Chapter 178 Original Suspension
Ciel meets with both Estiny and Matthew in the R&D department.
To be precise, it was not "meeting", but I ran into them in the R&D department.
The R&D department is a warehouse of more than 200 square meters. A "Mark 1" tank is placed in the middle. Tools for production or turning are everywhere around it, and there are also some workers on standby at all times.
As long as the designers have their own ideas, they can immediately ask the workers to produce parts to improve or assemble the tanks.
Xiaer believes that this can better tap the potential of designers.
Of course, those who can enter the R&D department, whether they are designers or workers, have all been strictly screened and confirmed to have no problems.
This time, Charles came to the R&D department alone, and Djokovic did not come with him.
Djokovic thought that he didn't understand tanks anyway and was a layman in military or mechanical matters, so he wouldn't be able to do anything there and would rather go to the office to look at reports.
Estiny was staring at the Mark I tank, looking thoughtful as if he was thinking about something.
Matthew and Joseph were fiddling with something that looked like a small model.
When they saw Charles coming in, they all stood up and greeted him almost at the same time:
"Hey, Ciel, nice to meet you!"
"I have an idea, Ciel!"
The two were stunned for a moment, and then Colonel Estiny raised his hand to Matthew in a very graceful manner: "My question is rather lengthy, you go first, sir!"
"Thank you, Colonel!" Matthew accepted it generously. He was the type of person who didn't care about the other person's identity. He had the same attitude whether the person was a colonel or an ordinary worker.
Matthew leaned sideways on his crutches, put the model behind him in front of Charles, and said, "Although there has been a breakthrough in the engine, I think you should still take a look at this first!"
"What is it?" Charles stepped forward.
What catches the eye is a small circle of tracks, which is obviously a simulation of the "Mark I" tank, and the tracks are supported by some spring mechanical bars or something like that.
"That's right!" Matthew explained, "The track has always been a big problem for mechanics. It has even become a burden for everyone. The tank needs maintenance every ten kilometers or so. The mechanics have to replace the cracked or deformed track plates. When it reaches thirty kilometers, they even have to replace the entire track. This workload is simply a nightmare. This is also one of the main reasons why tanks cannot travel for a long time!"
Colonel Estiny suddenly became excited: "You, you have a solution, sir?"
"You can say that!" Matthew replied. He looked at Estiny in surprise, as if to ask, "Does this have anything to do with you? Aren't you a tank troop trainer?"
Charles bent down and looked at Matthew's model carefully, and soon understood: "You plan to use a spring structure to reduce the tension of the track?"
"Yes!" Matthew stepped forward and patted the tracks on the model with his dirty gloved hands, explaining: "I found that the reason why the tracks break easily is not entirely due to the weight of the tank, but the pulling of the tracks themselves. It is like a tight rope. As long as we exert a little force, it will be torn apart. This is a tumble in reality. But if it is an elastic rope, it will not break no matter how hard you pull it!"
Charles nodded. This was another disadvantage of the rigid suspension: the tracks were easy to break, which made the tank's maintenance and upkeep extremely difficult, and therefore limited its actual combat capabilities.
For example, in the last battle of La Fox, the tank troops that won the victory were unable to expand their victory and continue to carry out a deep encirclement of the enemy's rear.
If you do this, you will have to consider replacing the tracks, which will require transporting a set of tracks and tools, and it will take several hours to replace the tracks.
This is obviously unrealistic!
"That makes sense!" Colonel Estiny naturally joined the discussion. He looked at the model with interest: "If we use several wheels with spring structures to support the tracks like this, it is equivalent to making the tracks elastic. It will be like an elastic rope and will not be easily broken."
"Yes!" Matthew replied, "I think it can increase the life of the tracks and also affect the speed of the tank!"
"Speed?" Colonel Estiny's eyes lit up.
"Yes!" Matthew explained, "If the maximum impact that the track can withstand is a fixed upper limit, we add a spring structure to reduce the impact force of the ground on it..."
Estiny suddenly realized: "This means that the tank speed needs to reach another level before the track can reach its upper limit. In other words, a higher speed is required to break the track?"
This is actually the "short board principle". If the suspension is not good, no matter how powerful the engine is, it will be useless and the speed will never be increased... Once the speed is increased, the track will break and the tank will eventually be unable to move.
"That's what I mean!" Matthew nodded, "But without experimental proof, I'm not sure if it's feasible!"
"It's worth a try!" Estiny nodded heavily, with unexpected admiration in his eyes: "It may take the tank to another level, sir, this is very creative and meaningful!"
Then, they both turned their gazes to Charles at the same time, their eyes full of anticipation.
Ciel nodded his approval, and the original elastic suspension system was about to appear.
"Well done, Matthew!" Charles praised sincerely.
He didn't expect Matthew to have such great energy. He only graduated from junior high school and had not learned any professional knowledge, but he was able to think of and design the suspension system.
But Charles thought that they could go a step further: "But why don't we use hydraulic shock absorbers instead of springs? I think it might work much better than springs!"
Matthew was stunned for a moment, then screamed: "You're right, Charles, you are... you are such a genius! My God, you surpassed all my efforts with just one sentence, I hate you, Charles! These things I made are simply garbage!"
Although he said this, his face was full of excitement and excitement. He actually had no intention of competing with Charles.
Joseph, who had been silent, also agreed with Charles: "Yes, the tank is so heavy that the spring's buffering force is obviously not enough. We need hydraulic shock absorbers, which can even be produced directly from the motorcycle factory!"
At that time, motorcycles already used hydraulic shock absorbers, and Charles' motorcycle factory had mature technology.
(Note: Hydraulic shock absorbers were invented in 1908)
Colonel Estiny, who was standing by, was also stunned. He asked doubtfully, "Does that mean we can achieve a higher speed?"
"Yes, of course!" Matthew answered confidently: "Hydraulic shock absorbers will work much better than springs!"
Colonel Estiny took a few deep breaths, and nodded excitedly, muttering, "Great, great!"
Charles thought to himself, since we have come to this point, why not...
(The above picture shows the principle of hydraulic shock absorber, which actually uses liquid to flow in the upper and lower spaces in a closed space instead of springs)
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
