I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1093 The Pinnacle of Technology (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Because it was a bidding meeting, there weren't many people.

Krzold directed his personal guards to keep all unrelated persons outside, while Murdoch, the chief engineer of the United Steam Engine Company, personally pushed open the door to the demonstration workshop and bowed to invite the Crown Prince in.

Trevich, who was in charge of developing the cylinders and pistons, followed Joseph and continued to introduce the progress of the new steam engine model:
"...After using special steel from the Namur Royal Ironworks to make connecting rods, crankshafts, and pressure tubes, the pressure resistance was indeed significantly improved."

"In fact, we can already produce a model with a stable output of 61 horsepower. However, Mr. Murdoch believes that the power increase is limited and the cost of mass production is too high."

He was referring to the first generation of manganese steel produced by the Namur Steel Works, which significantly improved strength and wear resistance compared to ordinary high-carbon steel. Murdoch applied it to steam engines and, without making any other major adjustments, increased power output by 18%.

Trevich continued, "The biggest limitation to increasing power right now is the poor performance of cast iron boilers. If you're lucky, they can withstand 0.7 MPa of pressure, but if you're unlucky, they can only barely reach 0.5 MPa, and it's very difficult to test them in a short time."

Joseph had already heard Murdoch explain that cast iron is made by liquefying iron, pouring it into a mold made of sand, and then removing it after it cools. This process can lead to problems such as small air bubbles inside the parts during casting and uneven cooling rates in different areas, making them prone to cracking under pressure.

The solution is to use cold forging to manufacture boiler blanks, and then to use milling to make them more precise. Boilers made in this way are several times stronger than those made by casting.

Of course, in the future, we will still need to adopt the model of manufacturing boilers by rolling cold-rolled steel sheets.

Trevich gestured to Whitney, who was adjusting the milling machine:

"Our current milling machines cannot meet the processing requirements, but this tender seems to include several well-designed milling machines that may change this situation."

Joseph nodded slightly and sat down in the chair behind the judges' table.

The reason he came here to observe is because this bidding process will largely determine the progress of the development of high-power steam engines.

In fact, it's not just boilers; the manufacture of cylinders and pistons relies even more heavily on high-precision machining. Every 0.1 millimeter increase in piston precision can reduce leakage by 2% to 5%. Currently, pistons are all handcrafted by artisans—even the world's most precise milling machine, designed by the Englishman Maudsley, cannot match the precision of a skilled craftsman's hand.

Therefore, if the equipment in this tender can achieve a breakthrough, it will significantly boost the power of steam engines in France.

Whitney glanced discreetly behind the judges' table, nervously wiping the sweat from her palms on her trousers, and gestured to her assistant to operate the gearbox that would connect the steam engine and the milling machine.

Immediately, his rotary milling machine started spinning.

He fixed a cylindrical iron block to the fixture, then began to adjust the milling cutter speed and focused intently on rotating the handle to advance the worktable.

Iron filings flew everywhere, and the cylindrical iron block immediately lost a corner.

Whitney then turned the other handle, shifting the block slightly to a different angle, and brought it closer to the milling cutter.

Murdoch, sitting to Joseph's left, widened his eyes and exclaimed in a low voice:

"This machine can mill curved surfaces directly onto a workpiece! It's amazing!"

Joseph, the only one in the room who had seen CNC lathes in later generations, remained relatively calm; the other judges and technicians were clearly more shocked than Murdoch.

Murdoch clenched his fists: "Now the boiler pipe connections won't need welding..."

Trevichk excitedly chimed in, "Yes, we can just mill it out directly. That eliminates one of the most problematic areas!"

Seeing that His Highness the Crown Prince remained calm, Murdoch assumed he didn't understand the importance of the matter and quickly explained:

"Your Highness, rivets cannot be used at the connection between the boiler and the pipes, so welding is the only option, which is very unreliable."

“Using this milling machine, we can directly leave protrusions on the boiler and mill them into pipe fittings. Then, the pipes can be riveted to the fittings, significantly improving their pressure resistance!” Joseph nodded.

He remembered that the milling machines his father used in the royal workshop could only move in straight lines, but this one was obviously much more flexible and precise, probably equivalent to a five-axis CNC lathe of this era.

Before long, Whitney, covered in sweat, removed the workpiece from the fixture and showed it to the judges.

The dark, grimy iron block had now been milled into the shape of a hunting dog.

Several judges were so excited that they gathered around, nodding and praising him repeatedly.

A technician, referring to Whitney's workpiece drawings, began measuring the "Iron Dog" with a micrometer and continuously recording the data on paper.

After a while, he handed the test data to the reviewers:
"Highest 0.25 mm, lowest 0.6 mm, Mr. Depardieu."

Murdoch and Trevithick both showed expressions of regret upon hearing this.

A precision of 0.6 millimeters is far from meeting their processing requirements.

Yes, Whitney became very nervous because of the Crown Prince's presence and was completely unable to achieve the machine's highest precision of 0.4 millimeters.

“The design of this milling machine is excellent,” Murdoch sighed. “Hopefully they can continue to improve it.”

The bidding presentation ended an hour and a half later.

Judge Depardieu respectfully placed a stack of tender documents in front of Joseph and said:

"Your Highness, of all five milling machines, the one designed by the Lenoir watchmaking factory can achieve an accuracy of 0.2 millimeters."

"Our initial assessment is that this company should win the bid."

Joseph frowned as he stood before the Lenoir prototype.

This milling machine looks a bit strange. Compared to traditional milling machines, it has a large number of limit switches and uses a very fine spiral feed device.

He told Depardieu, "I want to talk to the designer of this milling machine."

"Yes, Your Highness, I'll go and fetch him right away."

A moment later, the Lenoir brothers approached Joseph and bowed very formally.

Joseph then voiced his doubts directly: "How exactly does it achieve such high precision? It seems very different from common milling machines."

Philippe Lenoir quickly replied, "It is an improvement I made using watchmaking equipment, Your Highness."

He then pointed to his brother: "Thanks to Jacques' discovery of an extremely hard waste material during his experiments, bearings and gears made from it have very little deformation, and screws can be made very fine, all of which can greatly reduce tolerances."

Jacques Lenoir reminded him from the side, "Brother, there's also a milling cutter."

"Oh, right, milling cutters. These milling cutters made of steel are exceptionally sharp and extremely accurate when milling."

　Thank you to the following generous donors for their generous donations to this book: Fish's Bear Claw, Happy and Lucky, Joyful Time_DE, Nickname Cannot Be Used, eldll Southeast Branch, and Book Friend 202503314359! The author is deeply grateful and loves you all!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)