Chapter 860 Ships and Trains

“How can a paddle wheel be more efficient than a propeller?”

In the winter of the 19th year of Chengtian's reign, snowflakes were already falling on the other side of the Yangtze River. Chen Ming's whole body seemed to be burning with a nameless anger.

Damn it!

The people from the ship research team actually sent him such a report for the second time. Is this an insult to his IQ?

Will a paddle boat go faster than a propeller boat?

Emperor Chen has lived two lifetimes and is over fifty years old. This is the first time he has heard of it.

Yes, the work of the ship research team under the Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences in China has entered a very critical stage, but at this stage where there was no problem, their progress was stopped. And the one who stopped them was His Majesty the Emperor, who had always been extremely supportive of the Academy of Natural Sciences.

After the first report was rejected, the ship research team studied and studied the propeller again and tested again and again. In the end, they could not find a reason to abandon the paddle wheel and choose the propeller. So they bit the bullet and made a second report to Chen Ming.

…

In 1 AD, Baban proposed the idea of ​​using steam engines as power to propel ships. However, there were no practical steam engines at that time, so the idea could not be realized.

Seventy-nine years later, in 1769, French inventor Geoffrey put a steam engine on a ship. However, the steam engine installed was crude and heavy, and it drove a set of ordinary wooden oars. The speed was very slow, and it failed to show the superiority of a motor ship.

In 1783, Joffrey built the world's earliest steamship, the "Borroscafe", but after 30 minutes of sailing, the steam boiler on the ship exploded.

Then another seven years later, 17 Fitch used a steam engine to drive an oar to paddle water, but its efficiency was extremely low, and Fitch's invention was not taken seriously by people.

If it were the original history, we would have to wait another twelve years. The Englishman William Symington used Watt's improved steam engine to build the world's first steam-powered paddle steamer "Charlotte Dundas". Scotland's Forth-Clyde Canal was launched and its trial voyage was successful. This is a 30-foot-long wooden-hulled ship with a Simington-designed steam engine installed in the center of the ship to drive a stern paddle wheel. The emergence of steamships was a blow to tugboat owners, who desperately opposed them on the grounds that steamships produced larger waves. The first steamship was strangled in its cradle.

Then five years later, the "Father of Steamships" Fulton was born.

But in today's time and space, in Chen Ming's era, Fulton should just rest where it's cool.

With Chen Ming's guidance, ships and trains, two revolutionary means of transportation, had been studied by the Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences more than ten years ago.

At the beginning, due to the kinetic energy of the steam engine, the performance of the samples produced by the two research groups was very poor and was not practical. But now, the current steam engine has been greatly improved and improved compared to the steam engine twenty years ago.

But Chen Ming didn't believe the data in the report given to him by the ship research team.

The paddle wheel speed can reach 8 knots/hour, but the propeller speed is 4 knots/hour.

The reversal of these two numbers was acceptable to Chen Ming.

But the report of the research team clearly stated who was the fourth section and who was the eighth section.

And there is an accompanying explanation. The propeller has three windmill-style blades, which are forged. Compared with ordinary windmills, it increases the radial width of the blades. In order to select a better match between pitch and speed in the experiment, the blades are made of The pitch can be adjusted. During a month of trial sailing on the river, the propeller changed several pitch values, but the experimental results were not ideal and the performance was far inferior to that of the paddle wheel. This experiment proved that under the existing steam engine power and under such low-speed conditions, the advantages of the paddle wheel can be fully exerted, and its propulsion efficiency is higher than that of the propeller.

The propeller did not come to the world only after the invention of the steamship.

The ancient Chinese wheel, the so-called "paddle wheel" in Europe, is combined with the modern steam engine. A row of straight blades of the original paddle wheel is installed diagonally on a rotating hub to form the prototype of a propeller.

As an instrument, the windmill can output torque when rotating with the wind. On the contrary, in the water, input torque to rotate the windmill, and the water windmill may push the ship to move.

And the Archimedes screw pump of ancient Greece, which has been used in Europe for more than ten centuries, can lift water horizontally or vertically. The fact that the spiral structure can pump water has long been known to Europeans.

In today's era, in 1752 AD, the Swiss Bernoulli first reported that propellers were superior to various propellers that existed before it. He designed a propeller with a double-lead screw. In 1764, the Swiss mathematician Euler studied other propellers that could replace sails, such as paddle wheels (paddle wheels), including propellers.

Therefore, the invention of the propeller was different from what Chen Ming remembered. I don't know if Chen Ming's memory was confused or something else. Regarding the invention of the propeller, the scene that Chen Ming remembers the most is a child - Fulton, the inventor of the ship - sitting in a very small boat, with his legs hanging in the water and splashing...

Maybe his memory was really messed up.

Anyway, after the Office in Europe sent back the propeller-related matters, Chen Ming's eyes widened.

Now the members of the ship research group are distressed. They are telling the truth, but why doesn't the emperor believe them? Look, the report has been sent back again, saying that they need to continue to improve the propeller, adjust the pitch value of the propeller, adjust the overall structure of the propeller, adjust the inclination angle of the blade...

Anyway, many members of the research group want to throw their heads.

Is the emperor angry with the propeller?

Although casting a propeller is not a difficult task for the research group, something has been blocking them for several months, and now they are really annoyed when they see it.

"Woo..." A short whistle sounded, and Huanghu IV No. 2 slowly sailed into the dock of the secret shipyard under the research group, ready to receive routine maintenance.

The shipyard now has four slipways, of which No. 1 and No. 2 slipways each have a semi-finished ship under construction, and No. 3 slipway has an experimental ship under maintenance. The last slipway No. 4 is a dedicated maintenance slipway, which regularly performs maintenance on ships that have reached working hours. As for the ships that are suddenly damaged, they can also be repaired urgently.

Huanghu IV No. 2 is the second experimental ship of the fourth generation of experimental ships produced by the factory. The steam engine currently installed is the most advanced Hanfeng No. 5 in China. Although the experiment conducted now is an experiment on the speed and carrying capacity of the ship, it is also an experiment on the steam engine.

In the early experiments, it is not impossible to survive the explosion of the steam boiler.

Such experiments and inventions, from a blank to a nearly mature sample, require not only a lot of money and time, but also countless efforts and blood of researchers.

Although the people in the research group are currently troubled by the dispute between "paddle wheels" and "propellers", in fact, no matter whether it is a paddle wheel or a propeller ship, reliability is the first priority in order to gain social recognition.

A novel invention on the ship, even in Europe and the United States, where the ideas are more open, before the reliability of the ship is confirmed, it is full of irony and discrimination.

So you can imagine the huge pressure this thing will face after it is launched in China.

Therefore, Chen Ming required that the ship must not have any problems.

When Fulton was experimenting with the ship, it was said that the engine broke down at the beginning. It was only after the problem was urgently dealt with that the ship officially started to operate, and the speed reached 9 kilometers per hour, which is nearly five knots.

Of course, Fulton's ship was made of iron. [Damn, many people say that the "Clermont" is a propeller ship, but the history textbook clearly states that it is the first paddle wheel ship powered by steam. Damn it]

China's experimental ship is definitely not as big as Fulton's ship in history. As for the power level of the steam engine, it is hard to say whether it is higher or lower than the Watt steam engine more than ten years later.

At the same time, the research team also needs to consider the new shipbuilding technology. Chen Ming had already told them the concept of iron ships and ironclad ships. Moreover, even if we don't mention iron ships and ironclad ships, and only talk about the warship manufacturing of wooden steamships, can the firepower arrangement and cabin allocation on it play a limited role in firepower?

At the same time, the vehicles and ships in Chinese history will also be a great inspiration to them.

Paddle steamers don't necessarily have to use big wheels, or a group of wheels. They can also use small wheels. Small wheels arranged in rows make it less likely that such warships will be destroyed by enemy fire in battle.

The wheels of paddle steamers are their Achilles' heel.

Therefore, the research team is very clear about their research direction. Even if they really justify the name of "paddle wheel" in front of the emperor, they need to reduce the size of the wheel as much as possible, conceal the chaos as much as possible, and speed up the ship as much as possible, as well as ensure the reliability and replacement of the paddle wheel.

In short, it is impossible for this research group to be completely trapped in a dispute over "paddle wheel" and "propeller". At most, it will be a headache for the leaders and persons in charge of the research group, and it will be one of the subordinate groups, not the entire research group.

Chen Ming has a promise that after this matter is completed, the research group can be promoted to a research institute.

Although this research institute is still a branch of Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences, its level is only half a level away from the big boss of the academy. That is the real treatment of the second rank, while the big boss of the Academy of Sciences enjoys the treatment of the first rank and the cabinet ministers. And the actual official title can also fall to the third rank or the third rank.

Fame and fortune are attractive, and no one wants to see a road to success slip away from their eyes.

When the dispute between the paddle wheel and the propeller of the ship research group comes to an end, the ship will be formally integrated. Warships will be differentiated on the basis of civilian ships, and then there will be pure iron ships and ironclad ships.

Although these two ideas are unrealistic.

Pure iron ships may really float on the water, but the weight is too large, which seriously affects the speed of the ship. Therefore, the ship material combined with iron and wood is more suitable for reality.

And the ironclad ship is also unrealistic.

Even if the ship is covered with a layer of iron armor thick enough to withstand rockets and does not sink into the water, its speed will become a snail.

Of course, the emperor's proposal of dual-purpose engine and sail power is still very constructive. It greatly expanded their thinking and pointed out the direction.

However, once this ship is put into use, it will have a huge and immeasurable impact on domestic and foreign shipping and river transportation. As for sailors, sailors in the future cannot be trained only through practice. Technical staff must be trained in formal seamen schools.

But if the steamship is really practical, then the sealed cabin technology, which is a bit out of date in the era of sailing warships, seems to be reborn again.

What is unimaginable to many members of the steamship research group is that the emperor also thought of this.

So some people lamented that if the emperor did not rebel and lived in Lushan in peace and stability, he would be more powerful than Huang Luzhuang and Dai Zi. But in the past of the Qing Dynasty, these people had no chance to stand out. Strange and lewd skills!

…

The research and development of trains and steamships was not concealed from the top, and it was concealed from the lower level but not from the upper level. So, although the dispute between paddle steamers and propellers has not yet come to a conclusion, many people have already set their sights on the research and development of steamships.

Whether it is a paddle wheel or a propeller, a speed of four or five knots is nothing on the sea, and it is not particularly outstanding on the Yangtze River, but what about in the Grand Canal? What about other rivers? For example, the Haihe River, the Yellow River, the Daqing River, the Pearl River, and the Minjiang River?

This speed is very competitive in inland river transportation.

And the navigation depends on the steam engine, so many people can be reduced on the ship, which also reduces the cost. As long as the price and carrying capacity of such a small ship are suitable, with the current domestic coal price, this small steamship can definitely be put into operation.

Of course, some people have already set their sights on the ship, so similarly, some people have set their sights on the train.

Like the name of the ship, the train was also named by Emperor Chen. This is a brand-new means of transportation. The biggest similarity with the ship is that they are both powered by steam.

Now Chen Han's train has been produced to the third generation. Just like the ship was named "Huanghu", the train was also named "Dongfanghong" by Chen Ming, a name with special commemorative significance in the original time and space.

Pulling six mine cars, carrying 500 stones [25 metric tons], it moves at a speed of 10 miles per hour. This is the performance of Dongfanghong III.

It has a certain degree of practicality. Mines and large docks everywhere will like this kind of device.

But Dongfanghong III still has many hidden dangers.

Stability is the first, comfort is the second, and safety when turning is the third.

But some people have already set their sights on it.

Fortunately, Chen Han now knows that all the people who know about the development of trains and ships are high-level figures in society. Whether in politics or business, when considering interests, politics and the overall situation must be considered.

Therefore, the transporters and groups whose interests are destined to be impacted by ships and trains are still unaware of the emergence of these two epoch-making new inventions and new things.

So these two research groups have not been hindered so far. They are much luckier than Fulton and Stephenson in history. They all completed their inventions and operations under frequent attacks. When Stephenson was building the railway, the construction site was also bombarded by the river transport group.

Because every new type of transportation with great significance and value is invented and put into social application, it will inevitably greatly harm the rights and interests of some vested interests.

This is also the inevitable result of social progress.