Gaye Berns came to the Lord's Manor at 1:30 in the afternoon. After sitting in the living room, Chief Secretary came to invite him to meet the owner of the place.
After entering the lord's office, he was first surprised by the simple furnishings here. It really didn't look like a place where a count-level noble would work daily.
Then he saw the local lord Paul Greiman. As the legend said, he was very young and looked to be only about fifteen years old. This was the person who came up with the original design of the harvester.
At this time, the young earl was standing not far from the door, seeming to greet him.
Berns was about to follow the etiquette of visiting a high-ranking noble, but was interrupted by the other party's voice.
"Welcome, Mr. Berns."
Paul spoke first, stepped forward and stretched out his right hand to hold the other person's hand, and then shook it slightly up and down.
Is this the etiquette of northwest people? It's quite simple. Berns felt the strength coming from the other party's hand, and subconsciously held Paul's hand slightly.
"Hello, Earl Greiman. It's such an honor to meet you. Ever since I saw that harvester, I've wanted to see you. Oh! What a genius."
The first sentence is so straightforward. Is he worthy of being a person who only focuses on technology?
"Haha! It's an honor for me to be recognized by an expert like you. Please take a seat!"
"No, you are too modest."
After both the guests and the host sat down, Paul first praised him for his contribution to the development of springs, and then told him the purpose of coming to him - he planned to let him be responsible for developing a hydraulic blasting system for use in his upcoming iron factory.
"Blower system? What if Sir Earl wants to use water power instead of manpower to drive the blower?"
"That's it, and the traditional blowers can't meet my needs. I need a more efficient blower."
Berns knows that the blower that is widely used in metal smelting today is a blower bag made of animal skin. The two ends of the bag are equipped with air ducts and piston air inlets controlled by the operator. When the air is in, the operator pulls up the bag with a rope and then steps on it to blow the air into the furnace. Each furnace is equipped with four blowers, and two people operate opposite each other.
How much wind power does the lord need? Paul spread out a piece of paper on the table, on which was drawn a structure for small-scale iron-making Blast Furnace. Although it was small, it was much larger than the current furnace.
"My ironworks will use a new type of furnace, like the one in the picture, and a new type of fuel - coke. However, this coke is not as easy to burn as charcoal, and greater wind power must be used to support combustion, so I designed a new blast system - piston blast. Of course, this is only a preliminary design, and you still need to continue to optimize and improve it."
A wooden piston bellows was carried into the office by a servant, and the two men discussed around the wooden bellows.
There is a handle on the bellows. Berns pulls the handle outward, and the air outlet blows out the wind. When he pushes the handle back to its original position, the air outlet continues to blow out the wind.
He clicked his tongue in surprise, "Your Majesty, can I take it apart and take a look?"
"Of course, please feel free to research."
So the bellows was torn into pieces, and Berns quickly figured out its internal structure.
A piston plate is installed inside the air box, and there is a rectangular air duct on the lower part of one side of the box. The front and rear openings are connected to the inside of the box, and there is an outward air outlet in the middle.
A single-leaf double-set valve inside the air outlet allows the air outlet to communicate with half of the square tube and blocks the air flow between the air outlet and the other half of the square tube. Driven by the air flow, the two parts of the square tube alternately communicate with the air outlet.
When the piston plate reciprocates forward and backward, the air can be pressed out, thereby achieving continuous air blasting.
"Simple and exquisite design, compared with the bladder blower, it can continuously supply air without stopping."
Berns commented that he looked at the inside of the air box and thought for a long time before making his own suggestion, "I think the square box can be changed into a cylindrical shape so that it can withstand higher wind pressure."
Paul nodded. "I said this is just a preliminary design, please boldly improve the experiment. In addition to turning it into a cylindrical shape, maybe you can try changing it to metal. After all, things made of wood are not as reliable as metal."
"That's not necessarily true, but I will try. Indeed, as long as a reasonable hydraulic drive system can be designed, air can be continuously blown into the furnace through this kind of bellows."
He asked curiously, "What fuel enables such a blower to be built?"
Paul placed a dark stone on the table, "coke".
"Isn't this coal, a fuel commonly used in the northwest? It seems to burn easily."
"No, this is what is obtained after further processing of coal. The sulfur in the coal will make the smelted iron unusable. And the coke cannot be fully burned under ordinary conditions, so I need this new blower and a power system that can drive it continuously."
"Leave it to me, Lord Earl! I will definitely live up to your expectations!"
"Wish you good luck!"
"Then, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."
It seems that Mr. Berns is eager to start a new job.
Paul did not let him go, "Don't worry, Mr. Berns. I am very interested in your previous experience. Are you willing to talk to me?"
Berns was nervous for a while, Earl Greiman wasn't talking about his previous imprisonment, was it?
His face turned red, and his neck also turned red.
"Sir, if you are referring to the matter of my imprisonment, then it is simply a villain trying to frame me. All the accusations are fabricated out of thin air."
It was a shame that lingered throughout his life.
"Please don't be nervous, I don't mind this at all."
Paul smiled and signaled the other party not to get excited. He already knew from Hansel why Berns was in jail. His story was widely circulated in Royal Capital.
"I heard from Abbott that you don't seem to be very popular among Royal Capital, especially among your peers?"
"Well... I admit that they and I have different ideas and we can't even talk together."
He did not directly explain that his imprisonment was related to his colleagues. After all, he had no direct evidence.
"Then what kind of philosophy is it based on that makes you willing to teach the lower class people about mechanical knowledge for free, even at the risk of being ostracized and suppressed by your peers?"
This is what Paul wanted to ask from the beginning. Maybe he can find a like-minded person in this world.
Thanks to "Zartoo" for the tip!