Sun Qi soon arrived at Hekou with two prototypes of small steam engines. Along the way, they took a motor-driven sailing flight operated by the Northern Shipping Company that regularly traveled between Tianjin and Hekou, two important industrial cities.
Although steam engines were not reliable when sailing on oceans, they had short range, frequent breakdowns, and low power.
However, when used on offshore vessels and inland river vessels that sail at short distances, these shortcomings can be covered up to some extent, because unlike ocean-going vessels, offshore or inland river vessels cannot see land for ten days and a half, and it is difficult to get close to the port. supply.
Inland river or offshore ships can sail hundreds of kilometers before stopping at the port for maintenance and replenishing coal. In this way, the problem of short cruising distance is not a big problem, and frequent maintenance can solve the problem in time.
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Of course, even so, most ships sailing on inland rivers and offshore seas still use hybrid power. On the one hand, hybrid power can make the ship run faster, and on the other hand, it can avoid the ship from being damaged if there is a problem with the steam engine. Completely losing power, at least there is still a sail to use.
Because inland river or offshore navigation is more conducive to steam power than ocean navigation, in the development of ships in the Dachu Empire, inland river or offshore ships were actually faster than ocean-going ships.
Currently, only some of the Navy's warships and the armed merchant ships of the two major armed trading companies are equipped with some steam engines. However, most ordinary ocean-going ships such as ocean-going transport ships, and even many of the Navy's warships are actually still pure sailing ships.
This was the case in the previous war with the Dutch. The empire mobilized hundreds of ships, including naval warships, but in fact only a dozen warships were equipped with steam engines, and the others were pure sailing ships.
However, steam ships were already very common in the coastal waters of the empire and on major rivers.
Since Liuhe Shipping Company took the lead in putting motor sailing ships equipped with steam engines into commercial operation in the Pearl River Basin, other major shipping companies also quickly followed suit, whether they were refitted or newly built, they popped up in just a few years. There are at least a thousand steamships of various types, most of which are motor sailing ships.
These ships are basically small ships ranging from tens to hundreds of tons. The high-pressure steam engines used are actually small steam engines. The production cycle is short, and the three major steam manufacturers can produce them in large quantities.
Unlike those warships with thousands of tons or more, the ultra-large steam units with thousands of horsepower require very high technical requirements. For the time being, only Guangzhou Machinery Company has the manufacturing capabilities.
The sufficient supply of small ship-based steam engines allows domestic inland river and offshore ships to be equipped with a large number of steam engines, allowing a large number of motor-driven sailing ships to appear in various parts of the country.
Northern Shipping Company also ordered and modified more than 60 sailing ships under this great wave, mainly for offshore transportation and inland water transportation, especially for regular flight operations between the two major industrial cities of Tianjin and Hekou.
These two cities are the most important industrial cities in the northern region. Tianjin, in particular, has a very large demand for steel and other industrial raw materials from the Northeast. On weekdays, there are a lot of people and goods between these two places.
Maritime transportation between these two cities is also the main competition route for major shipping companies.
As a large comprehensive shipping company directly under the Ministry of Industry of the Dachu Empire, the Northern Shipping Company has a large business, but it faces competition from a large number of shipping companies and is also under great pressure. Therefore, after the emergence of steamships, they did not hesitate to join in. in.
It's just that in the early days, almost all domestic civilian shipboard steam engine production capacity was taken over by Liuhe Trading Company... And the output of Dangtu Machinery Company in Jiangnan region and Liuhe Trading Company's Songjiang Steam Engine Factory were taken over by other companies in the south. The shipping company took it away.
Although the Northern Shipping Company also obtained several sets of steam engines to equip several ships, this was far from enough.
Two years later, they waited until the Tianjin Machinery Company mass-produced civilian shipboard steam engines, and then received a large amount of supplies. Only then did they begin large-scale modification or new construction of steam ships and put them into commercial operation.
Therefore, in the field of steam ships, Northern Shipping Company has lagged behind its domestic competitors.
Not to mention the huge fleet of Liuhe Shipping Company, which has more than 200 ships of various types, even the fleets of other shipping companies are not small. For example, Jiangnan Shipping Company has more than 100 ships, Jinling Shipping companies also have hundreds of ships, and Huguang Shipping Company also has hundreds of ships.
It is worth noting that the main business of these three shipping companies is concentrated in the Yangtze River Basin, and they are already fighting hard to compete for the shipping market in the Yangtze River Basin.
The competition in the offshore shipping market is also very huge, and various companies are almost fighting each other. Even Liuhe Shipping Company, a company rooted in the Pearl River shipping market, has opened regular offshore shipping to Tianjin and the mouth of the river.
Therefore, in the past year or two, the pressure on the Northern Shipping Company has actually been very great. It is precisely because of this that they have paid more attention to their basic market, which is the two major shipping markets around the Bohai Sea and the Liaohe River.
Especially for this important route from Tianjin to Hekou, a large number of ships have been invested in operation, and service quality has been improved as much as possible, striving to gain recognition from more business travelers.
Others don't know, but Sun Qi is still very satisfied with the service of Northern Shipping Company. Not only is the first-class service good, but the other party also takes the initiative to send personnel to help him transport the two steam engine prototypes. Even after arriving at Hekou Port, he even took the initiative to They contacted the transportation company to help them transport the steam engine directly to Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company.
Sun Qi doesn’t have to worry about the whole process!
After arriving at Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company with their entourage and steam engine prototype, they were greatly welcomed by Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company.
The other party had already received the news in advance and knew that Sun Qi would come with the latest steam engine.
This latest type of steam engine is also the most urgently needed by Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company.
Their steam combine harvester has been developed for many years, and many problems have been almost solved, except for a tractor...
Of course, tractors also have many systems, not just a steam engine, but as the core component, the steam engine cannot cause problems no matter what. At the same time, the design of many tractors also needs to be adjusted based on the performance data of the steam engine. of.
Without the core steam engine, much of their design and development work would not be possible.
Under such circumstances, the strategic partner Tianjin Machinery Company came to the door with a prototype, so they naturally had to show enough goodwill.
After a warm welcome and another meal in the evening, Sun Qi appeared in one of their R&D buildings the next day with a group of senior managers from Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company and many technicians.
However, it is naturally impossible for Sun Qi to see the actual installation test here, because the Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company's tractor prototype has not yet been completed, and it will take some time to design it before the prototype can be manufactured.
In the next few days, technicians from both sides discussed with each other to ensure that the small steam engine provided by Tianjin Machinery Company could be perfectly adapted to the steam combine harvester of Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company.
Taking advantage of this time, Sun Qi also visited Liaohe Machinery Company. Their agricultural machinery is also among the top three in the country. There must be demand for Tianjin Machinery Company's small steam engines.
However, maybe it is because the other party has a big business and does not pay much attention to the agricultural machinery business, which is only a small business department, or maybe he is not optimistic about the future of steam agricultural machinery. Although he welcomed Sun Qi's arrival, the person who received him was just The co-organizer of an agricultural business branch...he knew that the other party didn't take him seriously.
Sure enough, when we talked about cooperation later, the other party made nice things on the surface, saying that they would definitely purchase it if there was a need in the future, but they didn't answer a single sentence about signing a strategic cooperation contract, making pre-orders, investing money in joint research and development, etc.!
Sun Qi smiled on the surface, but was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart...
After I complete all the research and development, you can order directly after mass production? What a beautiful thought!
It is extremely difficult to develop a steam engine with a completely new design and using a large number of new technologies. The subsequent investment cost in establishing a production line and putting it into production is also high. Why did Tianjin Machinery Company find Tangshan Machinery Company and Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company for strategic cooperation? It was just to let them pay for it. money.
Tangshan Machinery Company shares part of the adaptation R&D investment, while Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company adopts the method of signing pre-orders... that is, before the things are seen, pre-orders for hundreds of units have been placed. , gave an advance payment.
Different cooperation methods will naturally lead to different final prices, but no matter what, you have to pay first.
Because this involves adaptation R&D investment.
In order for their small steam engines to perfectly adapt to these agricultural machines, some technical adjustments are required.
Tangshan Machinery Company and Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company are here. Their tractors seem to be similar on the surface, but in fact they are very different internally. They follow completely different technical routes and have different requirements for the size and other requirements of the steam engine. .
Well, they can't take the same technical route because of patent restrictions.
Under such circumstances, it is difficult to use the same steam engine to adapt to two different tractors at the same time. Subsequent adjustments will still need to be made to adapt in a one-machine-two-model model.
In order to adapt to the R&D investment, Tianjin Machinery Company hopes to share it with strategic partners.
You can directly fund the R&D of the adaptation, or you can place a pre-order. In short, you have to pay for it first. Otherwise, what if I come up with an adapted model and you don’t want me? Wouldn’t it be a waste of money?
However, Liaohe Machinery Company was obviously not willing to pay up front, and just said that they could purchase their steam engines after they were mass-produced.
At first, Sun Qi thought that the other party was stingy or cautious, but after asking around carefully, he found that, as the second largest agricultural machinery manufacturer in China, although it has been researching steam agricultural machinery for several years... its investment in R&D is not very high. It’s so big that even the basic design of a tractor hasn’t been completed yet.
Take a look at Tangshan Machinery Company. In order to put steam engines into agricultural machinery, the relevant research and development work can be traced back to seven or eight years ago.
Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company was similar, with heavy investment lasting at least three or four years.
As for Liaohe Machinery Company, the research and development in the field of steam agricultural machinery has lagged behind these two competitors by three or four years sooner or later... and the investment in research and development is not large. If this continues, it is estimated that the steam agricultural machinery may not be completed in five years. The core product is the extension of the steam tractor.
Although the core of a steam tractor is the steam engine, the traveling structure, transmission structure, steering structure and many other systems are also very important, and these are also the core technologies of Tangshan Machinery Company and Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company, which have a large number of complete patents.
As for the harvester structure, threshing machine structure and plowshare structure, there is no technical monopoly on these. Many agricultural machinery companies have related technology patents.
Because in the earliest days, the research and development related to these agricultural machinery equipment were all original designs produced by the Royal Institute of Technology. Major agricultural machinery companies also purchased general patents and then conducted in-depth research and improvements.
This is very similar to the patent situation of steam engines. There are hundreds of companies in China that have patent authorizations for steam engines. The unique technical patents of major steam manufacturers are basically the patents obtained by themselves after in-depth research and development, and are similar to steam engines. The early core generic patents are not the same thing.
Based on the situation of Liaohe Machinery Company, Sun Qi judged that they would not be able to complete the research and development of tractors for at least five years, and it would become more difficult as time goes by...
Because the basic principles of tractors can actually be explained by many engineers, but the specific technical routes for implementation are also limited.
After the previous manufacturers have used all available technical routes and applied for a large number of patents, and established patent barriers, it will be very difficult for latecomers to bypass these patent barriers.
This is still very similar to the situation of high-pressure steam engines.
In terms of R&D difficulty, Guangzhou Machinery Company actually had the lowest R&D difficulty at the beginning because they didn’t have to worry about any patent barriers.
However, when latecomers Tianjin Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery Company wanted to conduct research and development along the technical route of Guangzhou Machinery Company, it was very difficult.
For example, if you design a component, you clearly know you have to do it, but you just can’t do it... because this design is the patent of Guangzhou Machinery Company, and if you dare to use it, it is an infringement.
So they can only find other ways to bypass patent restrictions.
After Tianjin Machinery Company and Dangtu Machinery Company bypassed the patent restrictions of Guangzhou Machinery Company, they constructed their own technical routes and applied for a large number of patents to build new patent barriers.
So in these three major steam engine markets, the patent barriers built around high-pressure steam engines are already very tight. It will be even more difficult for latecomers to enter this market and circumvent their patents.
This is why until now, there are still only three major steam engine manufacturers in the Dachu Empire, because other companies will not be able to bypass their patents for a while... even some well-known large enterprises in the country.
For example, Lee's Iron Company is a leading enterprise in private capital with strong technical capabilities. Three years ago, they also announced that they would invest heavily in the research and development of high-pressure steam engines... but three years later... no one remembers what they said. It’s time to develop a slogan for high-pressure steam engines.
There are also machinery companies such as Hantian Machinery Company and Songjiang Machinery Company. They have actually tried to develop high-pressure steam engines, but they found that patent barriers are really difficult to get around.
This is still talking about the most basic high-pressure steam engine, but in fact the technology research and development of the three major steam manufacturers has been continuing.
R&D projects such as the water tube boiler of Guangzhou Machinery Company, the multi-expansion boiler of Tianjin Machinery Company, the ultra-high-pressure steam engine of Dangtu Machinery Company, etc. are all at the limits of contemporary technology.
Other companies are actually having a hard time keeping up with their technological advances.
Even if you continue to invest heavily for many years and finally build a basic high-pressure steam engine, it will ultimately be a money-losing product that cannot be sold.
Now, Sun Qi has also seen signs of this in the field of steam tractors. Tangshan Machinery Company and Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company have applied for a large number of patents around tractors, and are still developing and applying for a large number of patents. If other companies If you don’t hurry up, you may not be able to enter this market in the future.
Not even a behemoth like Liaohe Machinery Company!
Well, this is actually the reason why Tianjin Machinery Company has a high-performance small steam engine, but in the end it did not directly make a tractor... because Tianjin Machinery Company does not have any technical reserves and patents for tractors, and it cannot make it even if it wants to.
With disappointment and even dissatisfaction, Sun Qi left Liaohe Machinery Company and went to Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company. In the end, the two parties once again signed a strategic cooperation contract and finalized various strategic cooperation terms before leaving with satisfaction. go.
The two prototypes he brought over were left to Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company for various tests. At the same time, a considerable number of the technicians he brought stayed to help Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company conduct supporting research.
After all, engineers from Tianjin Machinery Company are the professionals when it comes to steam engines.
There was a large group of people when they came, and Sun Qi only took three or four people with him when he left. However, Sun Qi was in a good mood when he returned to Tianjin.
So far, he has reached a strategic partnership with Tangshan Machinery Company and Hekou Agricultural Machinery Company, the two largest and third largest agricultural machinery companies in the country. With the cooperation of these two companies, the future market for his own small steam engines will be That’s it.
Of course, he will not stop, he still needs to find more cooperative manufacturers.
There are no suitable cooperative companies in the north. For this reason, he plans to go to the south and find a few manufacturers who want to enter the field of tractors. It does not necessarily have to be agricultural machinery. It can be anything else, such as using steam. Motorcycle hauling goods and so on.
While Sun Qi was working on a small high-performance steam engine project, the top management of Tianjin Machinery Company also finalized a strategic development plan.
Prepare to fully launch multi-expansion steam engines, especially the research and development of ship-based multi-expansion steam engines.
As a newly developed technology, Tianjin Machinery Company first applied this technology to small steam engines with relatively low technical difficulty and relatively low R&D risks. According to a series of tests, the double-expansion steam engine has fully reached the their expectations.
This means that this new technology is mature and available, and they can be used on ship-based steam engines with higher unit prices and higher technical requirements, especially on large-scale military ship-based steam engines with higher unit prices and higher profit margins. .
A set of steam engines on the Hantian battleship costs more than 200,000 Chu Yuan. Their Tianjin Machinery Company has to work very hard to sell hundreds of small and medium-sized steam engines to achieve this price.
This is still talking about revenue... let alone profit margin.
The reality in Chengshun's twenty-five years is that Tianjin Machinery Company's carrier-based steam engine business can't make as much money as Guangzhou Machinery Company selling a few sets of very large military steam units for a whole year.
At that time, it was a step behind in the field of high-pressure steam engines, which led to its step-by-step backwardness today!
Now, Tianjin Machinery Company hopes to take advantage of the huge performance advantages of the double-expansion steam engine to recast their advantages in the field of steam engines.
Tell people all over the world that their Tianjin Machinery Company is the most professional in building steam engines.
Tianjin Machinery Company began to develop two-expansion steam engines, and they were ship-based military steam engines. Naturally, they could not bypass the navy.
Representatives of the Navy quickly arrived at the headquarters of Tianjin Machinery Company and learned about the relevant technical parameters of the double-expansion steam engine, and saw a small double-expansion steam engine, which Tianjin Machinery Company specializes in agricultural machinery and other land transportation markets. And a small high-performance steam engine was developed and launched.
And based on this core engine, a small ship-based steam engine was developed.
The Navy representative was very satisfied after seeing it, and immediately said that if it could pass a series of tests by the Navy, the Navy would place an order to purchase a batch of these small high-performance ship-based steam engines.
As for the new medium and large ship-borne steam engines, the Navy said that as long as they are not necessary, they will purchase and install them on ships in the future, and even use them as the power for a new generation of battleships in the future. This makes everyone at Tianjin Machinery Company very happy and looking forward to it.
The Navy has always been very generous when it comes to purchasing steam engines. As long as the manufacturer produces the product and passes the Navy's test, and the price is not too outrageous, the Navy will place an order for the purchase even if it is just to support you, and the profits will be given to you. Leave enough.
There will not be a situation where the Navy has worked hard to produce something and then orders it at extremely cheap prices, squeezing the company's profit margins to the extreme.
The Navy is still very generous, much better than the Army, which is too fussy and stingy.
