Chapter 188： Hearts of Iron III

Guy Burns arrived at the Lord's Mansion at 1:30 in the afternoon. After sitting in the living room for a while, the chief secretary came to invite him to meet the owner here.

After entering the lord's office, he was first surprised by the simplicity of the furnishings here, it really didn't look like a place where an earl-level nobleman worked every day.

Then he saw the local lord Paul Greiman, just as the outside legend said, he was very young, he looked only about fifteen years old, this is the person who came up with the original design of the harvester.

At this moment the young earl was standing not far from the door, as if to greet him.

Burns was about to salute according to the etiquette of visiting a senior nobleman, but was interrupted by the other party's voice.

"You are welcome, Mr. Burns."

Paul spoke first, stepped forward and stretched out his right hand to hold the opponent's hand, then shook it up and down slightly.

Is this the etiquette of Northwesterners? It was quite simple. Burns felt the strength from the opponent's hand, and subconsciously held Paul's hand slightly harder.

"Hello, Earl Greiman. It's an honor to meet you. Ever since I saw that harvester, I've wanted to see you. Oh! It's a genius-like creation."

The first sentence is so straightforward, is it worthy of being a technology-focused person?

"Haha! It is also my honor to be recognized by an expert like you. Please sit down!"

"Where, you are too modest."

After both the host and the guest sat down, Paul first praised him for his contributions to the development of springs, and then stated the purpose of asking him to come—to let him be in charge of developing a hydraulic blowing system to be used in the iron springs he will soon build. factory.

"Blower system? If the Earl wants to replace manpower with water power, will he drive the blower?"

"That's right, and the traditional blowers can't meet my needs. I need a more efficient blower."

Burns knew that the blower that is widely used in metal smelting today is a blowing bag made of animal skin. The two ends of the bag are divided into air ducts and piston air inlets controlled by the operator. Pick up the leather bag, then step on it, and blow the wind into the furnace. Each furnace is equipped with four blowers, and two people operate opposite each other.

How much wind does the lord need?

Paul spread out a piece of paper on the table, on which was drawn the structure of a small iron-making blast furnace. Although it was small, it was much larger than the current smelting furnace.

"My ironworks will use a new type of furnace, like the one in the picture, and a new type of fuel - coke, but this coke is not as easy to burn as charcoal and must be used larger The combustion is supported by the wind, so I designed a new air blast system—piston air blast. Of course, this is only a preliminary design, and you need to continue to optimize and perfect it.”

A wooden piston bellows was carried into the office by a servant, and the two discussed around the wooden bellows.

There is a handle on the bellows. When Burns pulled the handle out, the air outlet would blow out the wind. When he pushed the handle back in, the air outlet continued to blow out the wind.

He was amazed, "Master Earl, can I take it apart and have a look?"

"Of course, please do your research."

So the bellows was disassembled, and Burns quickly figured out its internal structure.

A piston plate is installed inside the bellows. There is a rectangular air duct at the bottom of one side of the box. The front and rear openings communicate with the inside of the box. There is an outward air outlet in the middle.

A single-leaf double-set valve inside the air outlet can make the air outlet communicate with half of the square pipe, blocking the air flow between the air outlet and the other half of the square pipe. Driven by the airflow, the two parts of the square tube communicate with the air outlet alternately.

When the piston plate reciprocates back and forth, the air can be pressed out, so as to realize continuous blowing.

"Simple yet ingenious design, compared to bladder blowers, it can supply air continuously without stopping."

Burns commented that he looked at the inside of the bellows for a long time and thought for a long time, and put forward his own suggestion: "I think the square box can be changed into a cylindrical shape, which can withstand higher wind pressure."

Paul nodded: "I said this is just a preliminary design, please boldly improve the experiment. In addition to changing it into a cylindrical shape, maybe you can try changing it to metal. After all, things made of wood are not as strong as those made of metal."

"That's not necessarily the case, but I will try. Indeed, as long as a reasonable hydraulic drive system can be designed, it can continuously blow air into the furnace through this kind of bellows."

He asked curiously: "What fuel makes this kind of blower possible?"

Paul put a black stone on the table, "coke".

"Isn't this the fuel coal commonly used in the Northwest? It seems to be easy to burn."

"No, this is something obtained by further processing the coal. The sulfur in the coal will make the smelted iron useless and coke cannot be fully burned under normal conditions, so I need This new blower and a powertrain that drives it continuously."

"Leave it to me, Lord Earl! I will definitely live up to your expectations!"

"Good luck!"

"Then, if there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."

It seemed that Mr. Burns was eager to start his new job.

Paul didn't let him go, "Don't worry, Mr. Burns. I'm very interested in your previous experience, would you like to talk to me?"

Burns was nervous for a while. Did Earl Greiman mean that he was in prison before?

His face was flushed, and even his neck was also red.

"My lord, if you're referring to my imprisonment, it's because a villain is framing me. All the accusations are groundless and fabricated."

It was a shame that lingered throughout his life.

"Please don't be nervous, I don't mind your matter at all."

Paul smiled and signaled the other party not to get excited. He already knew from Hansel why Burns was imprisoned, and his story was still widely spread in the capital.

"I heard from Sir Abbott that you don't seem to be very popular in the capital, especially among your peers?"

"Well... I admit that I have different ideas from them, and we can't talk together."

He did not directly explain that his imprisonment was related to his colleagues, after all, he had no direct evidence in hand.

"Then what kind of philosophy is it based on that makes you willing to teach those lower-level people about mechanical knowledge for free, so that you don't hesitate to risk being squeezed out by your peers?"

This is what Paul wanted to ask from the very beginning, perhaps, he could find a like-minded person in this world.