Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1880 Technology and Secret Anti-Spies ([-])

"In the past, most of our marine steam engines were reciprocating propeller steam engines. The 'Sprint Champion' class immigrant transport ships that are still sailing on the ocean today use this type of steam engine. Well, that's right, most naval warships also use this type of steam engine. This kind of power device, after all, is derived from the early 'Popeye' series." On a small pier by the Xuefeng Lake, Sheng Dehong, who came here on horseback yesterday, was having a good time with the deputy director of the factory in charge of security. chatted.

Today is sunny and the air is fresh. Although the wind is a bit strong, there is no problem in this leeward place under the eaves.Sheng Dehong and Xu, the deputy director of the Xuefeng Lake Shipyard, watched the ships on the lake with their whistles sounding and drinking wine while watching the sea trial.

"But there has been a revolutionary change in the power of this ship?" Sheng Dehong asked, shaking the wine glass in his hand.

"Of course, otherwise why would we hide our heads and show our tails and hide here to test?" Xu Guangzu, the deputy director of the factory, is the son of Xu Xin, a former central boss, and is now the deputy director of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard.After graduating from Bingtuanbao, he successively served as a factory technician, deputy chief of the technology department, chief of the inspection department, deputy director of the workshop, director, and deputy director of the factory. .

"The power of this ship is the latest 'Sea Horse' series steam turbine. Although it is not yet mature, it represents the future." Deputy Director Xu Guangzu said in a somewhat proud tone: "Don't look at this name. The power of the 'Haima-1' steam turbine is only a little over 20 horsepower, but it can bring this small boat a speed of 7-8 knots, which is very good."

In fact, as Xu Guangzu said just now, the "Haima-1" steam turbine developed in cooperation with the Tieling Boiler Factory after going through untold hardships has many faults and low power, but because of its high energy utilization efficiency, it represents For the future - the traditional piston steam engine, because it is a reciprocating piston cylinder, due to the degree of wear and other reasons, the heat energy utilization efficiency is low, and there are many intermediate fault links, it is not as good as the rotary steam that directly acts on the propeller propeller turbine.

People on the east coast tried to research more efficient steam turbines many years ago. For this reason, they first manufactured many experimental products on the shore, such as the 1670-horsepower rotary steam turbine trial-produced by the Tieling Boiler Factory in 25, which directly drives a propeller. , it is said that they worked steadily for a long time; in 1676, they moved the experimental base to the shore of Xuefeng Lake, and spent two years with the staff of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard and Engineering Technology Research Institute , Redeveloped a steam turbine that reached 120 horsepower.

This turbine was also tested on the shore, and the results were not very satisfactory.Perhaps because the people on the east coast still lack experience in this area, the speed of this 150-horsepower steam turbine is not ideal enough to bring the high-speed power that everyone imagined.Moreover, its reliability is not ideal, the core components are very easy to damage, and it does not seem to be a material problem, but more of a design problem.That is, people on the east coast know too little about steam turbines, and there are a lot of technical barriers. It may not be a big problem when manufacturing a "toy" prototype steam turbine, but once it wants to be practical, there are countless problems to be solved. Because your standards obviously can't be as low as they used to be.

After being frustrated here, the people on the east coast set their goals a little smaller, and continued to go back to study the steam turbine with less power, such as the 36-horsepower steam turbine currently being used on this ship.In order to move this small steam turbine onto the ship and connect it with the propeller propulsion system, the Xuefeng Lake factory had to overcome many difficulties, and this is how the ship is now on trial voyage in Xuefeng Lake.

The whistle blew loudly on the lake, and the black smoke column curled up from the rear of the deck, but it didn't rise very high before being blown away by the strong wind.The waves on the lake are not small, but the test boat is still sailing smoothly on the lake, sometimes circles, sometimes speeds up in a straight line, very busy.

"Actually, we originally expected this ship to achieve a speed of more than 10 knots." Xu Guangzu looked at the sparkling lake and said in a slightly helpless tone: "But there are some problems with the propeller propulsion system, um, mainly It is by design. For example, we found that the propeller is likely to cause certain air bubbles in the water, and it is difficult to solve. The existence of such air bubbles will greatly reduce the thrust that the ship can obtain, which in turn will affect the sailing speed. Now, we There is no doubt that this problem needs to be solved, but of course there are many other problems that also need to be solved one by one.”

"Nothing is perfect when it first comes out." Sheng Dehong comforted: "Think about your colleagues in the old continent, they are even struggling to get a stable and reliable steam engine, let alone move it into the cabin. It's an impossible task for them."

In fact, people on the east coast have been using steam engines for 50 years, and Europeans have been studying this stuff for a long time.With the help of this demonstration effect on the east coast, the monarchs and businessmen of European countries have invested huge resources in the research of steam engines—Watt and others, who have been extremely hardworking in order to raise funds in history, don’t know how envious they are— —However, they are limited by the bottleneck of technology and materials, so far they have only barely applied steam engines to some industrial fields that require a large amount of labor. There are still a large number of hydraulic machines in the folk that have not been eliminated, and their full popularity is far away.

Even in England, where steam engines are used most rapidly, hydraulic or wind machines still dominate.That is to say, in some industrial and mining enterprises that require continuous production, the steam engine undertakes some tasks of pumping, lifting, and crushing, especially in winter and spring when the river freezes and the hydraulic machinery stops.

The direction of the British guy's current research is how to make various types of steam engines better, faster, and cheaper, and try to popularize them across the country.Britain is rich in coal resources and has a good industrial base. The cost of maintaining steam engines for a long time is not high. Therefore, wide-scale popularization is possible, depending on the advanced level of their steam engine technology and the degree of customer recognition.

It is not that they have tried to move the steam engine to the ship, but they cannot reduce the weight and volume of the steam engine without changing the power, let alone guarantee its reliability, so they have not succeeded so far.At the same time, they also had the idea of ​​importing some marine steam engines from the east coast, but they were directly rejected, so they have not been able to manufacture a steam-powered ship until now-of course, if they do not hesitate to pay the price, they may not be able to use the steam engine. They moved onto the ship, but at their current level, after installing a steam propulsion system on that kind of ship, there is basically no free space, and the reliability must be poor, so there is no such hard work, because it is unnecessary, and more Uneconomical.

Compared with the British, the application of steam engines in other countries is much slower.The loose northern part of Germany has always been an area with relatively developed commerce and handicraft industry. The total number of steam engines currently in use is not known to be fifty, which is pitifully small.The application status of the Netherlands, Sweden, Courland, and France is similar to that of North Germany. Perhaps the Netherlands is more prominent, but the number of applications is also limited. After all, the country is relatively small, and the domestic industry is also severely squeezed. Dozens of units are already very good.

These countries—especially the Netherlands and France—actually, like the English, have been trying to put steam engines on board for many years.Different from providing convenience for industrial and agricultural production on the ground, the two maritime countries, Britain and the Netherlands, are more interested in marine steam engines. After all, they all see the excellent mobility of warships on the east coast equipped with steam propulsion systems. I am very envious, but I have been unable to enter the door for many years, and I have never been able to make a major breakthrough in this.There are even voices in England, asking Congress to allocate funds for research on marine steam engines. The current model of private promotion is really powerless, but with the loose political system of the United Kingdom, this is probably more difficult.

Sheng Dehong has worked in the National Intelligence Agency for many years, and he knows such technical information about foreign countries in detail. Compared with the small boat swimming on the surface of Xuefeng Lake in front of him, he can't help but feel a lot of emotion. He said: "The old continent The British and the Dutch have been seeking for a breakthrough in marine steam engines for many years, but they have never been successful. If they knew, we would not only make rapid progress in piston steam engines, but also start research and development of marine steam turbines I don’t know what kind of expressions they will have. Well, shock and despair should be more appropriate to describe them, the gap is really too big.”

"The gap is not particularly obvious now. When the ships we are currently using are basically retired, ships equipped with new high-horsepower steam propulsion systems will become the mainstream, and the Dutch will understand who is the sea coachman." Deputy Xu Guangzu The factory director laughed and said: "Their outdated design concepts and backward shipbuilding technology should have been eliminated by history long ago. Looking back, the rise of a country that has been cultivated for 50 years is not something they can stop Yes. In 20, [-] years, things will be very different, I'm pretty sure of that."

Hearing what Xu Guangzu said, Sheng Dehong couldn't help feeling a faint sense of pride deep in his heart.Think back to when the parents first landed on the eastern prairie, what a difficult scene it was!After decades of hard work and struggle, the foundations of the country have been gradually consolidated, the system and system have been gradually stabilized and maintained, and the cultivation of talents has initially achieved results. All of this shows that the country on the east coast The foundation of the country has been established, the climate has been established, and no one can shake its security. On the contrary, it may be time for it to take the initiative to shake other countries. All this will undoubtedly fall on the second generation like Sheng Dehong and Xu Guangzu How to hold up the red flag passed down from their fathers and plant it on every mountain is what they need to work hard for.

The foundation has been laid, it depends on whether the children and grandchildren have the courage and ability!

The boat returned to the pier after wandering on the surface of Xuefeng Lake for several hours. The technicians who had been waiting for a long time rushed forward and began to check the steam turbine and its propulsion system in the engine room, and made detailed records. .Every trial voyage is a valuable experience, and the data obtained is also obtained by the country with a lot of manpower and material resources, which should not be ignored.You know, the current steam turbine can only navigate in a semi-enclosed water body like Xuefeng Lake. In a few years, it will be used on fast communication ships in the local offshore. Everyone is very anxious and wants to use it as soon as possible. It is applied to a wider field, and all of this actually has to start from the basics.

"The steam turbine propulsion system can bring incredible high speed to the ship, but can the ships we manufacture currently be able to withstand the high load brought by this high speed? In the next step, your factory may put part of its energy on new ships Has the design and research of the shell started?" Sheng Dehong also stood up and asked with a smile as he walked towards the pier.

Xu Guangzu understood what Sheng Dehong meant, but he just smiled and said nothing.It's better to finish the two projects in front of me first, iron-ribbed wooden hull ship and marine steam turbine, these two projects have been going on for a long time, and it's time to produce some results, otherwise, what will the higher-ups think of their factory in the future? ?What do you think of this costly project team?You must know that the funding for the Science Spring project team is not so easy to get. Once the evaluation is low this time, it is simply a dream to get the full amount of scientific research funding next time.

The wind on the pier was a bit strong, but it couldn't blow away the heat in everyone's hearts.Sheng Dehong stood silently on the periphery, looking at the bustling work scene on the boat, thinking in his heart that when the project gets bigger in the future, how should their Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau deploy manpower, monitor the whole process, and ensure that key technologies are not lost to foreign countries go.

"Although it is great that a technology can be exclusive to us for decades, it is enough to earn back all the investment, but it is also good if we can continue to lead for one more day, unless the country intends to transfer some of the benefits to us. some outdated technology.” Sheng Dehong thought to himself: “Actually, those so-called outdated technologies are the focus of Europeans’ covetousness. The high-tech bases in Heishan Township and Xuefeng Lake are the The British and the Dutch come in, and the income is probably very limited. Therefore, other places are the main battlefields for keeping secrets and anti-espionage. It is relatively easy here. But then again, I have worked so hard Well, just do your job well, after all, Southern Patagonia is the area I'm in charge of."

(End of this chapter)