Chapter 188: Iron Ambition 3
TL: Etude
At half past one in the afternoon, Guy Burns arrived at the Lords Mansion. After sitting in the reception room for a while, the Chief Secretary invited him to meet the master of the house.
Upon entering the Lords office, he was first surprised by its simplicity; it hardly seemed like the daily workplace of a count-level noble.
Then, he saw the local Lord, Paul Grayman, who, as the rumors described, was very young, appearing to be only around fifteen years old. This was the person who had originally designed the harvester.
The young Count was standing not far from the door, seemingly there to welcome him.
Burns was about to perform the etiquette required for visiting a high-ranking noble, but he was interrupted by the others voice.
Welcome, Mr. Burns.
Paul was the first to speak, stepping forward to shake hands, gently moving it up and down.
Is this the etiquette of the Northwesterners? Simple enough, Burns thought, feeling the strength in the others handshake and instinctively gripping Pauls hand firmly.
Hello, Count Grayman. Its an honor to meet you. Ever since I saw that harvester, Ive been eager to meet you. Oh, its truly a genius creation.
Such frankness in his first sentence typical of someone so engrossed in technology?
Haha! Its my honor to receive such recognition from an expert like you. Please, take a seat!
No, youre far too modest.
After both host and guest were seated, Paul first praised Burns for his achievements in spring research, and then revealed the reason for inviting him to take charge of developing a water-powered bellows system for the iron factory he was about to build.
A bellows system? Does the Count plan to use water power to replace manpower to drive the bellows?
Exactly. And the traditional bellows wont meet my needs; I require a more efficient one.
Burns knew that the bellows widely used in metal smelting were made of animal hide, with air tubes at both ends and a piston air inlet controlled by operators. When drawing air in, operators pulled up the hide with ropes and then pressed it down, pushing air into the furnace. Each furnace was equipped with four such devices, operated by two people facing each other.
How much wind force did the Lord need?
Paul spread a paper on the table, illustrating a small-scale iron smelting furnace. Though small, it was much larger than the current furnaces.
My iron factory will use a new type of furnace, like the one drawn here, along with a new type of fuel coke. However, coke is not as easy to burn as charcoal and requires a larger airflow for combustion. Thats why Ive designed a new bellows system the piston type. Of course, this is just a preliminary design; it needs further optimization and improvement from you.
A wooden piston-type wind box was brought into the office, and the two began discussing around this device.
There was a handle on the wind box. When Burns pulled it, wind blew from the outlet. And when he pushed the handle back, the outlet continued to blow air.
He expressed his amazement, Count, may I take it apart to have a look?
Of course, feel free to examine it.
The wind box was then disassembled, and Burns quickly understood its internal structure.
Inside the box, there was a piston board. On one side at the bottom, there was a rectangular air tube with openings at both front and back, communicating with the inside of the box. In the middle, there was an outward air outlet.
Inside the outlet, there was a single-page double-position valve, allowing the outlet to communicate with half of the rectangular tube, blocking air flow from the other half. Driven by the airflow, the two parts of the tube alternately communicated with the outlet.
As the piston board moved back and forth, it continuously pressed out air, achieving a continuous flow of wind.
Simple yet ingenious design, capable of providing a continuous supply of wind unlike the bag-type bellows, Burns commented. He studied the internal structure of the wind box for a long while and then proposed his idea. I think we could change the square box to a cylindrical shape to withstand higher air pressure.
Paul nodded, As I said, this is just a preliminary design. Please feel free to experiment and improve. In addition to making it cylindrical, perhaps you could try using metal, as its more durable than wood.
Thats not necessarily the case, but I will give it a try. Indeed, as long as we can design a reasonable water-driven system, we can continuously blow air into the furnace through this type of wind box.
Curious, he asked, What fuel led to the development of this kind of bellows?
Paul placed a piece of black stone on the table, Coke.
Isnt this the coal commonly used in the Northwest? It seems to burn quite easily.
No, this is something obtained by further processing coal. The sulfur in coal makes the iron produced unusable. Coke cannot burn completely under normal conditions, so I need this new type of bellows and a power system that can drive it continuously.
Leave it to me, Count! I will not disappoint you!
Good luck!
Then, if theres nothing else, I will take my leave.
It seemed Mr. Burns was eager to start his new work.
However, Paul did not let him go immediately, No rush, Mr. Burns. Im quite interested in your past experiences. Would you mind sharing them with me?
Burns tensed up, worried that Count Grayman might bring up his past imprisonment.
His face and neck turned red, My lord, if youre referring to my imprisonment, it was completely due to slander. All the accusations were baseless and fabricated.
It was a shame he could never shake off.
Dont be nervous; I dont mind your past at all.
Paul smiled, signaling him to calm down. He had already heard from Hansel why Burns had been imprisoned; his story was quite widespread in the capital.
I heard from Sir Abbott that you werent very popular in the capital, especially among your peers?
Well I admit, our philosophies dont align, and we cant see eye to eye on many things.
He didnt directly state that his imprisonment was related to his colleagues, as he had no direct evidence.
So, what philosophy led you to willingly teach mechanical knowledge to the lower classes, risking ostracism and suppression from your peers?
This was something Paul had wanted to ask from the beginning, perhaps finding a like-minded person in this world.
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