Twenty days, compared to the eighteen-month long winter, is almost a blink of an eye.
However, the passage of time will not speed up just because people are looking forward to the arrival of spring.
Time still has to pass bit by bit.
In the past two days, Ye Qiong called Tang Ying out of the caravan and went to the laboratory to accompany him to tinker with the steam engine while studying the tribe's development plan after the spring.
Ye Qiong is very clear about the principles of steam engines. In the past two months, Ye Qiong has asked Yang Dingtian to collect some scraps of copper and iron from the tribe. After Ye Qiong melts them, he plans to make a small one in the next few days. The steam engine comes out.
Steam engines, as the name suggests, convert the energy of steam into mechanical energy. Its evolutionary products are internal combustion engines and steam turbines. Ye Qiong knows that the latter two things should not be thought of in a short time, but steam engines can be made as long as they work hard. Out.
The scraps of copper and iron that Yang Dingtian brought over were melted into liquid, and then poured into a mold that Ye Qiong had already made, which is a semi-closed boiler, and a piston will be added to it later. , and then form a fully enclosed space.
The working method of a steam engine is actually very easy to understand. Simply put, it is to add water to the boiler, and then burn it hard below. After the water boils, water vapor will be produced. At this time, the expanded water vapor will be in the closed space. Inside, the pressure will increase, creating a force that can push the piston to start moving.
After the piston moves to a certain position, the steam will be discharged, and the piston that has lost pressure will return to its original position under the action of gravity.
Then the steam continues to superimpose, increasing the pressure, the piston rises, exhausts, and the piston returns to its original position, so a cyclic action is generated.
Through bearings and gears, this up-and-down motion is converted into axial motion, and wheels are installed on the outside, and an original version of the steam car is produced.
Although it sounds very simple, in reality, it is more troublesome to make, such as the design of bearings and gears, the interaction of torque, and the plastic materials and lubricants surrounding the piston...
Ye Qiong had to solve these problems one by one before he could produce the most primitive steam engine.
But as long as the core thing of the steam engine can be figured out, cars and trains will be just around the corner.
"Is this kind of thing really as magical as you say? Traveling thousands of miles a day..." Tang Ying asked, looking at Ye Qiong who was holding molten iron and pouring it into the mold seriously.
Ye Qiong nodded: "When will we build the maglev train, it can travel thousands of miles a day!"
Although he said that, Ye Qiong was not bragging. After all, the maglev train's speed was nearly 600 yards per hour. Without stopping, running 10,000 kilometers a day was just like playing.
Most high-speed trains can reach a speed of 300 yards per hour.
"Wow~ Then you can circle around the Dinglong Mountains in one day. It's really amazing. Come on, get it out soon. I really want to experience it!" Tang Ying said sincerely.
But after Ye Qiong finished listening, he could only wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, then looked up at the blue mother star above his head and said: "In my lifetime... If everything goes well, let alone the Dinglong Mountains, I will take you there Look up there."
After pouring the molten iron into the mold, Ye Qiong placed the special iron pot in his hand on the ground, then used a ladle to scoop out the water from the wooden bucket, and then poured it on the mold.
"Zi..."
The high temperature instantly turned the poured water into steam and dissipated it. Ye Qiong continued to scoop water until the iron pot that had been formed in the mold cooled down completely.
After the mold made of clay was opened directly, the boiler about one meter high inside appeared in front of Ye Qiong and Tang Ying.
The first step of the task has been completed. This one-meter-high iron furnace has consumed a lot of iron tools in the tribe. Although it looks only one meter high, if it is given to Kuang Baichi, it can be built as many as a dozen. The long sword came out.
The next step was the piston. Ye Qiong did not make the piston iron. After all, the steam engine had not yet been officially put into use. The wooden piston was sufficient, so he poured the remaining molten iron into gears.
As for bearings...
Ye Qiong still has to prepare for this century's problem, but there is someone in the tribe who is more suitable for this.
Ye Qiong's current gear is relatively large and not very precise. It will need further polishing later.
Ye Qiong has no intention of doing this arduous and time-consuming task of polishing it himself.
After the gear cooled down, Ye Qiong held the gear, then took Tang Ying's little hand and walked towards the tribe's blacksmith shop.
After handing the gear to Luo Niu and another Kuang Baizhi's apprentice, Ye Qiong told Kuang Baizhi something he urgently needed.
Steel balls!
Something that must be hard enough and wear-resistant enough, Ye Qiong described it this way, and then described the size of the steel ball. The diameter should be as consistent as possible, with an error within millimeters.
The steel balls that must be used in ball bearings are actually not difficult to make, but whether they are easy to use is another matter, and how easy they are will directly affect the energy conversion rate.
Ye Qiong doesn't have any requirements for the conversion rate now. He will get one for him first.
Bearings are also something that is relatively easy to understand. In layman's terms, they add a medium between two objects to reduce the friction between them.
For example, if you want to move a boulder to another place, you can place some wooden sticks under the boulder. This is a flat bearing.
In the same way, steel balls can be added between two circular objects. The large ring wraps the small ring, and the steel balls are added in the middle. This is the bearing that must be used to make a car. This type is a spherical bearing.
In addition, there are various types of bearings, and some require precision bearings, even at the nanometer level.
However, considering the current technological level of Xuexing, Ye Qiong does not need those. Whenever he wants to use them in the future, he can just find someone to research and develop them.
What Ye Qiong has to do now is to get started. As long as he can get the steam engine out, it will open the first door to the evolution of civilization.
Kuang Baizhi listened to Ye Qiong's description. Although he was a little confused, he still heard the hardness and rigidity, and then subconsciously looked towards a shelf in the inner room.
On the shelf, there were five black jars, which Ye Qiong asked Kuang Baizhi to leave for him to build the body of the long bow.
Ye Qiong followed Kuang Baichi's gaze and looked over, his face suddenly turned green. He wanted to test the waters with his King's Bone Crystal.
If it could be changed, Ye Qiong would rather Kuang Baizhi melted the long sword that was as sharp as clay...
After thinking about it, a few steel balls shouldn't be used much. The steam engine is still very important now, so I can only feel a little pain.
