Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 224 Making a Shield Machine Model

"The cutter head can be made of existing materials, and both steam engines and steam turbines can be used in the power system. This is not a problem." Purficott looked at the preliminary drawings and suddenly fell into a tangle.

She bit the second knuckle of her right index finger and fell into deep thought, because she discovered a very fatal problem.

That is, the structure and working principle of the shield machine determines that this thing is a straight tube. Although it can be made curved by adjusting the structure, it is still not possible to use it to dig a spiral tunnel underground. A simple thing.

At least for Purficott, there was just too much she needed to improve on the drawing.

The main part of the shield machine is made into a curved pipe, and the rotating shaft that transmits power forward needs to be installed with a universal joint. These are all things that she can easily solve.

But how to make the shield machine spirally advance in the predetermined direction became a dilemma for Purficott.

What she wants to dig is a spiral tunnel, and the main body of the shield machine is transformed into a curved pipe. These are easy to understand and solve.

But there is a very critical part in the structure of the shield machine, which is the propulsion device used to propel the shield machine forward.

This thing is usually pushed by a hydraulic device. If it is pushed straight forward, it is simple. All the hydraulic devices work together and it is done.

However, what Purficott wanted to build was a spiral-structured tunnel, which required that the shield machine she designed must be able to spiral downward, that is, the shield machine was always turning.

Because it is a spiral propulsion, the distance of the outer edge is undoubtedly greater than the inner edge. This part of Purficott can also be solved by using hydraulic cylinders of different lengths. Although the structure is a bit more complicated and the control is more troublesome, it does not mean that Can't do it.

This requires a rather complex propulsion structure, and also requires a special design of the main body of the shield machine.

It is not easy for the shield machines of later generations to solve this problem, but with computers and automated control systems in later generations, it is relatively not difficult to achieve.

This also requires that when the shield machine advances forward, the direction of the thrust exerted by the propulsion device is not a straight line, but a force that causes the cutterhead in front to turn.

Moreover, most of the tunnels where shield machines were used in later generations were straight. Even if there were turns, the magnitude of the turns was not large. As long as the forward direction of the cutting head equipped with the cutterhead was controlled, the steering of the main body of the shield machine was controlled well. , basically no problem.

But to advance in a spiral turn, this is not a simple matter.

After all, with computer control, more complex movements can be performed, let alone just turning of the TBM.

But the advancement of the main structure left Purficott scratching his head. After all, in addition to controlling the advancement and steering of the cutterhead, the main body of the shield machine also had to move forward.

The turning of the TBM in the original world is equivalent to a very long and very large bus turning along the road. Just turn the direction to control the front wheel steering and go straight along the road.

The shield machine designed by Purficott is equivalent to an arc-shaped car that keeps spinning in circles. This obviously cannot be the same structure as a normal shield machine. "Forget it, instead of scratching your head, let's make a model and actually test it." Purficott gave up thinking and finally decided to make a model first and then see where there are any problems that need improvement.

The same was true when she was making an airship. She first made a model, then made improvements based on the model, and finally finalized the design.

And to a certain extent, if the design only stays on the drawings and cannot be actually built for verification, then it is worthless.

After all, any design must be practical in the end. If it cannot be actually built, what is the point of the design no matter how perfect it is?

So after Purficott completed the preliminary design, he came to his laboratory with the drawings, spread the drawings on the test bench, and then started making parts.

Because it is just a verification model, the size of the parts is naturally very fine. Compared with the real size, it is about a 1:72 ratio. This is Perficott's usual model ratio, and the sizes of various parts are also familiar to her. .

"Let me see, the first thing is the shield of the shield machine..." Purficott asked the maid to get the materials from the warehouse, and after putting them aside, she sketched the alchemy circle on the table, and then Shaping the material into what she wanted.

However, in order to facilitate the installation of subsequent parts and to adjust it at any time, Purficott did not make the shield of the shield machine model into a complete cylinder, but two pieces that can be opened and closed up and down, so that it can be easily adjusted at any time. Adjust internal structure.

Then came the production of steam engine models, which is something Purficott is familiar with. After all, whether he was making a steam core for a doll maid, designing a power system for an airship model, or developing a steam turbine, Purficott Kurt was already familiar with the structure of the steam engine. With her alchemy skills blessed by the Philosopher's Stone, she almost made a miniature steam engine without thinking, and then installed it on the main body of the shield machine. within the structure.

The next thing that was produced was naturally the cutterhead, but because the size was too small, there was no cutter head installed on the cutterhead.

After all, the size is too small, and the installed cutter head is not as big as a grain of rice, so it doesn't have much practical significance, so Purficott just made some protrusions on the cutter head and treated it as the cutter head. .

As long as there is no problem with the main structure of the cutterhead, given the size of this model shield machine, these protrusions on the cutterhead can also be used as cutter heads.

After completing the manufacturing of these main components, Purficott took a deep breath, looked at the complex transmission, propulsion and traveling mechanisms on the drawings, and began to helplessly make these delicate small parts.

If it were just pure processing and manufacturing, even though these parts were small, it would still not be a problem for Perfectcott.

Her alchemy skills can be achieved to a level of detail that is invisible to the naked eye, but apart from production, assembly is a very laborious task. After all, the parts are too small, and some gears are no bigger than a grain of rice, even if they are made of amber. Masters of alchemy like Ficott also need to wear special magnifying glasses to see these delicate small parts clearly, and then use tweezers to carefully assemble them.

After a long assembly process that made her back feel stiff and sore, the small parts and mechanical structure of the shield machine model were finally completed, which made Purficott couldn't help but stretch out. After that, he hammered his sore shoulders and neck.

Fortunately, the model of this shield machine is finally completed.

(End of this chapter)