People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 334 Leaving the whole world behind
On December 26, the sixth year of Qingli, Wang Shouzhong came to the Constitutional Yuan in the morning and reported the good news that the rubber was ready.

Zhao Jun was overjoyed and went to the back garden with many prime ministers to observe the finished product.

Zhao Zhen introduced to everyone that the finished products mentioned were processed by him, and 90% of them are rubber raw materials.

Then he added about 0.5% egg white, 1.5% resin, 8% petroleum, carbon black, clay, stone powder, sand, glue, etc. as fillers.

By mixing many materials and cooling them, a durable, strong, heat-resistant and friction-resistant rubber was finally produced.

After everyone saw the various experiments, they were full of praise for Zhao Zhen's great invention.

Although Zhao Jun believes that its quality is still far behind that of later generations of rubber tires, it is already very good.

You must know that this is an ancient society with no mechanization, no chemical engineering capabilities, no professional knowledge, and the scientific system has just been perfected.

Zhao Zhen's operation was as fierce as a tiger's, which was tantamount to exploring a way out in the darkness, which was already commendable.

At least the current rubber is much stronger than the rubber that was just used in industry in history.

This shows the significance of Watt's improved steam engine.

Among them are some doctors, teachers, and academicians from the School of Physics. There are also some newly admitted Jinshi, officials or handymen who are responsible for helping them.

someone outside the crowd shouted.

At this time, the Institute of Physics was quite lively. Many researchers heard that they had finally found a material that perfectly solved the sealing problem, and they all put down their research and ran out to watch the excitement.

Later, after many improvements in 1769, 1776, 1782, and 1785, the efficiency of the steam engine reached its highest level, which was three times higher than before.

It was not until 1825 that the steam engine improved by Watt reached a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. By 1840, it could reach 40-60 kilometers per hour.

The efficiency has been improved, so when it first started running, the steam engine could reach the speed of the steam engine after Watt's improvement.

They saw that there were about 200 people gathered around the school field, three floors away from the third floor.

At that moment, Zhao Jun immediately sent someone to send the rubber to the Institute of Physics, and at the same time sent the formula prepared by Zhao Zhen to the Institute of Chemistry to see if they could improve it better on this basis.

After Zhao Zhen showed everyone his new invention in the morning, he left the venue not long after.

Everyone gathered around the track in the center of the school grounds and stretched their necks to see if the experiment could meet the standards.

After getting the finished rubber from the Institute of Physics, they quickly started cutting and polishing the rubber, and then made a rubber ring to serve as a sealing ring for the steam engine.

When Zhao Jun came with many prime ministers, Dean Guo Shen was leading people to make final adjustments.

Because although Watt improved the steam engine in 1765 AD, his initial improvements were relatively mediocre.

Therefore, the early steam engines using copper rings and lead gaskets were not considered reliable, and their sealing and power were also seriously insufficient.

Including steam engines, they have been tested on this campus before.

He raised his head and looked into the field.

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

The Institute of Physics has done experiments before. If copper rings and lead gaskets are used for sealing, the sealing performance will be seriously insufficient and the power generated will not be enough.

Zhao Jun took Lu Yijian and others in.

In the afternoon, Zhao Jun took the prime ministers to the Institute of Physics north of the palace to see their progress there.

The research institute is very large. It used to be the residence of the Ten Princes. It has a huge school grounds, which itself is a place used for experimenting with various inventions and creations.

This is the same speed as the steam trains at the beginning of history.

The same goes for lead gaskets, which can cause leaks or even explosions due to uneven pressure.

"Everyone give way, give way, Zhiyuan and Tongzhi are here."

It was not until 1860 that Watt's steam engine became completely popular in the UK. From the initial number of more than machines, there were more than machines across the country.

He was a little tired and went back to sleep.

It can reach speeds of more than 30 kilometers per hour at first, but over time, the speed will slow down. It can only run seven or eight kilometers per hour while pulling the iron carriage, which is no different from the speed of a person trotting.

Even in 1785, after Watt's steam engine was basically perfected, it was not popular in Britain at that time.

Guo Shen, Su Song and other officials who were debugging inside immediately came over and saluted.

"I've seen the academy, and I'm a Tongzhi."

There is even a long section of track on the school grounds, and part of it has been dismantled and used as samples to be sent to the countryside to build rail tracks that will be displayed soon.

But the steam train was invented in 1814, and when it was first invented, it could only run 8 kilometers per hour.

Then the sleepers are laid on the bottom, and the rails are nailed with nails one by one on the top. The sleepers and rails are connected and laid on the ground to form a track.

The difficulty in building a steam train is whether the steam engine pulling the train can provide enough power.

Nowadays, the improvements of the Institute of Physics have been completely completed, including separate condensers, insulation layers outside the cylinder, oil-lubricated pistons, planetary gears, parallel motion linkages, centrifugal speed regulators, throttle valves, pressure gauges, safety valves etc.

"No courtesy, you can continue, don't worry."

Upon hearing that the prime ministers were coming, many research-oriented officials quickly moved out of the way.

After running for a period of time, the copper ring will be exposed to high-temperature steam for a long time. It will expand due to thermal expansion and contraction, and a large number of cracks will appear on the surface, causing serious air leakage in the steam engine.

Railway rails and iron carriages are not difficult to make. Needless to say about the carriages, the rails are made by first making the mold of the train wheels, and then the mold of the rails, so that the wheels and rails can fit together tightly.

At this time, a huge steam engine was placed on the railroad tracks at the school ground, and five iron carriages were pulled behind the steam engine.

Even if you improve the internal structure of the steam engine, the fatal problem of sealing will prevent the steam engine from being put into mass production.

Unless it's like a racing car, every time the train runs a certain distance, the steam engine changes its copper rings and lead pads when it reaches the next train station.

But that cost and time were not as good as riding a carriage, so before Watt improved it, this was an unsolvable problem.

Now that rubber has finally arrived in the Song Dynasty, the unsolvable problem of sealing is finally understood.

At this moment, Guo Shen led Su Song and others to dismantle the steam engine casing, remove the remaining copper rings and lead pads in the steam engine except the high-pressure boiler, and install the cut and polished rubber rings and rubber pads.

In addition to high-pressure boilers, the temperature of high-pressure boilers can reach more than 200 degrees, and the rubber cannot withstand it and ages easily, so copper rings are still needed inside to support it, and rubber pads can be used outside.

In this way, even if cracks appear on the surface of the copper ring due to thermal expansion and contraction, the rubber pad can ensure that the steam inside cannot escape and is still in internal circulation.

It was not until this time that Zhao Jun and many prime ministers saw clearly the internal structure of the steam engine.

It is extremely large, with the front end alone weighing more than two tons. Its main components include a reciprocating steam engine, a high-pressure boiler, a throttle valve, a centrifugal speed regulator and other large components.

There are countless other various pipes, cylinder pumps, and iron chains. The entire structure is extremely complex and dazzling, and it is completely incomprehensible to non-university science majors.

This also shocked many prime ministers, including Zhao Jun, at the power of industry, and also filled them with admiration for the researchers from the School of Physics.

Although the imperial court spared no effort to support the college, the imperial court basically gave them as much as they wanted. Raw materials such as iron, copper, and lead were piled in huge quantities.

Zhao Zhen even directly found the structure and production methods of steam engines in historical novels, which greatly saved their research time. But it's like in later generations, Big Brother Bear's experts left behind a lot of drawings before they withdrew. But without expert interpretation, our experts would not even understand what these drawings mean.

It does not mean that you can restore the structure and production methods from historical novels. This requires great wisdom and countless attempts.

In just ten years, scholars from the Institute of Physics have almost reproduced a complete steam engine, which proves that the wisdom of the ancients was far greater than we imagined, but they were just not as knowledgeable as later generations.

After about half an hour, they finally reinstalled the entire machine.

Many technical officials climbed down from the ladder regardless of the oil stains or gray on their bodies. They simply wiped it off, and then a few climbed into the front of the train and started working.

About twenty minutes later.

"Boom!"

As large amounts of coal are added to the furnace, the hot water in the boiler quickly begins to boil, and steam overflows.

"Beep beep beep beep beep."

It was a bit like the roar of a tractor, and then the more than ten iron tires below began to slowly rotate under the push of the mechanical rod, and the locomotive slowly started to start.

"Okay!"

"It's started again."

“It’s shocking every time I watch it.”

Warm cheers erupted from the surrounding crowd.

Since the School of Physics often needs to debug the performance of steam engines, it often starts trains for experiments.

But every time they watch it, they still find it extremely shocking.

The terrifying behemoth made of steel, the gray-white smoke billowing from the chimney above, the metal sparks splashing from the iron wheels on the track when braking, and the huge noise are all deeply intoxicating.

Even for someone like Zhao Jun who comes from a later generation and is used to seeing Harmony that can reach more than 300 kilometers per hour, seeing this classic steampunk is still touching.

The first industrial revolution I learned in history textbooks in middle school was the Spinning Jenny in 1765 and Watt's complete improvement of the steam engine in 1785.

I didn’t feel much about it at the time. I thought it was just history and too far away from my own life.

It's really impressive to see that this kind of power can still be operated in reality. Every leap in science and technology is really shocking, and the tens of millions of people who create these technologies are even greater.

Those princes, generals and ministers are just a fleeting flash in the pan. You sing and I come on stage. Only the people are the creators and subjects of history.

"Clap clap clap!"

Zhao Jun took the lead and started applauding.

This form is not popular in the outside world and only appears in the political system.

But he applauded, and the prime ministers began to applaud too.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding crowd of onlookers began to clap their hands with thunderous applause.

The locomotive slowly drove the carriages behind it to move faster and faster. From the initial seven or eight kilometers per hour, it quickly climbed to thirty or forty kilometers per hour, and it even tended to increase.

The school ground was already very big. The train ran farther and farther, and soon it drove a kilometer or two. Then it slowly slowed down, turned, and with the melodious sound of the flute, slowly drove to the left.

The train cannot make sharp turns, so the tracks are laid diagonally and rotate slowly. Finally, after passing through a one-kilometer-long area, they finally move back.

The sound of the rolling wheels first went from near to far, and then from far to near. The buzzing whistle seemed like a flute that suddenly came near and far away.

"Whoosh!"

When the train came back, it passed in front of Zhao Jun and others. At this time, on the straight road, it had reached the limit of power, reaching a speed of almost forty or fifty kilometers per hour.

That is to say, the site approved by the imperial court for the Institute of Physics is large enough, estimated to be the size of more than a dozen football fields. It must be three to four kilometers long and one or two kilometers wide, with a total length of twelve kilometers.

Otherwise, we really can’t give the train a place to show off its punches.

The train is still running.

Because this experiment is to test whether the rubber ring and rubber pad can ensure the sealing performance under long-term operation, it must not be stopped in a short time.

Zhao Jun and others watched for a while, then he turned to look at Lu Yijian and the others, who were still staring at the train in the distance.

"Let's go."

Zhao Jun said: "I still have official business to do in the afternoon."

"Let's go."

Lu Yijian wiped the corners of his eyes and said.

Seeing this, Li Di joked: "Will Mr. Lu Xu cry one day?"

"I am deeply moved by this great cause that has spread across the world."

Lu Yijian said seriously.

As he spoke, he felt quite emotional, looked at the roar in the distance, and said softly: "Only when you see this with your own eyes can you appreciate the greatness and shock of industry."

"Yes."

Wang Zeng, who was standing next to him, rarely added insult to injury to his old rival, but instead sighed in agreement: "Who would have thought that we would also witness this day that travels a thousand miles a day?"

"At least it's enough to see such a shock before we die."

Zhang Shixun also sighed.

Today's steam train is almost perfect. If it is direct, it can travel nearly 1,000 kilometers in 24 hours at forty kilometers per hour.

Let alone traveling a thousand miles in a day, even two thousand miles can be achieved.

That's the great thing about industry.

It is also a great proof of historical development.

Under the protection of the guards, everyone walked out of the crowd.

The roaring train behind me is still making noise.

When Zhao Jun was about to leave the Institute of Physics, he turned back and looked into the distance.

The roaring sound of "wuwuwu" continued.

If this experiment is successful.

Then the industry of the Song Dynasty will officially set sail, and it will leave the entire world behind.

(End of this chapter)