I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1059 Whitney's Attack
Yes, tools like pliers and wrenches, which seem insignificant to people in later generations, needed to be customized in this era.

Not only is it expensive, but if the technician wants to get the right tools, he will probably have to work with the blacksmith to make it, which will take at least ten days.

As for why blacksmith shops don’t produce in bulk?
Because each technician has different habits, mass-produced products will most likely not be sold.

For example, the simplest wrench. In most countries, each company uses its own screw specifications. How big of an opening do you make a wrench? And some screws have hexagonal heads, and some have triangular heads, which are completely incompatible.

Therefore, only technicians can customize it, draw the wrench drawings, and hand them over to the blacksmith before the latter can start work.

Historically, the United States has copied a large number of British machines, but because there were no supporting tools, many of them could not be put into use even if they were made.

But the situation in France is completely different.

France has unified standard measurement units and implemented industrial standardized production for many years. From production standards to tool standards, there is a complete set of specification documents.

Like pliers.

Straight, curved, pointed, all have strict standards from materials to production processes. And divided into M1 to M20, a total of 20 specifications, the size increases in sequence, to meet all production requirements.

The blacksmith shop only needs to produce according to the standards issued by the government to ensure that technicians will come to buy - factories also produce in a standardized manner, and technicians must use standard tools.

A technician wants to use a square head screw? Sorry, first of all, it is not available on the market; secondly, you can't find a wrench that can tighten it. Because the French standard stipulates that all screws must use hexagonal heads.

On the other hand, blacksmith shops can mass-produce tools according to standard specifications, which is at least five or six times cheaper than custom-made ones, thereby reducing the investment of technicians and thus reducing the factory's production costs.

Low cost brings high competitiveness.

It took Whitney only 20 minutes to select the complete set of tools he needed. He remembered that it took him about half a month to customize the tools in the United States.

Then he began to study the tools on the counter that he had never seen before.

"This is a pipe bender, sir." The shop assistant introduced it to him, "It's a hand-cranked grinding wheel with a flywheel inside. It's very useful..."

Whitney picked up another very delicate "P" shaped tool: "What is this used for?"

"Micrometer screw. Invented by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, it can measure 0.01 mm in length by combining the pitch of the thread with the graduation of the movable scale." The shop assistant glanced at his shocked expression, took the micrometer screw and demonstrated, "Look, do this, then this, and you can read the result from here..."

Whitney fiddled with the delicate tool and suddenly slapped his forehead: "If we imitate this design of the workpiece feeding device, the processing accuracy can be improved several times!"

He threw the micrometer into the tools he had just selected. "Add this. How much is it in total?"

The clerk looked up and calculated in his mind for a while, then said, "53 francs, sir."

"What?!" Whitney's eyes widened. "53 francs?"

He had thought that such a large set of tools would cost at least a hundred dollars, or 250 francs, but he didn't expect it would only cost one-fifth of that.

The shop assistant thought he thought it was too expensive, so he explained: "The micrometer is quite expensive, sir. You know, it requires extremely high machining accuracy. If you don't want it, the other tools are 30 francs in total."

Without hesitation, the American threw down a handful of banknotes and motioned for the servant to carry dozens of kilograms of tools and get on the carriage.

He himself held the micrometer and fiddled with it carefully.

Four days later, Whitney's talent certificate was signed.

Pere, an official from the Talent Committee, personally delivered the certification documents to the hotel where he was staying, and then politely asked:
"If you need any help, please feel free to come to the Academy of Sciences to find me." Whitney hesitated for a moment and said:
"Well, can you help me find a job? Anything related to machining is fine. The salary doesn't have to be too high. As long as I can use the company's work shed after get off work, that's fine."

Perret seemed a little surprised: "Mr. Whitney, are you short of money?"

"It's... not bad..."

"But why... I mean, you can focus more on research and development."

The Talent Committee provides these talents with high allowances so that they will not be distracted by livelihood issues.

Whitney said with a bitter face: "I want to develop a milling machine. But I don't have a workshop, and I don't have enough money to buy raw materials. So I want to find a job in machining, so that I can solve two problems at the same time."

Perret blinked. "Why don't you apply for the 'Funds for Advancing New Technologies'?"

"Huh? What is that?"

Perret glanced at Whitney's manservant. "Mr. Bastien, didn't you remind Mr. Whitney to read the Rights and Duties of the Superior?"

"I...I'm sorry. It was my negligence."

Perret took out the book Rights and Obligations that he carried with him from his bag, turned to page 20, and said with a smile, "You should read this, it will be helpful to you.

“You need to prepare a technical description of the technology you want to develop, as well as a research and development plan, and then submit it to the Talent Committee. If it is approved, you can get government funding.”

Whitney's eyes widened: "Really?"

"Of course." Perret was obviously very experienced, "As long as your technology is valuable, you can usually apply for 500 to 2000 francs of start-up capital.

"The Talent Committee will evaluate your progress several times and then decide whether to continue the funding."

This is of course also the scientific research support model that Joseph brought over from later generations.

The annual funding for promoting new technologies is only 500,000 to 600,000 francs. If one or two of them are successful, this amount of money can be earned back several times or even dozens of times.

After Perret left, Whitney almost cried with excitement.

He once invested all his fortune in a cotton gin, but ended up in a huge debt.

And now, the French government is actually paying for its own inventions for nothing!

God, is this the paradise you gave to all technicians?
Whitney's application was approved in just 20 days, and then he received the first 1400 francs of funding.

The talent committee even recommended several skilled technicians as assistants to him and helped him rent a workshop as a laboratory.

This allowed Whitney's research and development work to proceed at full speed immediately.

The only thing that made him a little uncomfortable was that from that day on, there would always be two bodyguards following him at all times, and another person would always be guarding the laboratory.

Perhaps Whitney's enthusiasm for research and development had been suppressed for too long, and this time it suddenly burst out, and his efficiency was frighteningly high.

Just over two months later, he and his assistants built the first scaled wooden model aircraft.

(End of this chapter)