As the technicians were ready, the steam engine in front of them quickly started up.
Coal is continuously fed into the boiler for combustion, and the heat generated boils the water in the boiler. The high-temperature and high-pressure steam generated by the boiled water is transported to the cylinder through the pipe, and then pushes the piston in the cylinder to reciprocate. .
This process is also the most basic principle of the steam engine. Of course, this steam engine is much more complicated than the basic principles suggest.
In particular, the cylinder structure is relatively complex. In order to achieve long-term reciprocating motion, there is a valve inside the cylinder. The valve is connected to the piston through a traditional structure, so that every reciprocating movement of the piston can drive the valve to move.
This realizes that high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor can enter through the gaps on the left and right sides, and at the same time, the water vapor that performs work is also sent out through the valve.
Since there is long-term high-speed movement in this process, friction will occur. In order to reduce friction and ensure sealing at the same time, the materials used in the parts connected to the valve and cylinder are specialized high-strength materials. In order to process these small parts The components also use the most advanced machine tools from Daye Machinery Company. The cutting tools used in the new machine tools are all the top cutting tools that can be made in the Dachu Empire.
Just the machine tools used to process high-strength parts are expensive.
It was precisely because of the adoption of a series of new materials and new processes that we were able to forcibly build steam engines in this era.
The only problem now is that the cost of this crap is too high.
Luo Zhixue looked at the steam engine that started to really move after continuous pressure increase and drove a flywheel next to it to run rapidly. He was already thinking about how to use this expensive and fragile engine, which was also extremely expensive to use. The steam engine was put into practical use.
Nowadays, the steam engine is put into actual use, not because of the improved production efficiency of the steam engine. To be honest, based on the current manufacturing cost and usage cost of the steam engine, plus its power and even stability during actual use, a series of performances such as In fact, the indicators are not much better than those of hydrodynamic machinery, or even worse.
If it is purely for commercial use, this thing is actually a loss-making thing, and it is still a very loss-making business.
If there is no need to intervene with some administrative measures, I am afraid that few companies will be willing to introduce steam engines for production.
But it is unrealistic to force companies to use it. Even government-run companies cannot do this. After all, companies need to make profits.
Even government-run enterprises need profits to upgrade equipment, expand production capacity, and develop new technologies.
It's unrealistic for them to do that at a loss.
The only way is for the government to issue subsidies, which can reduce the cost of using steam engines for enterprises through tax incentives.
In addition, in many places, even if they want to use water-powered machinery, they cannot use it. At present, if companies in these places want to use mechanical equipment, they usually use power-storage machinery. This also leads to factories far away from rivers. This is generally due to small factories.
If there are steam engines, then these places can use better and larger machinery and equipment for processing and production.
Even if the production cost is higher, it should still be profitable.
After all, long-distance transportation these days can basically only rely on sea or river transportation, and the cost is not low. As for long-distance transportation by land, don't even expect it.
The huge cost of transportation will make some places very competitive even if they produce relatively high-priced phonograph products for sale, because the transportation cost will be higher when goods are transported from distant hydropower factories.
Developing steam engine power far away from rivers is a development direction that Luo Zhixue thinks of.
The other direction is to use it in mines, especially in coal mines. Coal mines are not factories, and they cannot be built next to rivers. Coal mines also need power to lift water, transport coal, and Carry out preliminary processing of coal mines.
The most important thing is that coal is produced in the coal mine itself. As coal producers, the cost of using coal themselves is very low, which can greatly reduce the daily use cost of steam engines.
The price of coal these days is still quite expensive, because in addition to mining costs, coal also has transportation costs, and these days, transportation costs account for the main part of the cost of coal.
Imagine that coal is mined from Liaodong, Luanzhou, Hebei, or Shanxi, and then transported to Shandong, Jiangbei, Jiangnan and other places for sale and use through land, river, and sea transportation.
Just thinking about this long transportation distance will tell you how much it costs!
Therefore, the price of coal in non-coal producing areas is very expensive, and the private sector generally cannot afford it... It is generally used by steel or mechanical processing companies, mainly in the smelting industry.
But if steam engines are used directly in coal mines, or if steam engines are used in coal production areas, the cost of using coal will be very low.
In this way, the company will be profitable.
Although it is possible to promote a new business purely by administrative means, the cost is too high. If a suitable method can be found to make the company profitable, then a virtuous cycle can be formed.
When a company purchases steam engines, the company itself generates additional benefits.
Companies that develop and produce steam engines can also gain profits and accumulate production experience. They can also obtain a lot of feedback from customers when using steam engines. They can then continue to improve steam engines to make them more performant, more reliable, and more economical. More efficient.
In the future, more companies will be able to use steam engines, resulting in greater production efficiency.
At the same time, if the industry begins to use steam engines for production, it will also have a huge promotion effect on the technological development of the industry itself, and these promotion effects will in turn reduce the research and development and production costs of steam engines.
In this way, a good progressive cycle can be formed!
As the No. 17 experimental steam engine in front of him continued to operate, Luo Zhixue had already begun to imagine the grand industrial explosion of China with chimneys everywhere and the smell of coal everywhere.
Thinking of this, Luo Zhixue couldn't help but smile!
Others didn't know that Luo Zhixue was smiling because of the future enjoyment, and thought he was simply happy to see the steam engine running successfully.
No matter why Luo Zhixue is happy, when he is happy, a group of people will be happy too.
A large number of R&D personnel from the steam engine project team and the officials who came with them for inspection all showed smiles...
Although many people don't know why they laugh, and they can't even understand why steam engines are worthy of laughter, but these are not important. What is important is that Luo Zhixue laughed. How dare you still cry in such an occasion.
With a cheerful smile, Luo Zhixue took a step forward and came to Song Fu, the leader of the steam engine project team, and said: "Congratulations to Song Aiqing and all the dear friends of the project team, your many years of hard work have finally achieved success!"
"I'm proud of you!"
After saying this, Luo Zhixue turned to face more people, especially the large group of imperial officials behind him: "Science and technology are the primary productive forces. The progress of science and technology is of irreplaceable importance to the development of society and the promotion of people's livelihood." effect."
"We are down-to-earth and unswervingly continue to promote the development of science and technology. Through the advancement of science and technology, we can effectively improve people's living standards, so that people can have houses to live in, clothing to wear, and food to eat!"
When Luo Zhixue started a long speech, focusing on the importance of science and technology to the empire and people's livelihood, a group of officials below also consciously acted as if they were listening carefully, and a group of low-level officials followed. I took out the charcoal pencils and notebook I carried with me to take notes.
These are His Majesty's important speeches. Such speeches often represent the highest level policy of the empire. They need to be sorted out and distributed to officials for careful study and study.
Some of the speeches will be sorted and polished, and then published directly in the Da Chu Di newspaper in the form of an imperial edict, so that people all over the world can know the policy trends of the empire.
In this speech, Luo Zhixue talked about many previous thoughts on steam engines. He even revealed the changes and effects of steam engines after their widespread use in a predictable way. Then he expanded the topic, from steam engines to other topics. Scientific aspects, and put forward several conjectures.
"Although today's steam engines are large in size, have small power, and have effective application scenarios, what if they continue to develop? The size and weight of steam engines continue to decrease, but the power becomes larger and larger? Maybe one day in the future, we can A steam engine the size of a carriage can produce the power of dozens or even hundreds of horses."
"And can such an efficient steam engine replace mules and horses for hauling goods?"
"Similarly, can such a steam engine be moved onto a ship and replace sails as the ship's power source?"
"Steam engines obtain power by pushing high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor to push the piston. So can we use other methods to push the piston? For example, can the high-temperature and high-pressure gas produced after the combustion of a certain liquid or gaseous fuel replace the high-temperature and high-pressure water? Where’s the steam?”
"Science has infinite possibilities, and more possibilities are waiting for you to discover!"
One of Luo Zhixue’s speech took a long time, and because it was an impromptu speech, there was no scheduled speech script. He just talked about it wherever he thought... The early stage was okay, talking about steam engines and some fake content, all kinds of Meaning...listening to it makes me want to sleep.
However, the content in the middle and later stages has deviated from the steam engine, and there are no empty words. Instead, there are more technology and various messy conjectures. At the end, Luo Zhixue even described a future world to everyone through words.
A time when there are trains, ships, and even airships and planes, and people can communicate thousands of miles through some kind of electromagnetic device.
In this future world, productivity is extremely developed, efficiency is extremely high, transportation is developed, the production cost of various daily necessities is extremely low, and the selling price is also extremely low. Ordinary people can enjoy high-tech industrial products.
Perhaps in the future, it will only take ten days or even less for people or goods to arrive from Jinling to Hami in the northwest region.
Maybe in the future, it will only take half a month or even less to take a boat all the way south from Jinling City to Malacca, or even cross the Pacific to arrive in Malacca in a month or even less. It is still extremely desolate now, but But America has countless gold and silver.
Perhaps, in the future, wanderers who are away from home can send their home letters back to their hometown through some electromagnetic method, so that their parents can know their situation.
Even though the people listening to these speeches now are imperial ministers and technical experts, whose vision and insights are far beyond ordinary people, they are still shocked by the future world described by Luo Zhixue!
They know about steam engines, and even some people know about electromagnetism. There is a major in electromagnetics at the Royal Institute of Technology, and there is a group of people who specialize in studying this stuff.
Even for internal combustion engines, the Royal Institute of Technology actually has a dedicated project team to conduct prerequisite theoretical research!
They have more or less heard about steam engines that are already practical, as well as internal combustion engines and electromagnetic equipment that are still in the state of basic theoretical research.
But they cannot imagine what the future world will be like when these three things are combined.
So now when they look at Luo Zhixue, some of them have wild eyes, while some are lost in thought, and some actually secretly despise him: He really knows how to brag!
But even if they don't agree that Luo Zhixue's exaggerated and magical future world is really possible, they have to admit one thing: when Luo Zhixue brags, he is really awesome!
Apart from anything else, this imagination alone is not something ordinary people can have.
If it were anyone else, if you asked him to brag, he wouldn't be able to brag about such a traceable future world. At first glance, it is really very possible to realize the future world.
No matter how awesome a science fiction writer is, at most he can only dream up some features of future society... He can't really dream up a complete future world, because there are too many things involved, and science fiction writers have limited knowledge. It is impossible to know everything, make reasonable guesses, and fuse these guesses together.
But Luo Zhixue, he directly brought out the entire future world and completely described a future world. However, this future world is logically self-consistent in almost all aspects.
If you think about many of the things mentioned in it carefully, it is really possible to make them, and when a variety of things are made together, it is really possible to have the future scenario described by Luo Zhixue.
Such as trains, airplanes, and electromagnetic communications!
At this time, some people were thinking in their hearts, no wonder His Majesty was able to grow from a refugee military advisor step by step, and finally founded a country and proclaimed himself emperor.
Your Majesty is probably the only one in the world with this ability to fool people.
Others, even those ministers who talk nonsense in daily life and deceive others at every turn, cannot keep up with His Majesty in terms of bragging and deception!
After speaking, Luo Zhixue did not forget to give practical rewards to the technicians who developed the steam engine.
The leader of the steam engine project team, Song Fufang, who had actually presided over the research and development of steam engines for many years and solved many technical problems, was directly awarded the title of earl by him, and was also rewarded with 100,000 taels of cash, a house, etc.
There are honors as well as practical benefits.
Several other major engineers were also awarded the title of viscount or baron on the spot, as well as cash and house rewards.
He also ordered people to provide relevant rewards to other members of the project team and to the R&D personnel who, although not part of the steam engine project team, provided significant help and technical support during the steam engine research process.
"Technical personnel are the foundation of an industrial power, and relevant rewards and benefits must be guaranteed to the highest standards!"
Luo Zhixue has always attached great importance to the treatment of scientific and technical personnel, and the official status and actual salary are routine operations.
In the Chu Empire, a skilled engineer or school scholar would not have a lower social status than an administrative official of the same level, or even a higher social status, and his salary would be higher.
This is not only the result of Luo Zhixue's promotion. In fact, the high salary of technical personnel is also an inevitable side effect of the empire's promotion of industrial development.
The Da Chu Empire is in the stage of industrial development. After so many factories are established, the number of various technical personnel required is very large. However, in reality, the education system of the Da Chu Empire simply does not have enough time to train enough of technical staff.
This has also led to a situation where there are too many temples and too few monks. In order to compete for technical talents, companies will increase the treatment of technical personnel on their own to gain an advantage in the competition for talents.
The supply of technical talents exceeds the demand, which has led to an increase in the income of technical talents.
At the same time, the government attaches great importance to technical personnel. Especially in the Royal Institute of Technology and various official research institutions, technical personnel are all awarded official status, which also allows these technical personnel to obtain a higher social status.
In addition, in many official administrative agencies, officials must also have certain technical abilities. It is difficult for officials who are not from science and engineering backgrounds to get promoted. No, even without the corresponding technical abilities, you can't even get into these departments.
In the imperial examinations of the Great Chu Empire, allocations were often based on needs. It was impossible for the Ministry of Civil Affairs to assign a new official with no technical background to serve in an institution with a very strong technical connection.
In addition, there are many examples of technical talents in society today starting their own businesses and making a lot of money. The most typical example is Luohua Shipyard. This shipyard was established by a group of engineers in the shipbuilding industry and then introduced capital for investment. .
Nowadays, the founder team of Luohua Shipyard are all wealthy people with a net worth of tens of millions!
In the contemporary Chu Empire, technical talents have great advantages whether they are engaged in politics, technology, or even business.
They want status and status, and they want money. This is the current situation of technical personnel in the Dachu Empire.
This has inspired more young students to actively devote themselves to studying science and engineering in order to get ahead.
And this is also the effect Luo Zhixue wants to see.
If a country wants to develop, especially its industry, how can it do so if it does not have enough technical talents.
After inspecting the steam engine project at the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue went to see several other research projects as usual. However, these research projects basically did not make much breakthrough progress, but Luo Zhixue still encouraged some to be made. scientific researchers who have achieved outstanding results, and encourage them to continue to work hard and contribute to the scientific and technological development of the empire.
After returning from the Royal Institute of Technology, Luo Zhixue held some industrial meetings the next day. The participants were mainly officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and other departments.
The theme of the meeting is very simple, how to promote the steam engine, which now has initial practical value, and form a virtuous cycle.
Although Luo Zhixue was already pregnant, he still wanted to hear the thoughts of his officials, and he also needed these officials to improve all aspects of the details.
At the meeting, after discussion, these officials proposed a plan that was similar to what Luo Zhixue had predicted before. They were all planning to start steam engine production with mining companies, companies far away from rivers but with power needs as the starting point. Commercial use.
In terms of production and manufacturing, the Ministry of Industry has planned to allow three to five domestic factories with sufficient funds and strong technical capabilities to carry out industrial mass production at the same time.
The simultaneous operation of multiple factories can stimulate a certain amount of healthy competition, and only with competition can there be motivation.
However, limiting manufacturers to less than five in different regions at the same time can effectively avoid vicious competition.
While maintaining healthy competition, we must avoid vicious competition. This is the experience of the Ministry of Industry in developing industry for many years, and it is also the experience they have summarized after going through many detours.
It has been reflected in the fields of national defense and heavy industry, and the effect is not bad.
The most typical one is the steel industry!
In the early days, the steel industry in the Dachu Empire was basically monopolized by Daye Steel Company. Due to the lack of external business competition, Daye Steel Company's technological improvement was very slow for a long time, and steel prices have also been rising. Run high.
Later, after the establishment of Dangtu Steel Company, the internal competition in the steel industry gradually increased. When the Ministry of Industry of the Dachu Empire invested in the construction of a number of medium and large steel companies, especially after the Liaodong Steel Company in Liaodong was put into large-scale production, The steel industry has ushered in rapid development.
This development is not just a simple increase in output, but also the continuous decline in steel prices, the continuous improvement of production efficiency, and the continuous improvement of technology.
At the same time, this kind of competition is limited to a certain range, because large steel plants are relatively far away, and the transportation costs are relatively high these days. This is equivalent to giving these steel plants a basic base to ensure that there will be no Suffering too much losses in the competition and going bankrupt.
In the end, the Ministry of Industry of the Dachu Empire cultivated a number of large-scale steel companies. Among them, Daye Steel Company actively developed new technologies in the later period, and finally realized the industrialized mass production of the Daye Steelmaking Method, solving the problem of the Dachu Empire in one fell swoop. The most urgent issue is the large-scale industrial production of steel!
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