Chapter 548

After completing the initial design, Sui Xiong spent some more time refining his invention, especially the part that served as the "energy source." When he arrived at Palin and the others' research center the next day, he brought something that looked like a broom.

As long as the iron ore was crushed up, this thing could be swept through it to pick out all the portions with a higher iron content. After sweeping it two or three times, the remaining residue contained very little iron and was basically of no use.

As for crushing the iron ore, that was no issue. After all, when smelting iron, the finer the ore was crushed, the better.

Palin and the others welcomed the invention enthusiastically. After trying it out several times, they offered some suggestions for improvement.

For instance, Palin believed they could make a broad conveyor belt, spread the crushed iron ore across it, and have the belt carry it slowly forward. Then they could use this tool, which they called an "ore separator," to sort it rapidly, effectively improving the quality of the screening.

One dwarven craftsman thought they could make several models of ore separator with varying magnetic strengths, allowing them to sort ores of different purities and distinguish their grades manually.

There were quite a few other valuable suggestions as well. Sui Xiong listened to them one by one, modified the device accordingly, and made several pieces of auxiliary equipment.

The final product was something vastly different from his original design—a semi-automated system. First, it used water power to raise a heavy hammer and smash the iron ore to pieces. The crushed ore was then carried by a roller-equipped conveyor belt into another room, where it passed in sequence through three ore separators with different magnetic strengths. This sorted