Chapter 822 Why Trains Are Not Allowed on Highways

How convenient are pneumatic tools? Let's put it this way, basically, pneumatic tools can do what electric tools can do.

Electric tools include electric drills, electric screwdrivers, and electric hammers. Pneumatic tools also include pneumatic guns, pneumatic screwdrivers, and pneumatic picks. Electric tools include electric saws and angle grinders, and pneumatic tools also include air saws, air angle grinders, and air rivets and air forging hammers.

Except for the heat attribute function of electric soldering irons, pneumatic tools can make corresponding things as long as they are related to rotation and impact.

Of course, the portability of pneumatic tools cannot be compared with that of electric tools. You can use them by pulling a wire and connecting them to electricity. Pneumatic tools must be equipped with an air compressor as power, and the Han tribe has no electricity, so they can only use steam engines to drive air compressors to work. In this way, if the Han tribe wants to use pneumatic tools, they must carry a boiler, a steam engine, and an air compressor, that is, an air pump, and a large amount of coal and water reserves.

It is definitely not possible to carry so many things around, so the scope of use of pneumatic tools is limited. But even so, even if it can only be used in a fixed factory workshop, it is extremely convenient. For the current Han tribe, it is the best choice.

"This, can high-pressure gas be used to make tools?!" Mu Xing was extremely shocked by Luo Chong's wild idea. He was surprised again, "Could it be that we have to make an ultra-small cylinder and piston structure, all condensed into a small tool, and then let it rotate under the action of steam?"

He muttered to himself, and then immediately questioned, "But the steam engine is so hot, if it is directly transported to the tool, won't it burn your hands?"

Luo Chong laughed and nodded, "Yes, high-pressure and high-temperature steam will definitely burn your hands, so I said high-pressure gas at the beginning, not high-pressure steam. For example, the air we breathe can be directly compressed by the machine and stored in a container, which can be used as power for us to drive."

Mu Xing's eyes suddenly opened up, as if a new door had opened, and he quickly asked, "Then may I ask, leader, how is this air compressed?"

"You know the principle of the air pump, right?" Hearing Mu Xing's question, Luo Chong did not get tired of reminding him.

"Yes, the principle of the air pump is a small bellows, which is the same as the principle of our cylinder and piston." Mu Xing answered immediately. Before the steam engine, bicycles and air pumps were also made by the same group of people. How could they forget the principle?

"It's good to know. The air compressor I mentioned, in principle, is to use a steam engine to drive the air pump to pump air, and then transport the pumped air to a sealed steel cylinder similar to a tire. Once the machine is turned on, the air in the cylinder will increase, but it cannot escape, and high-pressure air will be formed inside.

Then we connect a pipe from the cylinder and connect it to the tool, and it can be used to provide power."

"Great, the leader's idea is really amazing." Mu Xing couldn't help but praise it after listening to it once.

He didn't mean to flatter him, but he really admired him. He admired Luo Chong for not only being a mechanical genius, but also being able to come up with imaginative but very efficient mechanical principles. What made him admire him even more was that Luo Chong could use existing technology to tinker with new things through different combinations.

Take the air compressor for example. The steam engine is their existing mature technology. The air pump does not have much technical content. The so-called steel cylinder is just a container. However, these technologies that they have mastered have been reassembled by Luo Chong and turned into a new thing with great use value. This is what Mu Xing admires the most.

Luo Chong smiled and said nothing. He couldn't tell his subordinates that this was not my idea, but just something I had seen in my previous life. Would anyone believe this? There is no point in arguing about this.

"In this case, the air compressor project will be left to you. You will select people to form a research and development team. As for those pneumatic tools, I can provide you with two solutions. One is a tool that uses a fan to drive the gear to work, and the other is a way to push the piston to work in the cylinder. These two structures have their own advantages. You can do it yourself."

Luo Chong immediately gave the R&D plan for the pneumatic tools. He didn't plan to take out the drawings and slap them in their faces, and then say, just do it according to this. When can you bring out the research and development capabilities of the institute? So now they must learn to be independent.

The best model now is to only provide ideas and basic theories and let them figure out the specific design themselves. Besides, the things we are going to make this time are all based on existing technology. If they can't make it, then Luo Chong's careful teaching over the past few years will be in vain.

"Yes, Chief, I will start to arrange this matter after we sort out the mint's affairs." Mu Xing immediately crossed his hands and agreed, taking over the job.

"Well, tell me about your steam locomotive." Luo Chong pointed to the drawings on the table and said.

"To reply to the leader, this model is designed according to the mine vehicle you mentioned. It uses a narrow track gauge of 70 cm and adopts a cylindrical boiler with embedded superheater and smoke pipes. It uses two cylinders and pistons as power, which are placed on both sides of the front of the vehicle. The chassis uses a 2-6-2 wheel layout, with a pair of guide wheels, three pairs of power wheels and a pair of driven wheels. The vehicle is 3.5 meters long and can carry fifteen three-meter-long carriages. The speed is based on the design indicators. It can run at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour with full load, and that is uphill. If it is downhill, it is estimated that it can run at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, and it can also run at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour on flat ground."

Mu Xing was pointing at the drawings and introducing various design parameters, especially the speed, which can indeed be calculated. The number of times the cylinder piston can work per unit time, multiplied by the circumference of the wheel, the most basic speed can be calculated. It's just that the Han tribe is still using hours, not hours, so the speed Mu Xing mentioned has to be converted into hours at half the rate.

In other words, this car can run at a speed of 20 miles per hour when climbing a slope with a full load. Because of the acceleration of gravity, the speed can be doubled when going downhill. I'm afraid you have to step on the brakes when you really run. Even if you run on flat ground, you can run at a speed of 30 miles per hour.

This thing is useless for transporting bulk goods. Luo Chong asked them to make this thing mainly for use in various mining areas, which will greatly improve the mining capacity of the Han tribe. This is beyond doubt.

In addition, this kind of narrow-gauge small train has a low load capacity and is not so strict on the rails. It is suitable for simple railways that are frequently changed or temporarily paved. This is very important for mining areas.

In addition, the research institute can accumulate experience and find errors in the research, development, manufacturing and use of this type of narrow-gauge train, so as to make technical reserves for the manufacture of larger locomotives in the future.

"It sounds good." Luo Chong nodded with satisfaction, "I just don't know when you can let me see the real thing?"

"To the leader, if all the work goes smoothly, after we complete the mechanical transformation of the mint, we can see the prototype of the locomotive in another half a year." Mu Xing estimated.

He didn't brag. In fact, Luo Chong urged the steam transformation of the mint very hard, so they really worked non-stop without a holiday. At present, the transformation of the mint has basically come to an end. Before the New Year, they can start to make prototypes. Although the institute still has many other tasks, such as the air compressor and pneumatic tools that the leader just gave, but those things don't require many people at all. One or two groups can be divided to do it, and the rest of the people can all be invested in the research and development of locomotives.

Now there are more and more people in the institute, and soon they will no longer be short of manpower.

"That's good, but you don't have to be too anxious, take steady steps, safety first, and don't have any accidents. Okay, let's see so much this time. I have to go to the mint as soon as possible, so I won't bother you here." Luo Chong nodded, gave a few instructions, and wanted to leave.

"Thank you for your concern, Chief. I'll see you off." Mu Xing crossed his arms and saluted before taking Luo Chong out again.

Yesterday, the research institute had just sent a few more machines to the mint on Lake Heart Island. If Luo Chong walked quickly this time, when they arrived at the mint, they might be able to catch up with them to watch them install and debug the machines.

On the way, Luo Chong rode on horseback with his personal guards again. This time they were going directly to Weishan County, and from there they would take a sailboat to the mint on Lake Heart Island. After visiting there, if there was still enough time, Luo Chong also planned to go to the comprehensive research institute on Lake Heart Island to inspect the work there and hand over the task of developing rubber gloves and rubber gas hoses.

When Luo Chong and his team left the Industrial County, the snow had stopped, but there was still wind. Qu Bing rode his horse to Luo Chong's side again and asked Luo Chong curiously.

"Chief, is the steam locomotive the vehicle you mentioned before that will run on the railway?"

"That's right. A steam locomotive is a machine vehicle that runs on rails with a steam engine as the power. It needs to burn fire to move, so it can also be called a train. In addition, it can also carry many carriages, so it can also be called a train. You can call it whatever you want." Luo Chong said, holding the reins with one hand and covering his mouth and nose with the other hand to prevent the cold wind from blowing into his mouth.

Qubing was very surprised and curious about this. He really admired Luo Chong's imagination. He could even think of using a steam engine to power the car and pull a large string of carriages to run on two iron rods.

But he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Chief, why can't it only run on rails? Can't the train run on ordinary dirt roads? If it must use rails, wouldn't it limit the range and route of the train's activities?"

Yes, any normal person would definitely have such a question. Since your steam locomotive can run on rails, why can't it run on the road?

But you don't say, Luo Chong really has this plan.

"Of course you can run on ordinary roads, but you have to eat one bite at a time. In comparison, the carrying capacity of trains is greater. In terms of strategy, it is more important than cars running on the road. That's why I have to build trains and railways first, and then, on the premise of ensuring the development strategy of the tribe, I can free up my hands to study the cars that you said can run on the road." Luo Chong explained again.

"Oh, so the steam locomotive running on the road is called a car." Qu Bing muttered and fell into thought and stopped talking.

Luo Chong followed his words and couldn't help but recall the history of his previous life.

Steam cars are really not new. In Luo Chong's previous life, when internal combustion engines were popular, steam locomotives did not withdraw from the stage of history. The two sides even coexisted for a period of time.

Speaking of the tragic war of the Second World War, it was also the golden age when human technology began to explode. All kinds of black technologies of that era were invented in World War II.

Of course, cars are not. Cars were already running everywhere before World War II.

If we talk about the most famous car during World War II, it must be the American Jeep. At that time, there were American military green Jeeps all over the world. But when it comes to trucks, we have to talk about the British characteristics at that time, the Sentinel series steam-powered trucks, which are the only outstanding industrial works in the world.

Britain is worthy of being the country that invented the steam engine. It really played with the steam engine and brought steam power to road traffic and put it into practice, and it was also very successful. There is no second one in the world except the Sentinel series. Even if there is, it is a British company.

The Sentinel steam truck has a long history of development. At first, it just roughly installed the steam engine on the chassis of the car, and it still used solid tires. It was fully open, without even a roof, but you can't deny that this thing can really run on the road.

Later, the British who pursued fashion became more and more uncontrollable. Various new technologies began to be stuffed into the Sentinel. When hollow pneumatic tires became popular in the world, this thing was also installed with a hollow mentality, but there has always been a place that has been criticized, that is, the transmission system of the Sentinel.

A large truck with a front steam engine, a steam engine under the cab, and a coal stove in the cab. This truck is actually driven by a chain! ! It is also a front-engine rear-wheel drive vehicle that uses chains to drive the rear wheels as power wheels! !

Is it weird?

However, no matter how weird it is, this truck has not been used to transport various supplies to the British army. After the final improvement, the chain drive of the sentinel has also been changed to a universal longitudinal drive shaft to drive.

If this truck is not highly polluting and too troublesome to start, it may not be eliminated by internal combustion engine cars.

In fact, if you want to make this truck run, you have to burn the furnace for an hour to ignite it, and wait for the steam pressure to come up before you can drive the vehicle.

But even so, for the current Han tribe, it is definitely a model worth promoting.

The new national development strategy that Luo Chong studied before is based on the north-south waterway as the main backbone. The Han tribe has already achieved this, and then the next stage of transformation is to use the railway to extend to the large undeveloped inland areas on both sides of the east and west.

With waterways as the trunk and railways as branches, they will gradually extend to all directions, continue to expand the territory of the Han tribe, occupy, develop, and find more human resources and other undiscovered resources.

After the second phase of the strategy is completed, Luo Chong might come up with steam trucks to promote road transportation.

At that time, the waterways will be the trunk, the railways will be the branches, and the roads will be the veins. The Han tribe, no, at that time it should be called the Han Empire, will be completely woven into a large network of transportation in the Han Empire, and then the comprehensive development of science and technology and economy can be achieved.

(End of this chapter)