Chapter 570 The Inventor of the Mortar
Just as Charles and Matthew were discussing further details, a secretary walked into the R&D department and came to Charles: "General, Mr. Deyoka asked you to go to the office. Someone wants to see you!"
"Okay," Charles replied, "I'll be right there."
At the same time, he was wondering who had such a high status to actually arrange to meet him through Djoka.
friend?
reporter?
Or someone else?
Without giving it much thought, Charles gave Matthew a few instructions and followed his secretary to the office building.
…
When he walked into the office, Charles saw a middle-aged man in his fifties. He was wearing a suit and tie and looked like a wealthy man.
The middle-aged man was talking to Deyoka. When he saw Charles in military uniform coming in, he quickly stood up to greet him and said excitedly, "You, you are General Charles, right? It's an honor to meet you, General!"
Charles cast a puzzled look at Djoka.
Deyoka stood up and introduced, "This is Mr. Stokes, the owner of the British Scott Machinery Company. Most of the parts for our tractors are provided by his company."
It turned out that they were business partners. Charles kept smiling and shook hands with Stokes: "It's an honor for me too, Mr. Stokes."
Charles vaguely felt that the name was familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere.
Several people sat back on the sofa. Djokovic picked up the sketch on the coffee table and waved it towards Charles. He smiled and said, "Can you believe it? Stokes and you have the same idea. He also designed a mortar, but you got there first."
Charles was stunned, took the sketch and looked at it, and it was indeed a mortar.
The next second, Charles thought: Stokes? The guy who actually invented the mortar?
(The picture above shows Stokes, the boss of a machinery company. He knew nothing about artillery, but he accidentally heard from a reporter that the army lacked indirect-fire artillery, so he spent a few months inventing a mortar. At the time of the article, he was 55 years old.)
(The picture above shows Stokes testing the mortar he invented)
"I designed this last year." Stokes was a little nervous. "Unfortunately, I made some mistakes. Because I didn't know much about military equipment, I always used powdered black powder to make propellant. Later I realized that I should use granular black powder. When I showed my invention to the military after the test was successful, guess what they said?"
(Note: Powdered black powder will squeeze the gunpowder together, and it cannot burn fully due to lack of oxygen when ignited, resulting in a situation similar to the continuous combustion of solid propellant. However, there are gaps between granular black powder, which can ensure that it burns instantly and bursts out with a strong impact when ignited.)
Stokes shook his head and looked at Charles in disbelief:
"They said to me: 'Sorry, Stokes, but Charles has been ahead of you and has been using mortars for a while. Haven't you heard? He even won with them!'"
"I can't believe there are such coincidences in this world."
Then, Stokes said with some embarrassment:
"But please don't misunderstand me. I have no intention of competing with you for industrial property rights."
"You have absolute ownership, there is no doubt about that. Your mortar is older and more advanced than mine."
"Please believe me, I just want to express my...feelings."
Ciel nodded, "I believe it, Mr. Stokes."
Charles felt a little guilty. He turned his eyes to the blueprint in his hand and praised from the bottom of his heart: "What a great idea. I believe that if you know more about military affairs, or if you are a soldier, you may be able to invent it earlier than me."
Stokes couldn't help but feel relieved after hearing what Charles said: "Thank you very much, General, thank you for your trust and recognition."
Instead of answering, Charles asked, "Why don't we cooperate, Mr. Stokes?"
"What?" Stokes was stunned. "What do you mean?"
tractor?
They are already in a partnership.
Mortar?
The mortars of the Charr were sophisticated and required no cooperation at all.
"Cannon." Charles shook the blueprint in his hand. "You have researched and are interested in cannons. More importantly, you have creativity. You know, this is a war time, and we really need talents like you."
Charles' words made Stokes blush:
"No, General, I think you misunderstand."
"I am not an expert in artillery design. I can even say that I know nothing about artillery."
"I'm just a mechanical designer. Although I'm willing to cooperate with you, but..."
Charles interrupted Stokes: "I know, Mr. Stokes. But many things on artillery require more mechanical knowledge than artillery knowledge. Its essence is a kind of machine."
Although Stokes agreed with this, he still didn't understand: "For example..."
He hoped that Charles could give him an example to let him know where he still had room to improve.
"For example, we need to shorten the breech block," Charles replied.
"Shorten the breech block?" Stokes looked confused. Does the military have such a requirement?
"Yes." Charles explained calmly, "Ordinary artillery may not have such a requirement, but if we want to put this artillery into the turret of a tank..."
Stokes suddenly realized what was going on, and then his eyes lit up instantly:
"You are right, General, this is indeed what we can do."
"God, this will be a great invention. All tanks will have similar needs. Its prospects are unimaginable!"
"Oh my god, we're going to be rich, great project, General! This is awesome!"
…
The reason why Charles proposed the "Charr B1" was because of the breech block problem. There were no dedicated tank guns at that time, and the overly long breech block made it impossible for large-caliber artillery to be stuffed into the turret.
If large-caliber artillery must be used, an incredibly large turret will inevitably be required.
To drive this turret, more power is needed, and the turret needs thick armor, so two engines are needed...
Then, just like "add more water to the noodles, add more noodles to the water", we finally got the super heavy tank "Char 2C".
The only solution is to install a large-caliber gun inside the vehicle body, like the "Char B1".
Although this will result in the loss of some artillery freedom, it solves the problem of whether or not to have it.
"Then," said Charles, "you agree?"
"Of course!" Stokes nodded heavily, stood up and shook hands with Charles: "Of course I agree, General, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity!"
(The two pictures above show the breech block moving up and down. This is a special tank gun with a shortened breech block. During World War I, there were no special tank guns, so either a rotating turret with a small-caliber gun or a large-caliber gun without a turret. The layout of the "Char B1" is the best choice for ensuring firepower without a special tank gun.)
(End of this chapter)
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