In life, there is a saying that it is dark under the lamp. In fact, there are also times when doing scientific research is dark under the lamp!
People are animals of experience. Sometimes experience is the step for people to climb the peak, and sometimes experience becomes a stumbling block for people to move forward.
Since the industrial revolution, human research on power has never stopped. The so-called power is basically obtained by combustion.
However, during the first industrial revolution, whether it was burning wood, coal or oil, people burned it directly without processing.
This is a typical feature of an external combustion engine. The coal produced in the coal mine is directly put into the boiler for combustion. The heat turns water into steam, and then the high-pressure steam drives the machinery.
For hundreds of years, humans have used coal and other fuels in this way, so they have a kind of inertial thinking.
People are trying their best to use their brains on machinery and find ways to improve the efficiency of machinery, but they have never thought of finding breakthroughs in deep processing from fuel.
Using this kind of thinking model to study internal combustion engines will definitely lead to a dead end. In fact, in 1870, humankind's own technological level had already reached the stage of breakthroughs in internal combustion engines. However, because of this misunderstanding, it was delayed for decades. time.
Historically, the fuel-fired internal combustion engine was not born in the UK until 1884, but Xiao Letian extended the time period for technological breakthrough by fourteen years.
When he was in Ryukyu, Xiao Letian mobilized more than 40 graduate students from various universities and industries to concentrate on breakthroughs in internal combustion engines and petroleum refining technology.
To put it bluntly, oil refining technology is not complicated at all, as long as you are willing to spend money, not afraid of waste, and not afraid of risks!
To put it bluntly, oil is turned into deeply processed products such as diesel, gasoline, kerosene, asphalt, etc., relying on high-temperature saunas and high-temperature distillation technology to melt the oil.
The light ones float on the top, and the heavy ones sink at the bottom!
The lightest one is actually liquefied petroleum gas, which is something similar to natural gas. After being pressurized, it becomes liquefied gas, a well-known fuel for cooking.
Below the liquefied petroleum gas is gasoline, and the grades can be divided according to the level of the gasoline. Below the gasoline is kerosene, then diesel, and the bottom layer is the residue, which is commonly known as asphalt.
After such layered refining, Huazhong has solved the problem of fuel purity. With qualified fuel, many shortcomings of internal combustion engines can be easily solved.
"Prime Minister! Do you know how much the Chinese people have paid in order to overcome such technical difficulties? Three major leakage accidents resulted in one death and six injuries. However, there are countless minor accidents that left countless people slightly injured, so don't count them. Got it!"
"I can tell you as a person in charge that these technologies were obtained by our Chinese scientific research workers with their lives and blood! Do you still feel that you are at a disadvantage by sharing technology with our Chinese people?"
"Haha, actually you are the ones taking advantage..."
Bismarck understands the power of industry very well. When he listened to Xiao Letian's introduction, it was as if a huge window had been opened in his heart, and a brand new world appeared in front of him.
He stared blankly at the rotating machinery in front of him, "Have you done any calculations? How much horsepower can this machinery provide now?"
"After all, we can only provide 45 horsepower of kinetic energy at present, because we have never overcome the technical difficulty of gas leakage!"
"Any more questions?" Bismarck asked directly without looking back.
"The problem of spark plug ignition often leads to extinguishing. The highest record we have is that it worked continuously for six and a half hours and then flamed out. However, ignition problems usually occur after three or four hours..."
"Then there is miniaturization! How to make machinery smaller and smaller while taking into account safety. This is a very systematic problem. There is indeed a gap in steelmaking and materials science among our Chinese people at the moment..."
"Hahaha... No problem. These problems that you think are difficult are exactly what I, the Prussian engineer, are good at! Give us this prototype machine, and I will return you a brand-new machine in three years!"
Xiao Letian smiled faintly, "You don't have to pay it back after three years. All scientific research work must be done by both parties! This is the key to the new century. Do you think I will lose it?"
"What you said makes sense, and I can't refute it, but I have another question... What is the cost of this kind of internal combustion engine that burns refined petroleum products? How can it be promoted?"
"If the price is too high and the cost of burning oil is too high, then I'm afraid it will be too difficult in the promotion process!"
After all, he was the prime minister of the Prussian Empire, and he was the powerful prime minister who could not even offend the king. He looked at the problem very clearly!
The advantages and disadvantages of the internal combustion engine allowed him to see clearly at a glance. The petroleum refining industry does not exist in the world at the moment, so the prices of petroleum refining products are very expensive.
Moreover, this kind of internal combustion engine looks like a precision machine at first glance. The precision of various parts is far more than a hundred times that of an external combustion engine. The cost is simply unimaginable!
Promoting and popularizing new technology is always a big problem. If the cost is too high, entrepreneurs will never consider using it!
Xiao Letian laughed dumbly, "Haha, Prime Minister! Why are you stuck in the dark thinking dilemma under the lamp?"
"Who said we should promote civilian use right from the start? You seem to have forgotten that there is a field in this world where results are the only requirement regardless of the cost!"
"War! New technology should be applied to war first! Only the military will only consider victory or defeat without considering the cost!"
"Of course the latest technology will become the secret weapon of the military. Why spread it to the civilian industry so early? The time to spread it to the civilian industry will be after the new technology reaps sufficient war dividends!"
"By then, the brutal tests on the battlefield will have matured the technology and raised public awareness. And with its popularization by the military, it will definitely increase the expansion of the petroleum refining industry!"
"As the scale of the industry increases, the price of petroleum products will naturally decrease. Only then will the psychological barriers to people's acceptance be completely eliminated."
"How about it? On the eve of the Franco-Prussian War, I, the Chinese, gave you Prussia a big gift, a blessing. Is this friendship strong enough?"
Hahaha... Bismarck laughed. "My friend, your mouth can bring the dead to life, I have to admire you!"
"On behalf of the Prussian Empire, I would like to express my gratitude to you! I accept this gift, and Prussia will definitely give you the greatest reward!"
At this point, Bismarck suddenly leaned into Xiao Letian's ear and whispered, "No wonder you have been strongly recommending the Baghdad Railway Plan to me. It turns out that you have been paying attention to oil resources for a long time?"
"That's right! Prime Minister, you must remember clearly that there are only two oil fields that the German Empire can rely on in the future, one is in the Bulgarian region of the Black Sea, and the other is far away in the Middle East!"
"Let's plan ahead! If you're late, you won't even be able to drink the soup!"
