Zhu Jingyuan was particularly speechless. After a visit to the palace, his main mission was not completed, but a side mission was started.
The old emperor suddenly wanted to go to the consortium, most likely with his own suggestions in mind to arrange the reform direction of the consortium.
What could Zhu Jingyuan do? He could only follow his father and Zou Shangshu, say goodbye to Cao Junji and others, leave the palace and take a carriage back to the Ministry of Industry.
No matter what the old emperor's idea was, he had to build the airplane first. Anyway, he also needed the patent for the airplane.
So after arriving at the Ministry of Industry, Zhu Jingyuan asked Director Wang Lai for directions and went directly to the office of Li Rui, who was in charge of aircraft design.
In a room as big as a classroom, there are eight desks facing each other on both sides of the wall. The layout looks like an ordinary middle school teacher's office.
Li Rui was lying on a large table drawing drawings, surrounded by several officials wearing Ministry of Works clothes.
The officials noticed Zhu Jingyuan coming in. Although they did not know Zhu Jingyuan's identity, they all recognized the emperor's grandson's robes and bowed to say hello.
"No need to be polite..."
Zhu Jingyuan quickly returned the greeting with his hands, and at the same time explained his purpose, and walked quickly to Li Rui:
"I'm here to see Director Li. I'm the creator of the new wings and controller. Director Li, how is the progress now? Can you go test it today?"
When Li Rui heard Zhu Jingyuan's voice, he looked back slightly, stood up and said hello, then explained:
"Your Highness, my design drawings will be completed soon, but the modification of the test aircraft will also take time. The main reason is that the entire wing needs to be redone..."
Zhu Jingyuan immediately waved his hand and said:
"There is no need to redo it, just put the skin on the underside of the wing."
Li Rui and the officials around him were stunned:
"Go ahead?"
Zhu Jingyuan nodded directly and said:
"Yes, the key to obtaining lift is that the upper part of the wing is relatively rounded and the bulge is relatively flat and smooth below. This shape is enough.
“As for what form of bulge has the greatest lift, that is a matter of detail that will be pursued in the future.
"The wings of the aircraft you originally tested should all look like slices cut from the edge of a hollow barrel, right?
"Now put the batter on the open cut below and change it into a solid column shape. The cut slices can be tested.
“First complete the test as soon as possible to make sure it can really fly, and then slowly determine the optimal wing shape.
“With certain feasible goals, everyone will be more motivated.”
Li Rui thought about it and realized that was indeed the case:
"Okay, okay, let's try this first..."
Li Rui sat down and continued drawing, finishing the last bit of the drawing.
Zhu Jingyuan was a little anxious, so he asked his father to borrow a car and prepared to drive him and Li Rui to the testing site of the Ministry of Industry with the drawings.
Zhu Jianyan hesitated again and again, and finally went along.
There are many test sites in the Ministry of Industry, which are scattered around the capital city and in other places according to the risk, degree of confidentiality, type and scale of the required sites.
The danger of flying machines is average, and the level of confidentiality is not very high, but the required venue is relatively large, so the large outdoor testing ground in the west of the city was chosen.
Zhu Jianyan's driver drove Zhu Jianyan, Zhu Jingyuan, and Li Rui directly to the testing site.
Li Rui met the person in charge of the test site and took Zhu Jingyuan and his son to the warehouse where the flight machine testing equipment was stored to check out the original test aircraft.
The appearance of the earliest test aircraft was very different from the mature aircraft of later generations.
From the World War I era to modern times, the basic structure of most aircraft is a typical longitudinal fuselage with horizontal wings.
Coupled with the horizontal tail, vertical tail, and various types of engines, the overall design tends to be unified.
However, the early test aircraft had no fixed shape at all, not to mention the three major directions of flapping wing, rotor wing and fixed wing.
So in this warehouse, there are large birds that seem to be able to flap their wings, a hanging basket with a giant bamboo dragonfly on its head, and a round frame with multi-layered wings in the middle.
However, the largest number are those supported by metal frames, with one, two, or even three or four layers of superimposed straight wings.
In fact, this change has shown that their design has gradually moved in the right direction.
Those involved in the design and experiment should have discovered certain rules. A purely unfolded horizontal fixed wing is the simplest design that can provide lift.
But they haven't found the correct answer yet, and are still trying to figure out the correct wing shape.
Most of those aircraft only have wings and no serious fuselage.
A small number of them have a body, and most of them are equipped with a bird-like head and fan-shaped tail, but the head and tail are unable to move, and they look more like a huge kite.
Most of them only have two stacked wings, with an engine strapped to the middle and two propellers strapped to the front, but the size and wing structure are not exactly the same.
Two young craftsmen in their twenties who were in charge of the warehouse here followed Li Rui and looked at the contents of the warehouse. One of them said enthusiastically:
"Mr. Li, what are you doing today, flapping or rotary?"
The craftsmen here also know that Li Rui actually does not approve of fixed-wing aircraft, and is relatively more supportive of rotorcraft and ornithopters.
In fact, most people hold this view. Ornithopters can be compared to the flight of birds, and gyroplanes can be compared to bamboo dragonflies. They are both sure to fly.
It stands to reason that fixed wings can only glide. If you want to fly like a kite, you need to be light enough and able to withstand strong enough winds.
As a result, Li Rui answered expressionlessly today:
"Today we will test the fixed wing, but we need to modify it first. You will find two more people to come over and prepare the materials according to my drawings."
The two craftsmen were a little surprised. How did Mr. Li test the fixed wing? Can that thing really fly?
But they are just working. If the person in charge of the experiment says what they want to test, then they just prepare what they want.
The two craftsmen left with the drawings, and Li Rui turned to Zhu Jingyuan and his son:
"Your Highnesses, among the existing fixed-wing test aircraft here, there are still five sets that are relatively reasonable and proper.
“The main differences are the wing size, the weight and power of the engines used.
"What standard do you think is more suitable for renovation?"
When Zhu Jingyuan heard this question, he suddenly had another curiosity:
"Mr. Li, what is the maximum power of the engines that can be installed on shield vehicles and aircraft?"
This question is actually a bit sensitive. If an ordinary person asked this question, Li Rui would not be able to answer it, or he would not be able to answer it with the correct data.
But Zhu Jingyuan is obviously not an ordinary person, especially when Li Rui thought of Zou Bingtai's arrangement, he directly explained the situation:
“The current maximum power of the engine installed on the shield car should be around 80 horsepower.
“In fact, it can also be installed on an airplane, but its weight is too heavy compared to the airplane, which may cause the airplane to not fly at all.
“In our actual testing, the maximum power of the engine installed on the aircraft was 60 horsepower.
"Of course, the plane never flew in the end..."
Zhu Jingyuan blinked and felt so pitiful after hearing this. The family car he owned in his previous life had almost 200 horsepower, but this tank only had 80 horsepower.
But is the horsepower in this world the same unit as my original horsepower? It seems really...
It was one of the power units in the "Ming Metric System" unit system designated by Emperor Shizu.
One horsepower is seventy-five kilograms per second, which is the same as the original world metric horsepower.
