At noon, Vitus had dinner at the shipyard.
After resting until two o'clock in the afternoon, he led the guards to leave the shipyard and headed west along the road, which prompted Thomas to ask, "Where else are you going?"
Vitus: "Go to the mine near Adrian. It is said that Adrian University has made breakthroughs in mine drainage and ventilation. If these technologies have practical value, the empire's mining efficiency will be improved."
After four days of traveling, the cavalry arrived at Adrian.
It was getting late, so Vitus stayed in the city and moved into an unused courtyard of Adrian University.
Last year, Eastern Roman Empire recovered a large area and attracted many students to work in the Administrative Department. The atmosphere in the school was a bit deserted.
Principal Goneiqiya is used to this. Only a small number of people are really devoted to learning. As long as these people are not lost, the academic environment will not be greatly affected.
As the founder and largest sponsor of the school, Vitus focuses on those production technologies. If the results of Adrian University are insufficient, he will consider investing more funds in the newly established Nicomedia University.
"Starting next year, I will appoint special officials to allocate funds. Whether it is you, University of Constantinople, Nicomedia University, if you want funds for royal projects, the submitted projects must be reviewed by civilian officials."
After sending Goneiqiya away, Vitus focused on the entire box of documents sent from the university library and began to read them one by one.
Some papers are useless, such as Philosopher’s Stone, Celtic Druid Nature Rituals, Ancient Eastern Fire Magic...
Halfway through reading, Vitus slapped the paper on the table, "My money!"
Fortunately, some papers have practical value, mainly in the three fields of medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. In a few years, it is estimated that a revised version of "Palaiologos Medical Canon" will be released.
Reading papers is an extremely energy-consuming activity. Unconsciously, Vitus felt dizzy and returned to bed to rest. He would read the remaining papers when he had time.
Early the next morning, Vitus, accompanied by City Official and others, inspected a place Copper Mine in the northern suburbs.
This piece of Copper Mine is close to Adrian, which is suitable for verifying newly launched mining technologies. The mine owner also specially laid a three-kilometer-long iron-clad wooden track for transporting ore and various materials.
Vitus curiously sat in a mine car. The car had no roof, and a wooden bench was fixed on the left and right sides. The bench and the car were stained with dark brown dust, and some iron picks and coal were piled randomly under the bench.
"Take us to the mining area."
After hearing the order, the groom sitting in front of the mine cart swung his whip. He was nervous and the sound of the whip was not as loud as before. The two horses Harness Horse responsible for pulling the cart were a little confused and slowly dragged the mine cart forward.
The weather was cold in the morning, with thick white fog lingering in the mountainous area ahead, and the north wind howling. The carriage increased in speed, Vitus wrapped his cloak tightly and looked at a huge wooden wheel looming behind the white fog.
The distance shortened and the view gradually became clearer. A man-made water channel diverted water from the upstream stream and hit the wooden wheel through a wooden drainage channel.
The wooden wheel continues to rotate, next to it is an iron crank, and at the end of the crank is a long wooden connecting rod.
Whenever the wooden wheel rotates, the crank changes the rotational motion into the reciprocating linear motion of the connecting rod, allowing the connecting rod to push and push repeatedly.
Pull.
Five mineshafts were dug into the hillside. The connecting rods extended to the top of the nearest mineshaft, crossed a wooden support, and hung down at the end, disappearing into the dark wellhead.
Vitus walked to the edge of the mine, looked down with a probe, and saw layers of wooden supports supporting the shaft wall, extending to an invisible depth. The connecting rod was right in the middle of these supports, continuously pumping water.
Goneiqiya also walked to the well and introduced the structure of this device:
At the bottom is the piston pump. The connecting rod carries the piston and moves up and down in the copper tube. When the piston rises, water enters through the one-way valve at the bottom of the tube. When the piston is pushed down, the valve closes, and the water is forced to flow upward from the outlet on the side.
Goneiqiya led the emperor around the wellhead and to the other side, where turbid water was flowing continuously from the wooden trough.
Vitus asked Goneiqiya: "If there is no river near the mine and tall waterwheels cannot be erected, are there other drainage methods?"
Goneiqiya called out the name of a certain professor and asked him to take the emperor to visit the drainage facilities in the back mountain.
The mine in the back mountain is separated from the artificial water channel by two peaks, so abundant water power cannot be used. Animal power can only be used to drive the Harness Horse chain pump for drainage.
The structure of the chain pump is simpler. Miner connects multiple hollowed elm tree trunks end to end to form a pipeline. Inside the pipeline is a circulating iron chain, which is fixed with many spheres sewn from rags.
As the chain is driven, these rag balls move inside the pipe. At the entrance of the pipe, the water flow is entrapped by the rag balls and enters the pipe. As the chain goes up, it is taken to the top and discharged.
The lift of this method is limited. In order to drain deeper mines, Miner digs multiple pools along the way, so that the sewage is gradually lifted from one pool to the next, and finally transported to the surface.
Vitus After listening to the explanation, he asked the mining area supervisor, "After installing these facilities, has the actual profit of the mining area increased? The supervisor replied: "The new facilities drain water faster and use very little manpower. I can use the saved manpower for mining and transportation, and the profits have indeed increased a lot."
Vitus asked the supervisor for the account books and asked the attendant to check the accounts and confirm the true operating conditions of the mining area.
While they were checking the accounts, Vitus visited the ventilation facilities in the mining area.
The mine continues the ancient Greece method of separating the air inlet and air outlet.
Adrian University did not change the tradition. They built an additional chimney-like device at the air outlet on the surface. The air at the air outlet expands and rises when heated, and the cold air from outside is forced to flow in from the air inlet to replenish it and deliver fresh air to the depths of the mine.
If the air in the well is still dirty, a wooden blowing device is installed on the surface, driven by Harness Horse, to blow additional air into the air inlet.
"Does this thing really work?"
Vitus was blocked from entering the depths of the mine. He stayed in the outer area to observe, doubting the effectiveness of this blower.
At ten o'clock in the morning, he followed the ditch to the bank of the stream, where numerous ore crushers were built to break the ore into pieces to improve smelting efficiency.
At this time, an attendant came to Vitus and submitted a financial briefing on the mining area.
The supervisor did not lie. After using the new drainage and ventilation technology, the net profit of the mining area increased by a quarter.
Technology has promotion value.
Vitus sat on the river bank to rest, staring at the abundant stream in a daze.
"Railway Carriage, new smelting furnaces, Water-Powered Ore Crusher, water- and animal-driven drainage, and improved ventilation were the limits of mining before the advent of the steam engine."
Vitus I don't know the internal structure of the steam engine.
He only knew that the original Newcomen Steam Engine was very inefficient and was only suitable for drainage in coal mines. After substantial improvements to the Watt, the steam engine could continuously and stably output power and be used in other fields.
"In many cases, technological breakthroughs depend on inspiration, and this cannot be forced."
After a long while, Vitus stood up and asked Goneiqiya to write a pamphlet and publish an article in "Golden Horn News" to inform all Province mine owners about the emergence of new technologies.