is not easy.

We must know that the steam engine first appeared around the first century AD, and it took more than 700 years of development to create the first practical steam engine.

On this basis, it took Watt 20 years to improve the mature steam engine that set off the industrial revolution.

But Tian Shungu and others are also lucky. Although the structure of this mini steam engine made by Yueshan is simple, the design idea adopts a reciprocating steam structure.

It directly skipped the previous 700 years of experience accumulation and reached the level of the first industrial revolution.

As long as they are not stupid enough to change the piston structure, they can always design a practical steam engine with a little more time.

Yue Shan himself didn't know anything about this. He didn't know the specific development history of the steam engine at all, nor did he know its structural principles.It's just been seen that the real thing is copied.

Seeing the simple structure of the mini steam engine, he thought that the low technical content would also be poor and impractical.As everyone knows, the structure he considers too simple is the optimal structure that the West took more than 700 years to figure out.

It can be said that Datang's steam engine has almost stood at the end from the moment it appeared.No matter how it is improved in the future, the core structure of the piston and the inlet and outlet valves will not change qualitatively.

The history of previous lives has proved this point.

Even so, it is not an easy task for a group of laymen and novices to build a practical steam engine, and the level of craftsmanship can make them suffer a lot.

"By the way, when building a large steam engine, try to use steel instead of copper. Copper is too soft and unusable. You must also use good steel, otherwise the cylinder will be blown up." Yue Shan reminded again.

Then he went home with this miniature steam engine.

What?You asked him to take away the steam engine and how would others do experiments?
Naturally, a new one was built. Anyway, they had already made one and had the blueprints in hand, so it was not difficult to copy.

This is the first steam engine in the world and has great collection value.And in his previous life, he was very greedy for this thing, and now he has finally fulfilled his dream.

Although not as good-looking as made of all-glass, it is also more metal-mechanical.

Li Lizhi was very curious to see him come back with such a copper bump, and Yue Shan immediately showed off.

Get hot water, burn alcohol, and soon the wheels behind the machine start to turn.

Li Lizhi's eyes widened immediately, she was very surprised, which fully satisfied Yue Shan's show-off mentality.

After showing off, he came to the study and placed the mini steam engine in the most conspicuous position, making sure that he could see it as soon as he entered the room.

Excited at dinner, he ate more than a dozen oysters and two big bowls of rice in one go.

The following days were a little calm, nothing major happened to the court, and various reforms were carried out in an orderly manner.

The academic world is still lively, but nothing major has happened that affects the entire academic world.The main reason is that Wang Ji is busy instigating the famous figures of the new school to make a big move, and has not teased the ancient school for the time being.

Yue Shan usually gives lectures to students in liberal arts classes, and gives advice to the four major disciplines of science to help them improve their theoretical system.

Occasionally, I will give pointers on the construction of the study style of Yellow Crane Academy from a distance, lest they go astray.

Of course, his main effort is still on the research of the steam engine, which is the big killer that changes the times.

Facts have proved that although Tian Shungu is a talent, he is not the kind of genius who can lead the times. His brain is too dead.

Asking him to transform the steam engine, he researched and researched and finally only came up with an enlarged version of the 'mini machine'.

It's not impossible to do this, the problem is that the three structures are completely separated and take up too much space.Using this method to build a train, the locomotive alone can be 30 meters long.

Yue Shan had to do it himself, telling them that the water tank could be flattened and stretched and placed on top of the cylinder and transmission wheel.Wouldn't this save at least one-third of the space?

Tian Shungu and others made a look of sudden realization, and said in surprise: So it can still be like this, the longer you are, the smarter you are.

Yue Shan likes to listen to flattery, but this flattery does not give him any sense of accomplishment.

Fortunately, they were not so stupid that they could not be saved. This reminder from Yue Shan seemed to have opened up their brain circuits, and they came up with several good ideas one after another.

After more than two months, they finally built a steam engine that was about the same size as a later generation tractor.

Using this steam engine to drive the stone mill, the speed is faster than that of ten donkeys, which makes everyone cheer.

However, they were not happy for long, and the steam engine fell apart after only running for more than two hours.

Yue Shan checked and found that the cause of the problem was simple but it was troublesome to solve.

The reason is that this steam engine is completely assembled, and the places that need to be fixed are all made of iron wires. It is unexpected that it can run for more than two hours.

The solution is also very simple, screws.

The trouble is that a set of screw standards and related tools need to be redesigned.

No wonder some people say that the most important thing is to develop the foundation of career, and now he realizes it.

Speaking of this, I would like to thank Taizu again. If he hadn't learned the method of blast furnace steelmaking from him, Yueshan would not be able to make high-quality steel. Without suitable steel, even if he knew the structure of the steam engine, he would not be able to make it.

In fact, making some random screws can make things easier, but Yue Shan didn't do that.Every step they take today will directly affect the future development, and formulating a set of screw standards can avoid many troubles in the future.

So he spent more than half a month leading people to formulate screw standards, and then came up with various tools.

With the assembly of the screw steam engine, the problem of assembling the steam engine was finally solved. This time, the test machine ran for seven or eight hours before there was any problem.

What went wrong was the seal.

Yueshan used something like kraft glue to seal it. The general joints were fine, and problems soon occurred in high-temperature parts such as cylinders, gas pipelines, and boilers.

The kraft glue is not resistant to high temperature, it will either be baked or dried and cracked, so it can't play the role of sealing.

A group of people used various things to seal it, but it didn't work.Someone even came up with the idea of ​​using rope as a sealing material, but of course it failed.

When everyone was helpless, a student named Guo Chaoshui in the team suddenly said: "Brass is quite soft, why don't we try to use it."

Everyone thought he was talking nonsense, copper is still metal even if it is soft, how can it be used as a sealing material?Just ignore him, even Yue Shan feels unreliable.

However, he himself did not give up. He measured and cut the copper gasket and installed it on the machine by himself.Then something happened that surprised and ashamed everyone. The machine ran for a whole day and night without any air leakage.

The iron-like fact makes people have to believe that copper can really be used as a gasket.

At this time, Yue Shan also vaguely remembered that when he was a child, the gasket used for the cylinder of the tractor at home seemed to be made of copper, but it was quickly changed to a black one.

Because of the long time, he had forgotten about it, and only now did he vaguely remember it.

Then everyone apologized to him, and Yue Shan personally commended him, saying that he was a great hero and this matter must be written in the school history.

Guo Chaoshui was so excited that he was about to cry.

After solving the sealing problem, the steam engine is considered to be fully formed, and the next step is various tests.

For example, limit test without stopping to see how long it can run.

However, everyone was not idle during the test, and built a brand new steam engine.I was very particular about the production this time, and every procedure strived for perfection...

The purpose is to formulate a standard process, even people who don't understand can copy it according to this process.

After a week of limit testing, a new problem occurred, the piston was severely worn.

At first, Yue Shan thought it was a steel problem, but after careful observation, he found that it was a lubrication problem.

In the absence of a dedicated lube, they add canola oil.Under the condition of continuous operation, the rapeseed oil has long been consumed, and the piston and cylinder are damaged after being rubbed hard.

This problem is difficult to solve, where to get lubricating oil?In the end, we can only make a compromise, reserve a port for refueling, and stop every day or two to refuel.

In this way, the problem has indeed been alleviated. As for the appropriate lubricating oil, we will find a solution later.

This time the steam engine ran for more than half a month without any problems.Counting back and forth, this test machine has been in operation for a month, and the quality should be fine.

So Yue Shan decided to carry out the second experiment, get a steam car to see.

(End of this chapter)