Thousands of sparks

Chapter 5
Polina deserves to be the first female Great Technician ever trained by the Mechanical Department of Imperial University.She didn't force the machine to start on the spot — the theory that Dussande's "high-altitude environment" problem affected the internal combustion engine's operation was a real one.

Before the demonstration began, she solemnly apologized to the nobles who attended the ball, and then only showed the basic appearance of the machine on the grounds that "the machine has just arrived in Newsail, and some damage occurred during transportation".

Instead, she decided to only demonstrate the internal combustion engine at the ball, and explained the basic working principle of the internal combustion engine through the blackboard behind her and writing on the blackboard.

Of course, such a display effect is far inferior to the impact of a real internal combustion engine running in front of the nobles.And the nobles in the ballroom themselves would rather attend the ball than listen to a girl from Olin explain to them the design principles of the internal combustion engine.

At first, out of respect for Baroness Androni, the nobles could cheer up and listen.At the back, the nobles who had lost interest in the explanation simply began to "socialize" with their wine glasses around.The surrounding voices became louder and louder, and the chaotic movement even overwhelmed Paulina's explanation.

She slowly stopped what she was doing, looked at the nobles around her who were busy socializing, and then dropped the chalk in frustration.

Madame Androni sighed and patted Polina's hand.Said to the great technician with a sad expression, "It's not your fault."

"No... As a great technician, I didn't even consider the environment in which the machine operates..." Polina's eyes were a little red, and she replied with a choked voice with a strong nasal voice, "I'm sorry, Androni Madame. I was not ready..."

The interaction between the two fell into the eyes of the surrounding nobles, and several male nobles laughed unabashedly.Although they didn't say a word, such a move made Polina feel like a lightning strike.She was suddenly panicked, and even planned to push her invention away from the ball immediately.

Dusande, who was observing the situation at the dessert table, seized this opportunity accurately. He squeezed out of the luxurious and even scented gaps of the nobles, and while trying to get closer to the center of the dance floor, he shouted loudly, "Ms. Polina, please wait!"

Although almost no one on the dance floor would care about Polina, everyone's social behavior still needs to follow basic "politeness" after all.So now there is only a low "hum" of noisy human voices on the dance floor.Dusande, who hadn't changed his voice yet, shouted loudly and loudly, attracting everyone's attention immediately.

"Mr. Lord." Polina nodded to Dusande. She felt very conflicted about Dusande now.

On the one hand, she really needs to thank Du Sande for the reminder - otherwise, what she needs to face now is not just the ridicule of the nobles.

But on the other hand, she was also a little angry.

The operation of the internal combustion engine in a plateau environment is a new topic that no one has tried. Du Sande discovered this problem almost the moment she saw the internal combustion engine... It would make her look stupid.

From the day she entered the School of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial University as a woman, Polina had to prove to the men around her that she was "not stupider than them" in all aspects, anytime, anywhere and in various ways.

Polina, who is used to fighting and winning, can't accept her own "stupidity", let alone a ten-year-old boy who looks stupid by contrast.

"Please wait here for a moment." After comforting Polina, Dusand turned around and started calling, "Is Lord Tanner here?"

"Lord Tanner is here." A servant in the distance responded loudly to Dusand's call, and then walked across the ball with a well-dressed old man with a gold monocle on his right side.

The old man walked to Dusand slowly, and asked in confusion, "Lord Dusand, are you looking for me?"

"The fabric bleach you invented before is the one you showed everyone at the last dance." Du Sande asked with a smile, "Is it getting investment now?"

Lord Tanner nodded gratified, "Thanks to His Majesty the Emperor, the Royal Textile Association invested [-] gold pounds in my invention."

"I hope you can create more miracles in your future inventions." Du Sande politely blessed the other party, and then asked, "I remember that you will carry a bottle of bleach with you for display purposes, you put it today Did you bring it?"

"Of course." Lord Tanner raised the cane in his hand, and then easily unscrewed the copper tap of the cane and asked, "How much do you need?"

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In the ballroom, the band, which hadn't been prompted to start playing for a long time, began to play a soft serenade in order to enliven the atmosphere.The other nobles began to concentrate on watching Dusand's performance.

Dusande specially found a large enough kettle. After pouring about a pint of light blue liquid from the metal walking stick into the kettle, Dusande found a heat-resistant rubber tube, and then Put it on the spout.

He also brought over the gas lamps for the dessert table.Positioning the kettle directly over the gas lamp, Dussande adjusted the flame a little so as not to bring the contents of the kettle to a boil too quickly.Then he said to Polina on the side, "Please open the enclosure around the gas machine—where is the air intake?"

Polina had no idea what to do with herself.She almost mechanically completed the "preparation work" bit by bit under Du Sande's instructions.

A steam fan was also brought out of the warehouse by the servants.Its size fit miraculously with the inlet of the gas machine, which saved Dusande a lot of trouble in preparation.

"The bleach invented by Lord Tanner has a very unique characteristic - it will release oxygen after heating." In order to prevent the surrounding nobles who have little understanding of mechanics and chemistry from being too boring, Du Sande started He explained his behavior, "The so-called oxygen is an important gas that can promote the combustion process."

Dusande ignited and blew out a match that still had sparks on it and stretched it towards the mouth of the kettle.As soon as the match got close to the rubber tube, it immediately emitted an orange light.

The surrounding nobles were attracted by this small ray of light. At the same time, Dusande was already working on the second step.

Start the steam fan, and the fan starts to run at full speed towards the horn-shaped air inlet of the gas machine.Then the pipeline leading to oxygen is stuck behind the fan blade, and the preparation work is completed.

"This process itself is equivalent to a forced air intake." Dusand explained to Polina while grabbing the limelight that should have belonged to Polina in front of the nobles, "Neusal's size is smaller than that of Orin It is much smaller, and the atmosphere attracted by gravity is relatively thinner. Therefore, the equivalent altitude here is [-] joules. Before the internal combustion engine is not adjusted, it cannot naturally inhale enough air-this will cause the machine to fail."

Polina nodded, then pointed to the fan and said, "Fan air into the machine through the fan blades, can it support combustion?"

"This..." Dusand's expression was a little helpless, "The fan can't provide much pressure, and what really works is the oxygen obtained by heating the bleach."

He looked around and confirmed that the attention of the surrounding nobles was on the kettle before he whispered to Polina, "I can't guarantee that this machine will be able to work after the emergency treatment."

Polina's expression didn't change, "I couldn't move anyway."

"That's not the worst case." Dusand rolled his eyes, "I don't have the compression ratio and other data of your machine, and I don't have enough calculation process, and the operation of heating and generating oxygen can't be precisely controlled... …not being able to move is not such a bad result. If you give too much oxygen, at worst your precious invention could overheat and cause the piston to melt after a few cycles.”

"There is still time to stop now." Du Sande asked seriously, "After all, it is your invention, are you sure you want to continue the experiment?"

Paulina looked at the gas machine she worked so hard on from design to completion, and took a deep breath.

"It was designed to function from the beginning. This is its destiny—even if the price is damaged." She said to Dusand, "If it breaks, and I still can't get the investment from the nobles, then I just had to find another way to make a living.”

"I think you might be able to be my tutor." Dusande showed Polina the most sincere smile a child can show, "My previous tutor just left the day before yesterday... this job The pay is very good, a gold pound a week."

Polina also laughed. She rubbed Dusand's hair and said earnestly, "If I have the chance, I would really like to meet your former teacher. He taught an amazing student."

She looked at her invention, then took a deep breath, "Let's get started!"

(End of this chapter)