Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 719 Steam Engine Test

Li Chengqian's conjecture was not wrong at all. The reason why the research team invited Li Chengqian to be there was to ask him to send soldiers to block the Weihe waterway for a period of time.

Because today, the R&D team will not only demonstrate the pumping function of a working model machine, but also do a steamboat application experiment. At present, the research and development of steam engines is a core secret technology in Datang, which has not passed. The model machine whose packaging obscures its working principle cannot be seen by any irrelevant people. Although it is not a person who specializes in this research, it may not be able to understand its principle, but it should be just in case.

There are too many boats on the Weihe River, which will inevitably cause unnecessary congestion or affect business. According to the actual situation, Li Chengqian put the test site in the Jinghe River, where there are fewer boats upstream. The research team put everything, They all loaded the boat, walked for half a day, and after arriving at the designated location, they began to work. Li Junxian had already spread out his hands before them, and blocked a section of the twenty-mile-long river here.

On the big ship, Li Chengqian looked at the thigh-thick cast iron pipes on the deck and asked, "Marseille, how can these iron pipes pump water?"

Marseille replied, "These pipes are just connecting the pumping pipes from the lower part to the upper part. We need to connect them with screws and rubber pads first, and extend the lower part with the screen into the water."

"Pumping water from the bottom up?"

"Exactly, the main application function of this water pump is to pump the water in the low river channel into the farmland, or pump out the water in some deep mines, so that it is convenient for workers to mine. If it is not for the current rubber There are not many reserves, and it is actually more cost-effective to use rubber tubes.

According to our previous estimates, after it is running, it can pump water up to at least 30 meters directly. If the water pipe is placed at a low angle, it can be pumped further.One iron pipe here is three meters long. Let's try connecting ten first. The hillside on the bank is almost at a 45-degree angle, and the height is just over 30 meters. You can move to the slope with the empress to watch it. "

After Marseille finished speaking, he saw the research team lifting the hollow iron pipes to the shore, connecting them with nuts and rubber pads to make them sealed as a whole. Of course, the iron pipes are not seamless steel pipes. They are all pig iron pipes poured from molten iron in molds.

Li Chengqian and Empress Changsun moved to the hillside. Here, a big guy with a volume of more than two cubic meters has been lifted up by several people. The land has also been leveled and piled on the stepped ground. A long iron pipe rushing forward has been connected to the front end of the screw pump. After its outlet is supported by soil, even if the installation is completed, its outlet is naturally another part of the small hillside. side.

The principle of the vacuum water pump is very simple. The steam engine drives the wheel blades to rotate, and the air in the pipe is evacuated. Naturally, the water is sucked up from the bottom. The current research team made this one, which was earlier made in England in the [-]th century. The power of the water pump is much higher, because, with Sun Xiangfu’s theoretical knowledge as a base, their initial research direction is a model machine suitable for industry, which is almost the same as the model machine transformed by Watt in the [-]th century. And it's big enough.

Therefore, when all the iron pipes were connected and the steam engine was ignited and started to work, after a while, the machine burst out with a roar.

Its operation test has been done in the laboratory, and its power has been cut and designed in stages. Although it looks rough now, it already has the functions it should have. After all , Sun Xiangfu's vague concepts and some requirements for it are things that have been explored and applied by later generations, and they can be very good for its practical application and guide the direction.

Empress Changsun was taken aback by the roar of the steam engine, and was pulled away by Li Chengqian. This model machine did not burn coal, but the fuel on the hot air balloon. Gasoline with a high purity, soon, sisal fiber The manufactured conveyor belt drives the wheel to rotate rapidly, that is to say, the impeller installed inside the pump also starts to rotate rapidly.

"Wow~"

Although the iron pipe at the water outlet is only as thick as a thigh, the water that emerges from it feels very turbulent after being sprinkled down. As long as the first water is brought up, the whole machine will run smoothly afterwards. It's easy.

"Out of the water, out of the water."

When the water in the iron pipe splashed down to the other side of the hillside, cheers resounded all over the hillside.

"This, this is simply amazing."

Different from Li Chengqian's surprise, Empress Changsun was completely surprised, while Li Junxian, who had no scientific knowledge, was a little confused. Why did water come out of the iron pipe when this thing bangs!
"Recorded data, 30-meter pipeline, 45-degree angle, water outlet status display, strong skill, confirmed working application, and actually effective."

"Since this is the case, the theory that we form a group of three cylinders and convert the up and down motion of the piston into the rotational motion of the ship's shaft is also valid."

"Whether it is successful or not, you will know if you try it. Anyway, the quality and materials of the boilers we make are very good, so there is no need to worry about explosions. Untie the test boat that was towed by the big ship, and let's install the steam unit and prepare for the test."

More than 100 people in the research group began to gather together to discuss some words that Li Chengqian and the others could not understand since the water pump came out. Obviously, this kind of water pump test with an extremely simple working principle is not what they are going to test today. Core, since the working model of the steam engine was operating normally in the laboratory, they knew that there was basically no problem.

If the following ship shaft propulsion theory is proved to be effective, then, in theory, they will have the technology to manufacture more powerful steam-powered water ships.

However, some design needs to be done to make it adapt to the bumps on the ship. The current relatively rough working model machine is definitely not suitable for installation on the ship and running around all year round. Sun Xiangfu can't give them too much in this regard. It is suggested that they need to adjust a little bit by themselves to overcome difficulties.

Of course, it took more than half a year for the more than 100 top talents from Jiuyuan County School and multiple manufacturing industries to manufacture this model machine. They racked their brains day and night, and they failed. How many times did it finally take shape, and the time spent in meetings and discussions in the research room was several times longer than the time they spent resting and sleeping at home.

On the contrary, Li Chengqian, watching the water rushing down the hillside, told Empress Changsun about the benefits of this pump, "Look, queen mother, this is the power of science and technology. It can solve the irrigation problem in our fields. In the future, our losses caused by the threat of drought will be greatly reduced, and the work efficiency of the mining industry will also be greatly improved."

Empress Changsun nodded and said, "If this thing is put into civilian use, it will indeed benefit the people, but they don't seem to be keen on it, but is there anything else to test?"

Soon, they got the answer from Song Xiaoyu. He was named by Sun Xiangfu to study at Lantian Vocational and Technical College. Now, he is already a top technician in the shipyard. He fantasized that in the future he would be able to build a steam engine ship that does not need animals to pull the gears. Today, it is finally possible to realize it. The small boat used for the experiment was designed and manufactured by him.

At the stern of the ship, a place that is much larger than the pumping steam engine has already been reserved. Moreover, although the ship is not big, its movable rudder is made very large, making its steering very flexible. After installation, he will be the pilot of the ship.

Not long after, the steam engine that was pumping water was stopped by everyone, and Li Chengqian and Empress Changsun also returned to the big ship, watching the assembly of the three-cylinder steam engine that they could not understand at all.

This thing has also been theoretically verified in the laboratory, but it is really installed on the ship, connected to the ship's shaft, and drives the propeller to rotate at a high speed. The technical difficulty is much higher than that of the water pump. In terms of power testing and safety, Only after the actual test can we know that as far as the current working model machine is concerned, the whole is exposed to the outside and cannot withstand too much bumps or impacts. Of course, this is also for the convenience of the research team to observe and adjust .

"Okay, except for the pilot and the power research team who stayed on board, the rest of the people, board the big ship and observe."

After the assembly was completed, Marseille, the leader of the research team, gave an order, and the members of the research team boarded the big boat one after another. Li Chengqian was also very excited and stood in a row with them, looking at the boat with the engine, and asked, "If this experiment is successful, then, From now on, how many miles can our boat travel in a day?"

Yu Jie of the production team replied, "It depends on the power of the steam engine and the weight of the boat. If this three-cylinder steam engine is used with this light wooden boat with a load of less than [-] stone, I'm afraid it will be very fast. Theoretically Up, an hour, at least hundreds of miles."

"Hundred miles in one hour?" Li Chengqian opened his mouth wide in surprise.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, Xu Shou, a famous shipbuilder in our country, built a steamship named "Huanghu" in the Anqing Manufacturing Bureau. It was 55 feet long and had a displacement of 25 tons, which is 25 Jin, with a load of about four hundred stones, its speed in the Yangtze River trial was [-] miles per hour, and it was fifty miles per hour.

The wooden boat used for the test, not to mention the weight of four hundred stones, even with the few people on it, is only about 1000 catties, or a dozen stones, and the three-cylinder steam engine it uses is not very big. , but the power should be no worse than the single-cylinder steam engine in the Qing Dynasty. It is used to propel such a light boat, and I am afraid that it will run and fly.

Sure enough, after the steam engine was ignited and began to roar, the ship moved forward quickly. Even if it was sailing against the current, the speed was no less than that of a galloping horse. It would definitely be able to travel a hundred miles in an hour.

"Quickly, adjust the power, the power is too strong, the hull is unstable." Song Xiaoyu shouted as he grasped the rudder and felt that it was speeding on the water like an airship.

Soon, the small boat, which had already left the big water wheel bearing the buffalo for several miles, adjusted to the lowest power, made a turn on the Jing River, and quickly drove back along the water.After a certain amount of adaptation, they were no longer so afraid of the boat going too fast, and adjusted the power again, and tested it back and forth. The section of the river blocked by the imperial army was exactly about twenty miles away. They used two different kinds of power for an hour. , ran back and forth three times along the current and against the current. As for the strongest power, they did not dare to test it with such a wooden boat because it was too fast.

At this time, all the members of the research team on the ship let out wild cheers and jumped up and down excitedly, without any scruples about Li Chengqian and Empress Changsun being face to face.

"This, is the experiment successful? So how fast is it?" Li Chengqian said in a daze, having never seen a boat that can run so fast against the water.

Yu Jie explained, "Look at their test records, and after conversion, we can roughly know."

After a while, Marseille took the lead on board the big boat with some recorded data on the small boat that was stopped by the big boat. Immediately, several members of the research team who were in charge of calculations compared the data and quickly calculated.

(End of this chapter)