Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 225 Catching the Snake
The built model naturally needs to be tested. Although it is just a model, with Purficott's superb skills, it still has the functions that a real shield machine should have.

To put it simply, this model can, like a real shield machine, punch a hole in the ground after starting the steam engine on it.

But this thing is just a model. Even if it can make a hole, it will only make a very small hole, just like a toy.

Before Purficott actually used it to dig holes, he even had to preset a program that could be reversed, so that the thing would not get out of the ground and would have to dig up the ground.

For such a purely mechanical thing, setting up the program is of course not to install a difference engine and write a digital program, but to design an operating mechanism through precise springs and gears so that it can automatically dig after digging to a certain depth. Run in reverse to extract the entire shield machine model from the ground.

The design of this kind of mechanism is not difficult for Purficott. After all, watchmakers of this era can make precise structures that make people draw pictures with just gears and springs, just to make a set of traveling mechanisms run. Direction reversal is really not too simple.

Purficott quickly designed a gear device activated by the spring. After the spring reaches the end, it will automatically pop off the gear, allowing the transmission gear set of the traveling mechanism to run in reverse, thus realizing the entire shield machine. The model travels backwards.

These are not problems, but the key is how to make the shield machine spiral forward in the soil.

What Perficott initially tried was to install wheels on both the inside and outside of the TBM, and control the direction directly through the wheels.

But after several attempts, she discovered a problem. Unless rubber tires were used, the friction coefficient of the metal wheels was too small, making it impossible for the shield machine to be dumped out of the ground.

After all, this shield machine is used to dig underground cities. It is impossible for Purficott to build a shield machine to build an underground city, and then leave the shield machine there after digging to a sufficient depth.

But Purficott's needs are obviously not like this. The shield machine she designed does not penetrate tunnels unless it drills directly through the earth's crust.

In this process, with the installation of tunnel segments, the shield machine has no room to retreat.

Although it is not impossible to build a shelter just by building a shield machine, it is still too costly and a bit too luxurious.

Therefore, she must consider the retreat of the shield machine, which will undoubtedly lead to the redesign of the entire shield machine structure.

Although metal wheels are not unable to climb hills, the gradient is usually not too large. For example, the gradient of a train's climb generally does not exceed 25 thousandths.

Of course, the shield machines of later generations did not adopt such a structure. They mainly used hydraulic propulsion devices to push the shield machine forward, and did not consider the issue of retreat at all, because the shield machine had to directly penetrate the entire tunnel before leaving. Underground.

This angle is too small for Purficott, and she needs to find another way to use it as the traveling mechanism of the shield machine.

Even though this was to allow the dungeon to expand in the future, for Purficott, it still felt like a waste.

"How to improve it..." Purficott used the characteristics of the flying stone to suspend the model of the shield machine in the air, simulating its progress underground in front of him.

The traveling mode of later generations of shield machines is more similar to that of annelids such as earthworms, which move forward by shrinking and extending. However, this structure is obviously not suitable for spiral advancement, because annelids rarely spiral in nature. And speaking of spiraling forward...Perfect suddenly thought of something, so he shouted to the white bear knight standing guard outside the door: "Go and catch me a snake, let it live!"

Hearing Purficott's request, the White Bear Knights standing guard outside the laboratory door were immediately confused, but they did not say anything more. Instead, one of them immediately left to carry out Purficott's order, even though they did not Understand this command.

However, Purficott's order was not so easy to implement.

Although it is almost the beginning of spring in the New World colonies and most of the snow has begun to melt, for the north, it is still a cold and windy winter.

A large amount of snow has not yet melted, and although the snow-covered land looks beautiful, it also means that most animals will basically not run around during this season.

Animals with hibernation habits have not yet awakened, and animals without hibernation habits will also migrate to warmer southern areas to overwinter. Only a few cold-resistant animals still live in this area.

It is really difficult for these white bear knights to expect to catch snakes in this situation.

However, this white bear knight did not feel that he could not complete the task, because he had encountered hibernating snakes when he was logging in the forest in winter, but at that time they just regarded them as extra meals and stewed them. Just a pot of delicious snake soup.

Now let the white bear knight look for it, and he entered the forest according to his last experience, intending to find another snake that was still hibernating.

Judging from the current ambient temperature, these snakes should still be hibernating and are not in any danger. The only problem may be how to find them.

The White Bear Knight walked through the forest in waist-deep snow, digging out the roots or tree holes of a big tree from time to time, looking for snakes hidden in hibernation.

This knight was very careful. Even if the weather was cold, he still wore his iron gloves to prevent himself from being bitten by poisonous snakes.

He once heard an old hunter say that snakes are more venomous than usual in winter. Although he doesn't quite understand the principle, he can never go wrong if he is careful.

Besides, he really didn't want to be bitten by a poisonous snake. After all, he came out alone. If he was poisoned, there would be no one to save him.

As for the cold? This is not a big problem for the White Bear Knights. They are extraordinary beings who have surpassed the limits of mortals, and their bodies have been strengthened by Purficott using alchemy rituals. They are strong enough to withstand the cold with their own strong physiques.

In comparison, snake venom was more difficult for him to fight against. After all, they were not invulnerable to all poisons.

However, while the knight was trying hard to find the snake that Purficott wanted, he did not notice a black and gray thing on the tree slowly approaching him.

When he was tinkering with a tree hole with a sheathed dagger to see if there was a snake inside, the black shadow on the tree had already aimed at the back of his neck where his collar was exposed, and then flicked, like a black streak. It shot towards the white bear knight like an arrow.

(End of this chapter)