Relying on the current industrial foundation of Jinheguo, can we build steam engines and after-installed rifled guns? Hong Tao feels that the difficulty of these two types of machinery is not in technology, but in thinking and materials.

The steam engine has actually been built, but it is not now. Wen Xiaoqi has already built it two years ago. It is directly a steam engine with a two-cylinder link and a flywheel, which is more perfect than the single-cylinder steam engine of Nükmen.

This kind of machinery is not difficult. As long as you understand the principle and general structure, and have enough materials and time, you can find the right size and structure by slowly trying it over and over again. Wen Xiaoqi used this method and tried it for four or five years before finally finalizing it. Hong Tao had never seen what the Watt steam engine looked like. He felt that the steam engines made by Wen Xiaoqi were mostly better than the early steam engines of Watt. Because they could already drive several looms to connect, and the output power was much higher than the steam engines used by Watt to pump water back then. And there was also a simple pressure relief device, so people no longer needed to manually switch the faucet to relieve pressure by relying on their experience.

But its efficiency is still not high enough. To use this steam engine to power ships, trains and large-scale machinery, one problem must be solved, which is sealing. The sealing work in later generations relies on metal processing technology and rubber sealing gaskets. Both of these things are not available in the Jinhe Empire at present.

To improve the accuracy of metal processing, you must get out various machine tools. Qi Zu and the others have been working on this thing, but it has not made much progress. There are only some simple manual machine tools, such as manual milling machines for drilling rifles, manual drilling machines for drilling holes and manual machinery for wire-covering. There is only one reason, without the power to replace manual work, so it is impossible to test the stability of the machine tool and the cutting ability of the tool at high speeds.

There is rubber material, but around the tribe in the picture, the local Indians used rubber tree sap on their clothes and used the roof as a means of rain protection. It was not new, but rubber trees were not artificially planted. However, since a few years ago, under Hong Tao's arrangement, they were also deliberately planting and domesticating this wild tree, and it is estimated that it will be produced in small batches in a few years.

In fact, other gums can be used instead of rubber, such as Eucommia ulmoides. Its properties are similar to rubber. The gum used by Wen Xiaoqi to seal the steam engine is this kind of gum, and it is indeed used for pipe points. After a long time and the temperature rises, the gum will soften and become sticky.

Whether it is natural rubber or natural Eucommia ulmoides, there will be such problems. They need to be plasticized, smelted, vulcanized, and molded before they can become high temperature resistant, corrosion-resistant and highly plasticized industrial rubber.

Among these processing technologies, the most important thing is vulcanization. Sulfur molecules can form a bridge structure between the molecules of raw rubber, a natural polymer, which is scientifically called crosslinking. Raw rubber without a vulcanization process is almost the same as having or not. The reason why rubber becomes an important auxiliary material in the industrial era is that the vulcanization process has changed its properties for it.

If Hong Tao hadn't dared to vulcanize rubber in the past few years, this process technology would not be difficult, but it would require some chemical synthesis materials. However, the empire has a preliminary chemical industry, which can purify sulfur, use petroleum to make carbon black, distillate tar from pine wood, and extract rosin with chemical solvents.

With these raw materials and additives, the rubber vulcanization process has hope of completing. Of course, this is just theoretical. Whether it can be successful or not is the same word. Try it! Keep experimenting and then find the path to success. This job doesn’t have to be done by Hong Tao himself. With technical madmen like Qi Zu and Wen Xiaoqi, coupled with the chemical genius like Bush, the result is still very optimistic.

After hearing Hong Tao's solution to the insufficient power of the steam engine, Wen Xiaoqi felt that his decision to follow His Majesty was really correct. Without His Majesty's brain, even if he had studied until he died in Jinhe City and had endless R&D funds, he would never have thought that the gum could be vulcanized with these inconspicuous raw materials. As for whether the gum after vulcanization would be as heat-resistant, wear-resistant and aging-resistant as Hong Tao said, Wen Xiaoqi felt that this was certain. Since His Majesty said it, it must be done, and it has never been done.

"I'll go find Boss Xu. His boat is too slow. If it's really not possible, let's take my boat to Cape Town first and let His Majesty's family follow the big boat." At this time, Wen Xiaoqi suddenly felt that the boat was too slow. One day he would have to get to Cape Town Port. He didn't want to wait for an hour and wanted to fly over directly.

"Wait first! After all, I am your elder. Your Majesty calls me uncle. Why don't you take me seriously? Your problem has been solved, what about mine!" Before Wen Xiaoqi could stand up, he was pressed back by Qi Zu. The old man was unhappy, very unhappy, because Wen Xiaoqi's problem was solved, and he had not yet. What should he do if he had the rear-loading gun?

"Uncle Qi, I think you are in the right direction, but your thinking is a bit limited. It is too difficult to open and close this bolt-type blaster, and it is very troublesome to process. Once the blaster leaks, the high-temperature gas will burn the threads. Maybe it won't even be twisted after the blaster is turned on. Even if it can be turned on, don't you think this blaster is slower to use than the front-loading shell? The rifled gun is as far away as the rifled gun and is accurate, but the reloading speed is too slow, which is not very good. Do you think it's right?" The rear-loading gun made by Qi Zu is actually very similar to the technology of later generations. Scientific research on this thing stops monsters, which seems to be more stubborn than the direction of history. Some things go around and they will always go around one.

In human history, when people first started to carry out post-cannon loading, some people used similar methods to Qi Zu. To put it bluntly, they imitated the principle of screws and nuts, treated the tail of the cannon as a large nut, and then used a screw plug to screw it in and block it, so that the shells can be loaded from the back and then sealed.

However, this method has a big flaw, that is, the loading speed is not fast at all. The reason for loading from the rear of the cannon is mainly to increase the firing speed of the cannon and solve the problem of the difficulty of rifled guns being loaded from the front. Using threaded blasting bolts solves the problem of rear-loading but does not solve the loading speed problem. In addition, the threads cannot effectively seal the barrel, so this method cannot become a reasonable solution for rear-loading guns.

"...then it's so useless? Is there any way to improve it? I also use the vulcanized glue you told Xiaoqi to seal it as a gasket? If the thread is deeper, reduce it a few times, and train more, the filling speed may be raised." Qi Zu felt that Hong Tao had everything he said to the point. This kind of bolt that was screwed in like a screw does have these shortcomings, but he was unwilling to give up. After fiddling with it for more than two years, was it all in vain?

"No need to be useless, we don't need gum sealing. I roughly know a few ways that may work. I'll draw it now. After you finish reading it, let's think about how to improve it." This time, Hong Tao spoke very modestly and did not dare to take a big bag and pat his chest to guarantee it. It's not that he doesn't want to, but that he can't. Because he has never been exposed to the artillery thing after installing a gun. He has not been used as an artillery or a military worker. Who can touch the bolts of the cannons after installing a cannon? He can't even touch it if he wants to!

"Hehehe, I'll just say that there is nothing you don't know in this world. Xiaoqi, see it, Your Majesty will give you an idea. There are only a few people here, and you can still choose! Go and find Boss Xu quickly, you don't need you here." Hong Tao felt that he was already very modest, but Qi Zu didn't think so. He and several masters had been thinking about the problems that had been two years ago. When he arrived at Hong Tao, there were several solutions. If this was still modest, then those who specialize in making cannons should not live, let's die.

"I won't go, I'll listen too!" Wen Xiaoqi and Qi Zu, the old and young, were born rivals. Since they were ministers and deputy ministers, they have been competing in secret every day, and no one wants to let the other party be in the limelight. Now they are seven or eight years older, and their positions have changed, but their personalities have not changed at all, and they are still competing.
Chapter completed!