In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 362 The Steam Engine

In the fifth year of Dahua Shenwu, just after the first month, two groups of envoys sent to Europe and the Ottoman Empire left the capital and officially embarked on the road of envoys.

This is a major event of great significance and milestone. Before leaving, Lin Rui also held a major ceremony, which was attended by almost all civil and military officials above the seventh rank in Beijing.

After all, this was the first time that the Chinese Dynasty sent an envoy to distant Europe. It was also hailed by later generations as the beginning of China's expansion into the world and the liberation of all mankind.

With the departure of the envoy, the great Emperor Shenwu also felt a sense of urgency in his heart, but Lin Rui also knew that no matter how urgent it was, he had to do it step by step.

Because Dahua's maritime power is too weak, if there are Spanish and Dutch shipbuilding and navigation technology now, the Ottoman Empire, with China's strong strength, can take control of it in minutes.

Therefore, Lin Rui is planning to build two large shipyards in Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi at the same time.

Similarly, Lin Rui also knows that what will prevent Dahua from going global and conquering the world in the future is not the so-called powerful empires, nor the rough sea, nor Dahua's own lack of strength, but transportation and communications.

If these two points are not solved, conquering the world will be wishful thinking. In terms of transportation, it can be solved as long as the steam engine is invented. For communication, wired telegraphy and wireless telegraphy are needed.

Lin Rui concentrated on developing the steam engine from the very beginning, and he explained the principle in great detail. In addition, the precision and quality of the bearing spring screws were getting better and better, and he also came up with rubber gaskets. So after several years of exploration, The initial steam engine has already been developed, and I believe it won’t be long before the Industrial Supervisor will send good news.

After all, the piston reciprocating steam engine is complicated to say the least, but it is quite simple to say simple. As long as there are bearings, screws and rubber gaskets, it is not difficult to build it. The difficulty is to be able to put it into use.

Unfortunately, compared to the steam engine, the telegraph machine was much more difficult, because Lin Rui himself knew little about it, so after several years, hundreds of craftsmen were still blind, and they only came up with the most rudimentary power generation device, and the battery for storing electricity was Still tinkering.

Lin Rui was quite helpless about this. He had to go to the Electrical Research Institute almost every once in a while to check on the progress, which put a lot of pressure on the craftsmen.

At this moment, Lin Rui came to the Electrical Research Institute dressed in casual clothes and remained silent beside the waterwheel generator set up.

Today's industrial supervision is becoming more and more bloated, and the expenses are increasing day by day. There are chemical research institutes, mechanical research institutes, firearms research institutes, electrical research institutes, ship design institutes, and even physics research institutes.

It is divided into dozens of research institutes, each with its own independent base, and the total number of people is nearly [-].

Almost all of these research institutes have moved out of the Imperial City, and the Imperial City's Industrial Supervisor has become a headquarters serving these research institutes, specializing in finding various talents and materials for each research institute, scheduling funds, ensuring logistics, etc. .

Not only is the entire department huge, but the rules and rewards system has also become very complete, and it is no longer the grass-roots team it used to be.

The power of this primitive generator set was frighteningly low. As for how low it was, it was impossible to measure it. Even so, half of the credit was attributed to Lin Rui.

Lin Rui also knew that researching electricity now would be a bit of a rush. After all, the first industrial revolution was the steam age, and then it entered the electrical age.

But Dahua has now been able to extract concentrated sulfuric acid in batches. It seems that it is not difficult to tinker with batteries. The principle of a generator is also simple. Tungsten filament bulbs and leather wires can also be made if you are willing to put in effort and effort. , after all, he knows some of these things, and there are no complicated principles.

That's why Lin Rui planned to launch steam and electric together. After all, they are both on the same starting line now.

However, Lin Rui also knows that generators, lights, and batteries may be built within ten years, but voltages, transformers, etc. will definitely not be built in a short time, but if they are not done, they will never understand it.

As for the telegraph machine, we can only explore it slowly. As long as we can build a steam engine and have a train, within twenty or thirty years, we can use trains to communicate, and with China's unique imperial power culture, we should be able to barely control the huge telegraph machine. Territory.

"Keep working hard, I'm waiting for your good news!" So after walking around the Electrical Research Institute and finding that he had nothing to point out, Lin Rui turned his attention to the Mechanical Research Institute, especially the development of steam engines. on the project.

"Your Majesty, this steam engine can already perform reciprocating motion for a long time as Your Majesty originally said, but the force is too small, at most it can only have the strength of a horse."

"Yes, Your Majesty, what is going on? Originally, we thought that the cylinder was too small, so we directly cast such a big bell and used it as a cylinder, but it was still unsatisfactory!"

"In the past, it could be said that it was caused by air leakage, but now we have replaced it with rubber gaskets, and the interface has been completely sealed!"

As soon as Lin Rui arrived, hundreds of craftsmen's apprentices gathered around him, asking questions in all directions.

Apparently, everyone was so obsessed that they almost forgot the etiquette between monarch and ministers.

Lin Rui's face twitched as he looked at the steam engine, which was still reciprocating.

Because the cylinder is really too big, five meters high, rough and rough. It looks like it is made of bronze. It weighs eight thousand kilograms at less than ten thousand. Plus the boiler, pistons and other components, the whole set of equipment. It occupies a whole house, and the total weight is probably more than [-] kilograms.

It occupies such a huge area, is so heavy, and the output power is only one horsepower. It is really unacceptable, let alone put into practical use.

Lin Rui ignored the doubts of these craftsmen's apprentices, but looked around this set of steam piston reciprocating equipment for several times before saying:

"This should not be a problem with the size of the cylinder, but a problem with the air pressure. The air pressure is too small, so no matter how much steam is output, there will be no power."

After saying that, I thought of the pressure cooker in my previous life.

"Air pressure?"

"Your Majesty, what is air pressure?"

Everyone looked confused. You looked at me, I looked at you, and finally they all looked at Lin Rui.

That thirst for knowledge made Lin Rui nod with satisfaction. Although these people's knowledge and culture were not good enough, they at least had the spirit of a scientist.

Then he patiently explained to them: "This air pressure..."

Only then did Lin Rui realize that he had neglected such an important thing. He didn't even explain the air pressure to them clearly and just asked them to build a steam engine. It was really too careless.

However, according to the current situation, as long as the air pressure problem is solved and the pressure gauge is calculated and produced, the steam engine is basically completed. The next step is to integrate, miniaturize, and integrate as much as possible, and then it can be put into practical use.

So for the next period of time, Lin Rui practically lived in the Mechanical Research Institute, and worked hard with the craftsmen, vowing to build a practical steam engine within this year.

At the same time, the waters outside Tianjin were densely populated with warships. Dahua's three fleets almost all came out and headed towards North Korea under the personal command of Navy Minister Zheng Zhilong.

(End of this chapter)