Chapter 1093: The Pinnacle of Technology
Since this was a bidding meeting, the crowd was relatively small.
Clauzel directed the guards to keep all unauthorized personnel outside. Murdoch, the chief technician of the United Steam Engine Company, personally pushed open the door to the demonstration workshop and bowed, inviting the Crown Prince to enter.
Trevithick, who was in charge of cylinder and piston research and development, walked beside Joseph and continued to introduce the progress of the new steam engine models.
"...After using the special steel from the Namur Royal Ironworks to manufacture the connecting rods, crankshafts, and pressure pipes, the pressure resistance has indeed seen a significant improvement."
"In fact, we are already capable of producing a model that can stably output 61 horsepower. However, Mr. Murdoch believes the power increase is limited and the cost for mass production would be too high."
He was referring to the first generation of manganese steel produced by the Namur Ironworks. Its strength and wear resistance were significantly higher than those of ordinary high-carbon steel. After Murdoch applied it to the steam engine without making any other major adjustments, the power output increased by eighteen percent.
Trevithick continued, "The biggest constraint on increasing power right now is the poor performance of the cast iron boilers. If we are lucky, they can withstand a pressure of 0.7 megapascals. If we are unlucky, they can barely reach 0.5 megapascals, and it is very difficult to test for these flaws in a short period of time."
Joseph had already heard Murdoch's explanation. So-called cast iron was made by liquefying iron and pouring it into molds made of sand, then removing it once it cooled. This process often left small air bubbles inside the components and caused issues with inconsistent cooling rates across different sections. Consequently, when the pressure rose, the components were prone to failure.
The solution was to use cold forging to create the boiler blanks and then use high-precision milling to finish them. Boilers manufactured this way would be several times stronger than cast ones.
Trevithick motioned toward Whitney, who was currently adjusting a milling machine.
"Our current milling machines still cannot meet the processing demands. However, there seem to be several very sophisticated designs in this bidding session that might change the situation."
Joseph nodded slightly and took a seat behind the judging panel.
The reason he had come to observe was that this bidding process would, to a large extent, determine the R&D progress of high-power steam engines.
In fact, it wasn't just the boilers; the manufacturing of cylinders and pistons relied even more heavily on high-precision machining. For every 0.1 millimeters of precision gained in the piston, steam leakage could be reduced by two to five percent. Currently, pistons were produced manually by craftsmen—even the most precise milling machine in the world, the model designed by the Englishman Maudslay, was not as accurate as the hands of a skilled craftsman.
Therefore, if the equipment in this bidding could achieve a breakthrough, it would drive a massive increase in the power of French steam engines.
Whitney cast a quick, nervous glance toward the judging panel, wiped the sweat from his palms onto his trousers, and signaled his assistant to engage the gearbox connecting the steam engine to the milling machine.
Instantly, his turret milling machine began to whirl.
He secured a cylindrical piece of iron into the fixture, then began to adjust the speed of the milling cutter, focusing intently as he turned the handle to advance the worktable.
Iron shavings flew, and a corner of the cylindrical iron block was instantly shaved away.
Whitney turned another handle, tilting the iron block slightly, and brought it against the cutter once more.
Sitting to Joseph's left, Murdoch's eyes suddenly widened, and he whispered in shock, "This machine can actually mill curved surfaces directly onto the workpiece! This is absolutely brilliant!"
In the entire room, only Joseph, who had seen modern CNC lathes, remained relatively calm. The other judges and technicians were clearly even more shocked than Murdoch.
Murdoch clenched his fists. "With this, we won't need to weld the boiler's pipe interfaces anymore..."
Trevithick added excitedly, "Exactly! We can just mill them directly. That eliminates one of the most common failure points!"
Seeing the Crown Prince's composed expression, Murdoch assumed he might not understand the significance of this development and rushed to explain.
"Your Highness, the points where the boiler connects to the pipes cannot use rivets, so they must be welded, which results in very poor reliability."
"But by using the milling machine before us, we can leave protrusions directly on the boiler and mill them into pipe joints. After that, the pipes can be riveted onto the joints, and the pressure resistance will improve significantly!"
Joseph nodded.
He remembered the milling machines his father used in the Royal Workshop, which could only move in straight lines. The one before him was clearly much more flexible and detailed; it was almost comparable to a five-axis CNC machine of this era.
After a short while, Whitney, dripping with sweat, removed the workpiece from the fixture and presented it to the judges.
The dark iron block had been milled into the shape of a hound.
Several judges were so excited that they crowded around it, nodding in praise.
A technician compared Whitney's workpiece to the blueprints, began measuring the data of the "iron dog" with a micrometer, and recorded the results on paper.
After a long moment, he handed the inspection data to the judges.
"The highest precision is 0.25 millimeters, and the lowest is 0.6 millimeters, Monsieur Depardieu."
Hearing this, both Murdoch and Trevithick showed expressions of disappointment.
A precision of 0.6 millimeters was still far from meeting their processing requirements.
Indeed, Whitney had become extremely nervous due to the Crown Prince's presence and had failed to demonstrate the machine's true potential of 0.4 millimeters.
"The design concept of this milling machine is excellent," Murdoch sighed. "I hope they can continue to improve it."
An hour and a half later, the bidding demonstration concluded.
Depardieu, the judge, respectfully placed a stack of bidding documents before Joseph and said, "Your Highness, out of all five milling machines, the one designed by the Lenoir Watch Factory is capable of reaching a precision of 0.2 millimeters."
"Our preliminary judgment is that this company should be awarded the contract."
Joseph walked over to the prototype from the Lenoir company and couldn't help but frown.
This milling machine looked somewhat strange. Compared to traditional milling machines, it had a large number of limiters and utilized a very fine screw-feed mechanism.
He turned to Depardieu and said, "I would like to speak with the designer of this milling machine."
"Of course, Your Highness. I will go get him immediately."
A moment later, the Lenoir brothers approached Joseph, bowing with great constraint.
Joseph spoke directly to his curiosity. "How exactly does it achieve such high precision? It seems very different from common milling machines."
Philippe Lenoir hurriedly replied, "I adapted it from watchmaking equipment, Your Highness."
He then pointed to his younger brother. "It is thanks to Jacques. While conducting experiments, he discovered an extremely hard type of waste material. The bearings and gears made from it suffer from minimal deformation, and the lead screws can be made very fine and dense. All of this significantly reduces tolerances."
Jacques Lenoir reminded him from the side, "Brother, and the milling cutters."
"Oh, yes, the cutters. The milling cutters made from this steel are exceptionally sharp, allowing for extreme accuracy during the cutting process."
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