Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 100 Exclusive Protective Clothing, Horse-Drawn Train [Please Subscribe]

Coming back to his senses, Su Quan stopped Liu Kuan and said, "Let me go in and take a look first."

Liu Kuan had no choice but to wait outside.

Soon, Su Quan brought people out and took a set of protective clothing.

This protective suit is lined with thick cotton, with a layer of cowhide in the middle, and fine rattan armor on the outside, as well as a steel-cast helmet with a mask, which covers almost every part of the body except the hands and feet.

As you can imagine, it would be difficult to move after putting this thing on - it is not the original style of the institute.

With the help of Qi Damu and others, Liu Kuan put it on skillfully.

Why skilled?

Because this is his exclusive protective suit in the institute.

Su Quan asked for Zhu's approval and had it custom-made at the Military Equipment Bureau. Liu Kuan would wear it every time he came.

After putting on protective clothing, Liu Kuan walked to the backyard with difficulty and finally saw the first generation steam engine of the Ming Dynasty in operation.

The processed cast steel boiler is still exposed, with cast steel pipes connecting the cylinder, condenser, governor, air pump, and power transmission system.

In addition to the boiler and cylinder, the most eye-catching thing is the huge flywheel of the power transmission system.

This flywheel is more than half a person's height and is equipped with two gears connected to the connecting rod.

After the problems with the boiler, cylinder, and air pump were solved, with the information provided by Liu Kuan and the mobilization of various skilled craftsmen from the Ming Dynasty, this transmission device was not difficult to build and was completed some time ago.

Next to the boiler, a craftsman wearing protective clothing was adding coal into it. He was sweating profusely from the heat and his trouser legs were soaked.

After he added the coal, he stood about ten steps away.

Liu Kuan did not have X-ray vision, so he could not see what was happening in the cylinder or the pipes, but he could see the long piston rod on the cylinder moving up and down continuously, and the flywheel was humming as it was driven by the connecting rod.

The speed is not too fast, but not slow either.

Seeing this, Liu Kuan couldn't help but smile - the first generation steam engine of the Ming Dynasty was indeed successful!
All that remains is to verify the stability, safety and other performance of the steam engine and gradually improve it - with the information he provides, these steps will be completed quickly.

It is estimated that within two or three months at most, a practical steam engine that can be used to drive trains should be manufactured.

After watching for a while, Liu Kuan called Guo Tianwen and signaled him to go to the middle court for a talk.

When they arrived at the central courtyard, they didn't find a place to sit, so they stood under the eaves.

"How long has this steam engine been running continuously?"

Guo Tianwen smiled and said, "It's been more than an hour."

"Okay!" Liu Kuan nodded, showing appreciation, but he also warned, "But in the next test, you still have to pay attention to safety at all times and try not to have any accidents."

"I understand." Guo Tianwen nodded.

Liu Kuan then asked some other questions about this first-generation steam engine, and went into the backyard again to watch for a while before leaving with Su Quan.

After coming out, Liu Kuan suggested, "Doctor Su, since we're here, why don't we stop by and take a look at the carriage project team?"

"Alright."

So the two of them went to the nearby carriage project team.

The carriage project team is also in a large compound near Lime Mountain, but the test site is the section of railway from the outer city wall to Xuanwu Lake.

The focus of carriage manufacturing is on the chassis and wheels.

With the information provided by Liu Kuan and many skilled craftsmen, there are no technical problems. The key lies in the materials of the chassis, wheels and linkage devices.

However, when the Liuhe Iron and Steel Plant produced molten steel and built hydraulic forging machines, the material problem was solved.

When Liu Kuan and Su Quan arrived, Qiu Qichi was about to take people to conduct today's experiment.

Although only the first generation of steam engines has been produced and cannot be used for train tests, it does not mean that carriage tests cannot be carried out - as early as a month ago, the carriage project team was using horses to pull carriages to conduct track patrol tests.

Qiu Qichi is a craftsman by profession. Although he is not in charge of the core projects of the railway, he is very motivated.

Upon seeing Liu Kuan and Su Quan, he saluted briefly and then took the initiative to introduce, "Today's test is eight horses pulling five carriages on the track. If successful, our carriage project team's current mission will be completed. All we have to do is wait for the steam engine."

Liu Kuan said, "The first generation of steam engines has been built. The next step is to improve them. Perhaps next month, Director Guo will ask you to conduct a joint test."

"Really?" Qiu Qichi was delighted. "That's great!"

The carriage project team's yard was very close to the railway, and as they were talking, they arrived at the edge of the railway.

There were five carriages connected end to end and parked on the railway.

The front two carriages were designed as passenger compartments, while the rear three were designed as cargo compartments. Each compartment was not very long, measuring just over three feet and a little over ten feet wide. The passenger compartment was approximately nine feet high, while the cargo compartment, with no canopy, was only six feet high. (There were various scales of measurement during the Ming Dynasty; here, one foot is 33.3 centimeters.)
There are only two sets of wheels under the passenger compartment, but the cargo compartment has three sets of wheels due to load requirements. All of them are made of steel and fit into the rails.

The most eye-catching thing is of course the eight horses in front of the carriage.

Because the railway is paved with gravel and there are cement "crossbars" interlaced with the rails, it is not suitable for horses to run.

So the carriage project team set up several long horizontal beams in front and divided the eight horses on the flat ground on both sides of the railway to drive the carriage forward.

Qiu Qichi asked several craftsmen to check several times in succession to make sure that all preparations were correct before ordering the test to begin.

I saw several grooms driving the horses forward, and five carriages were also pulled along the railway towards Xuanwu Lake.

The speed was not fast, and Liu Kuan and others could keep up on foot.

After a while, the speed of the horse-drawn train increased, but it was still at the speed of a trot.

Everyone stopped and watched the carriage go away.

Qiu Qichi sighed, "This train is pulled by horses. The more carriages there are, the more horses are needed."

"And the more horses there are, the higher the demands on the horses and the driver. If they can't work together well, it's easy for them to run off the tracks and overturn."

"The fact that these eight horses and four grooms have achieved this level is largely the result of training and coordination."

"Liu Fulang should have seen it. This is the fastest speed eight horses can pull five carriages."

"To catch up with the speed of a normal horse-drawn carriage, or even exceed it, the railway must be leveled, leaving only the upper tracks, and preferably with two horses pulling each carriage."

Having said that, Qiu Qichi shook his head and smiled.

Because he knew that it was a waste of time and effort and was meaningless.

Liu Kuan looked in the direction where the carriage disappeared and asked thoughtfully, "Have they conducted any transport tests?"

Qiu Qichi said, "Five carriages is already the limit for a horse-drawn train. The next step is to prepare for a transport test."

Liu Kuan nodded and continued, "When you are working on the carriage team, you should observe the condition of the rails more carefully, use the information I provided, train more talents, and accumulate skills and experience in repairing rails."

"When the steam train comes out next year, your carriage project team will still be responsible for the track maintenance work."

"This is a matter of great responsibility. It concerns how much of the Yanhu Railway is open to traffic. Director Qiu needs to pay more attention to it."

Qiu Qichi nodded, "I understand."

Trains in later generations have long been electrified and information-based, so the requirements for all aspects of railways are also quite high, and they are inspected frequently to ensure safety.

Steam trains were not as fast as later generations, so the requirements for railways were naturally much lower. However, even with such low requirements, there were still some requirements - at least the rails had to be able to ensure the normal passage of the trains.

The Ming Dynasty did not have the technology and talents to repair railways, so Liu Kuan could only collect all the relevant information on the computer, add some of his own relatively reliable knowledge, and give it to Qiu Qichi.

Let him use the carriage project team's experiments to select a group of clever craftsmen in their twenties and thirties to train in this area.

Doing this would be like crossing the river by feeling the stones, but there is no other way.

Liu Kuan fantasized about connecting to the Internet of future generations in Daming so that he could go online and download all the necessary information. He went to the bridge to experiment on the third day of September, the third day of October, and the third day of November a few days ago.

However, no matter where he stood, he could not connect to the network of later generations.

Come to think of it, being able to travel back to the early Ming Dynasty along with railways and bridges is already an unheard-of miracle. How could it be possible for him to connect to the Internet of later generations?
Therefore, he now has almost no hope of connecting to the future network - at most he will go to the bridge on the morning of August 3rd next year to try it out.

···
Returned to the Science and Technology Department with Su Quan.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Liu Kuan prepared to pack up and go home for dinner.

However, an eunuch came to convey Zhu's oral order, asking him to go to Fengxian Hall.

Liu Kuan didn't think much about it. He asked his servant Arong to go back home and inform Zhu Huilan first, and then followed the eunuch to the palace.

When we arrived at Fengxian Hall, we saw Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao there, both with smiles on their faces.

"Could it be that Lao Zhu knows how the steam engine was invented?"

Liu Kuan guessed in his heart.

At the same time, he bowed and saluted, "Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"Stand up." Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand and smiled, then said, "Liu Kuan, you have made another great contribution to our Ming Dynasty!"

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(End of this chapter)