Chapter 1080, the manufacturing progress of the steam locomotive
"Haha, then I will wait for the good news from His Highness."
Hearing Zhu Houzhao's confident words, Liu Jin immediately laughed.
The history of the development of clocks can be traced back to a long time ago. In ancient and modern times, almost every well-developed civilization and race at home and abroad will study methods of calculating time, calculating calendars, etc.
In 100 BC, the ancient Greeks created an Olympic timer composed of a 30-70 gear system.
When our ancestors were in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng made a leaky armillary sphere. He used a gear system to connect the mixing image and the timing clepsydra. The dripping water from the clepsydra pushed the mixed image to rotate evenly, making exactly one revolution a day. This is considered the earliest
Mechanical clock.
In 1350, Dante in Italy made the first simple mechanical striking tower clock, but the daily difference was very large, with an error of about 15-30 minutes.
From 1500 to 1510, that is, during the reign of the Ming Dynasty, the German Heinleth first used a spring instead of a heavy hammer and created a small mechanical clock with a crown wheel escapement mechanism.
Almost half a century later, the Italian Galileo invented the gravity pendulum, and then the Dutch introduced the gravity pendulum into the manufacture of clock machinery and created a pendulum clock.
By 1673, Huygens applied a speed regulator composed of a balance spring to a portable clock and created a portable and portable clock.
It can be said that the development history of clocks is actually a history of human exploration of time. This historical process is very long.
Zhu Houzhao said that it would be difficult to make a mechanical clock within a month. Liu Jin thought it was still very difficult. Although the Ming Dynasty's mechanical technology is now quite remarkable, it can not only create many advanced machines, but also basic things.
In constant expansion.
And because we have exchanges with all over the world, we can also learn European technology, but if we want to create the world in one month, Liu Jin thinks it is still very difficult, very difficult.
Even if it is manufactured, I am afraid it will not be very convenient to use and the error will be large.
"Just wait and see~"
Zhu Houzhao replied very confidently.
While the two were chatting, they learned that Liu Jin was coming, and Ren Siheng, the dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering, also hurriedly came over.
"Your Highness~"
"Mr. Liu~"
Ren Siheng is also very young. Because of his amazing talent in machinery, he became the dean of this mechanical college at a young age and was also in charge of the Beijing Machinery Factory.
"Ren Siheng, how is the research on steamships and steam locomotives going?"
Seeing Ren Siheng, Liu Jin thought about it and asked.
This time, one thing is to ask them to study machines that calculate time. Another thing is to ask about the research status of steam ships and steam locomotives.
These two things are very important things, especially for the Ming Dynasty right now, they are very important.
The land area of Ming Dynasty is really too large.
The Ming Dynasty occupied a large area of Asia, and also monopolized Australia and the Americas. The Pacific Ocean became an inland sea. If you include the Ming Dynasty's colonies, vassal states, etc., the area would be even larger.
With such a huge territory, it would be very inconvenient to just rely on traditional means of transportation.
Even taking the shortest route from the capital of the Ming Dynasty to America would take more than two months. This is also when everything goes well.
From the capital to Nanyun Province, the westernmost part of the Ming Dynasty, it takes more than two months to take a four-wheeled carriage and take the newly repaired cement road.
The territory is too large, which brought a lot of inconvenience to the Ming Dynasty's rule, but there won't be any big problems in a short time.
If time goes by, in many remote places where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, it is very likely that some separatist forces will breed. Although in this regard, Ming Dynasty has been taking precautions and made some improvements in the system.
For example, a feudal official in a certain place can work for up to eight years, and then he has to be transferred to other places. In addition, he has to go to Beijing regularly to report on his duties, and military power, financial power, administrative power, etc. are separated. These are all to prevent some local officials from
Make the system bigger.
But the system is a system, and here lies the problem faced by the territory that is too large.
Therefore, the imperial court has been increasing investment in infrastructure construction in recent years, the most important of which is building bridges and paving roads to strengthen exchanges and exchanges between various regions.
The construction of cement roads and bridges also greatly facilitated travel between various regions. It not only promoted the development of the Ming Dynasty's economy, the circulation of goods, and the circulation of the population, but more importantly, it also stabilized the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty also built ports in various places, along the coast, along rivers and other areas. Ports and wharves were built in many previously barren places, especially on some important shipping routes.
For example, on several routes to Australia and America, a large number of ports, terminals, and ships have been built to facilitate the passage of ships, which has greatly strengthened the control of these places.
However, given the distance, even if the roads are better and there are more ports, no matter how fast the speed is, a round trip will still take a long time.
Ming Dynasty needed faster and easier transportation.
With the steam engine, it was natural to bring up the research on steam ships and steam locomotives.
"Mr. Liu~"
"The research on steam locomotives is almost completed, but the research on steam ships has not made much progress."
When Ren Siheng heard this, he thought about it and replied.
"The steam locomotive is almost finished?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly.
If steam locomotives can be successfully researched, doesn't it mean that we can start building trains?
If this train is built, once the railway tracks are repaired, no matter how large the territory is, it will not be afraid.
As a time traveler myself, I know the importance of trains all too well.
Trains can not only carry passengers, but more importantly, they can also be used to carry cargo, large quantities of cargo.
You must know that in this era, the main way to carry goods is to carry it on the shoulder, so when transporting grain, the loss is huge. Often, about half of the grain of one hundred kilograms is lost when it is transported to the destination.
That is to say, after Liu Jin invented the four-wheeled carriage, the transportation of goods became much more convenient, but the transportation capacity of the four-wheeled carriage was still limited. There are a large number of people engaged in the transportation industry in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
Drive a four-wheeled carriage to transport goods to various places.
But if a train can be made, relying on powerful mechanical power, the transportation capacity of the train will be very terrifying. Even the earliest trains can transport an astonishing amount at one time.
"Yes, this is mainly due to His Highness~"
Ren Siheng nodded solemnly and replied: "Because His Highness invented the machine tool, we can use monolithic castings to make more precise parts. We can make steam engines with higher horsepower. Our steam locomotives have achieved great success."
improvement."
"Hehe~"
"I'm awesome!"
When Zhu Houzhao next to him heard this, he couldn't help but raise his head slightly.
"Awesome, awesome~"
Liu Jin quickly gave his thumbs up.
"Your Highness is naturally the most powerful."
Ren Siheng also followed suit.
"Quack~quack~"
Zhu Houzhao became even more proud and smiled even happier.
"I was also involved in the research on this steam locomotive. The biggest problem in the past was insufficient horsepower. Now that we can build a high-horsepower steam engine, steam locomotives will not be difficult."
"However, there are still some problems. The biggest one is the operation of this steam locomotive. I think it may not be suitable for walking on ordinary cement roads."
Then Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, frowned and said.
"Yes, yes, this is a big problem. Steam locomotives are very heavy and powerful. If they are traveling on ordinary roads, something could easily happen. We have not yet come up with a good way to solve this problem.
"
Ren Siheng also nodded and said.
Hearing their words, Liu Jin immediately laughed. As the steam locomotive is the most important core of the train, the train naturally has to run on the rails and take a special track.
After thinking for a while, he said: "Since ordinary roads cannot be driven, why don't we build special roads for this steam locomotive to travel?"
"For example, we can build railway tracks and let steam locomotives run on the railway tracks. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Specialized road?"
"rail?"
When Zhu Houzhao and Ren Siheng heard this, they couldn't help but open their eyes wide. It was as if they were enlightened and suddenly enlightened, and they screamed out.
"Yes, why can't we build special roads~"
"Why didn't I think of that?"
The two looked at each other, and then looked at Liu Jin together, looking at Liu Jin as if they were looking at monsters.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Liu Jin was looked at by the two people and asked a little bit.
"What's going on in your head that you can think of such a way?"
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but looked at Liu Jin carefully and asked.
"Um... I'm just imagining it, I don't know if it will work."
Liu Jin said with a slight blush.
"Anything you think about is better than our hard thinking. Tsk tsk, you are indeed Lao Liu."
Zhu Houzhao sighed immediately.
"Ahem, in this regard, you are the professors, I am just a layman, I don't understand at all, and I am just talking nonsense."
"You just have to figure it out. If you think it works, go and try it."
Liu Jin smiled awkwardly and said.
"Of course, we will definitely give it a try, and I think this method will definitely work."
"Railways, rails, if you build rails, you can completely limit the trajectory of the steam locomotive. You don't have to worry about anything going wrong. The power of the steam locomotive is powerful, and it can pull a lot of things and cargo."
"Maybe we can get a lot of carriages and can carry people."
Ren Siheng on the side had already begun to think.