Chapter 64: The Steam Engine
The next morning, Hollen’s forge looked more like a shipyard than a blacksmith shop.
Timber occupied one corner.
Iron castings occupied another.
Drawings covered nearly every available table.
And at the center of it all stood the first prototype steam engine of the Kingdom of Belfast.
Or at least the pieces that would eventually become one.
Actually, the steam engine did not begin as a machine.
It began as dozens of separate parts.
And every single one had to fit together correctly.
Ernest immediately organized the work.
The flywheel team.
The boiler team.
The cylinder team.
The piping team.
The frame team.
Everyone had a job.
Everyone had a deadline.
The first major component completed was the cylinder casting.
Several days earlier, the pattern makers had finished the wooden pattern.
The foundry workers used it to create a sand mold.
Now a rough cast-iron cylinder sat beside the boring machine.
It looked ugly.
Very ugly.
The outer surface was rough.
The inside was worse.
One worker looked inside and frowned.
"That doesn’t look like it belongs in a machine."
"It doesn’t," Ernest replied.
The workers looked confused.
He pointed toward the boring machine.
"Not yet."
That was the entire purpose of the boring machine.
To transform a rough casting into a precision component.
The cylinder was carefully lifted into position using ropes and a wooden lifting frame.
Workers tightened clamps around it.
Others checked alignment.
Ernest personally inspected every support.
Actually, alignment mattered tremendously.
If the cylinder sat crooked even slightly, the finished bore would be inaccurate.
And if the bore was inaccurate, the piston would leak steam.
And if the piston leaked steam, the engine would lose power.
Everything traced back to precision.
Finally, he nodded.
"Start it."
The waterwheel engaged.
The leather belt tightened.
The boring shaft slowly rotated.
Then came the familiar sound.
Scrrrrkkkk.
Metal shavings emerged from the cylinder.
Long curls of iron fell onto the floor.
Workers watched in fascination.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The machine steadily removed material.
Hour after hour.
For three days the boring machine worked.
The cutter advanced.
Measurements were taken.
The cutter advanced again.
More measurements.
Then more cutting.
Finally, on the fourth day, Ernest performed the final inspection.
He inserted the measuring gauge.
Then checked another location.
Then another.
A smile appeared.
The diameter remained consistent throughout the entire length.
The cylinder was finished.
A cheer erupted throughout the workshop.
One of the smiths laughed.
"Gods, we’re celebrating a hole."
Ernest laughed too.
He wasn’t wrong.
They had just spent days celebrating a perfectly round hole.
Engineering was strange sometimes.
With the cylinder completed, work accelerated.
The piston came next.
A large iron disc was machined and fitted to the cylinder dimensions.
Several adjustment attempts were required.
The first fit was too tight.
The second was too loose.
The third finally worked.
The piston slid smoothly through the cylinder.
Not perfectly.
But smoothly enough.
Then came the connecting rod.
The crank mechanism.
The valve assembly.
Piece by piece, the engine slowly emerged.
Meanwhile, the boiler team worked separately.
And honestly, that was the most stressful part.
The boiler consisted of thick iron plates joined together with hundreds of rivets.
Workers heated rivets until they glowed red.
Then hammered them into place.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The sound echoed throughout the forge.
By the end of the first week, the boiler finally resembled a pressure vessel instead of a pile of iron sheets.
Hollen stood beside it one afternoon.
Seeing it completed made him nervous.
Very nervous.
"You’re absolutely certain this won’t explode?"
Ernest sighed.
"Yes."
"You said that yesterday."
"And I’ll say it tomorrow too."
Several workers laughed.
The forge owner pointed at the massive iron vessel.
"Because that thing looks dangerous."
"Everything looks dangerous if you don’t understand it."
"That doesn’t make me feel better."
It did not help that several workers secretly agreed with Hollen.
Steam trapped inside an iron container sounded like a terrible idea.
Still, construction continued.
By the beginning of the second week, the frame had been completed.
Heavy oak beams formed the foundation.
Iron brackets reinforced critical joints.
The flywheel was mounted onto its shaft, taking almost a day for it, due to its sheer weight.
Moving it required ropes.
Pulleys.
Levers.
And a tremendous amount of swearing.
At one point, Hollen looked ready to fire gravity itself.
Finally, on the fourteenth day, the workshop became quiet.
Because the machine stood assembled before them.
The boiler.
The cylinder.
The piston.
The flywheel.
The connecting rods.
The valves.
Everything is now connected to one another.
Workers slowly gathered around it.
Nobody spoke for several moments, they simply stared at the finished steam engine.
Hollen was the first to break the silence. "So how are we going to make it work for us? I don’t see it intuitively."
Ernest walked toward the machine and placed his hand on the boiler.
"It starts here."
He tapped the iron vessel.
"We put water inside."
Several workers nodded.
That part was easy enough.
Then he pointed toward the firebox underneath.
"We burn coal here."
Again, more nods.
Still simple.
"The fire heats the water and the water becomes steam. You know that part very well because I know for sure you guys boil water."
Then he pointed toward the pipe running toward the cylinder.
"The steam travels through this pipe and enters the cylinder."
One of the workers frowned.
"Then what?"
Ernest walked toward the piston assembly.
"Then the steam pushes this."
He slapped the side of the cylinder.
"The piston."
Ernest grabbed a piece of charcoal and quickly drew a sketch on a nearby board.
A cylinder.
A piston.
Steam entering from one side.
"If steam enters here, pressure builds up."
He shaded one side of the drawing.
"The pressure pushes the piston forward."
Then he pointed toward the connecting rod.
"This rod is connected to the piston."
Then toward the crank.
"The crank converts straight-line motion into rotation."
Then finally toward the giant flywheel.
"And that rotates the wheel."
Silence.
Several workers stared at the machine.
Then stared at the drawing.
Then stared at the machine again. Ernest realized they still didn’t get it.
"Well it’s best if we show it instead of explaining it," Ernest said.
The workers immediately gathered around the machine.
Hollen took several cautious steps backward.
Then another.
One of the smiths noticed.
"Master Hollen, why are you moving away?"
"In case the genius boy is wrong."
The workshop burst into laughter.
Ernest rolled his eyes.
"You have so much faith in me."
"I do."
Hollen pointed at the boiler.
"Just not that thing."
Several workers nodded in agreement.
Ernest couldn’t blame them.
"Alright."
He looked toward several laborers.
"Open the water feed."
The men immediately obeyed.
Water flowed into the boiler.
Ernest carefully checked the level, then nodded when he saw the right amount.
"Coal."
Workers began feeding coal into the firebox.
The furnace was lit.
Orange flames immediately appeared beneath the boiler.
Soon the fire intensified.
Heat radiated throughout the workshop.
Time passed.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Fifteen.
The anticipation became almost unbearable. Then the first sound appeared.
Pssssssss.
A faint hiss escaped from the safety valve.
Several workers immediately looked toward the boiler. It was now building pressure.
Twenty minutes later, the hissing grew louder.
The pressure was finally approaching operating range.
Then he walked toward the valve lever connected to the cylinder.
The workshop became completely silent.
Even Hollen stopped making jokes.
This was the moment of truth.
Two weeks of work.
Thousands of hammer strikes.
Hundreds of hours.
Everything came down to this.
Ernest wrapped his hand around the lever.
Then slowly opened the valve.
PSSSSSHHHHH!
Steam rushed into the cylinder.
The machine immediately shuddered.
Several workers jumped backward.
One laborer nearly tripped over a barrel.
The piston twitched.
Then stopped.
The flywheel moved perhaps an inch.
Then nothing.
The workers stared.
Hollen stared.
Ernest stared.
One of the younger smiths cautiously raised a hand.
"Did it break?"
Ernest wasn’t worried as he knew the setting could be off. He walked closer.
Then inspected the valve timing.
Almost immediately he spotted the problem.
The valve wasn’t opening far enough.
A minor adjustment.
Nothing serious.
He grabbed a wrench and loosened one connection.
Then adjusted the linkage.
Then tightened everything again.
Hollen folded his arms.
"Please tell me that’s normal."
"It is, sorry guys, let’s proceed again."
Steam entered the cylinder once more.
PSSSSSHHHHH!
The piston suddenly shot forward.
CLANK.
The connecting rod moved. The crank rotated. The flywheel turned half a revolution. The machine continued turning and produced a chuff, chuff, chuff noise.
Steam entered and the piston moved, prompting the flywheel to rotate. And the cycle’s speed slowly increased.
Moments later, it was now moving on its own! The birth of the steam engine, the one that will replace the waterwheel and human labor. It’s going to power factories, fluid machineries, and everything!
