Chapter 583, Colossal Machine
Chapter 583, Colossal Machine
Translator: Silavin
“Shaman, those from the workshop want you to come over. They say the steam engine has been completed.” Sha Lan said.
Since the steam engine was quite large in appearance and difficult to transport back and forth, those from the workshop had asked Sha Lan to fetch the Shaman.
“It’s been made so quickly?” Su Bai was rather surprised, not expecting it to be done up so quickly.
“Yes, that thing looks really big,” Sha Lan sighed. She had been startled when she saw the steam engine.
“Let’s go and see whether it’s successful or not.” Su Bai stood up.
*Step step step…*
Several people changed their clothes and left the Yong’an Building, heading towards the workshop.
All the Tribe’s workshops were concentrated in one location, to the left of the Yong’an Building. That area generally gathered a great number of different workshops, such as the glassware workshops, linen workshops, soap workshops and so forth.
This was to separate them and make management more convenient. The workshop locations could also have additional Warriors patrolling in a concentrated area.
The residential areas also had Warriors patrolling, but the numbers were certainly not as many as at the workshops.
After all, everything in the workshops was highly confidential, with most of the Tribe people rarely knowing what they were actually doing. So, it was even more impossible for outsiders to know. Therefore, patrol personnel definitely needed to be increased in this area.
They had spent over ten minutes to reach the workshop under the snowy weather by taking the carriage.
If they had not taken a carriage, it would have taken nearly forty minutes to walk under the snow. Since people were constantly clearing snow within the Tribe, carriages could move without much hindrance. However, they would still need to slow down just to be safe.
“Shaman, the steam engine has been completed. Please have a look to see if it’s correct,” Ban immediately came forward from the entrance to greet them.
He was the person in charge of making the steam engine and could be considered an old hand of the Flame Dragon Tribe.
He had short purple hair and appeared to be around forty years old, but his face did not have too many mottled wrinkles. He looked like an old child, and his originally short stature made him seem even more so.
His pair of purple eyes were quite small, and became even smaller when he smiled, but one could see a serious attitude within them.
During the previous Black Snake Tribe invasion, he had not managed to escape in time and was captured as a slave.
The Black Snake Tribe at that time did not care how many talented people the Flame Dragon Tribe still had. As long as they were Flame Dragon Tribe people, they all had to do hard labour.
After the Flame Dragon Tribe was recaptured, these people were liberated, but Ban initially had no work to do.
He was relatively clever and enjoyed tinkering with various strange things. But the Flame Dragon Tribe at that time had not developed to its current state. Many workshops had not existed yet, so he had been doing various odd jobs.
It was not until preparations began for making the steam engine that Yan Jiao recommended Ban, saying he was very clever and if this thing were entrusted to him for research, he should be able to make it.
“Great, to think it was created so quickly!” Su Bai still could not help but exclaim, after all it had only taken one week.
“This is all thanks to the materials the Shaman had provided. Without your explanations and those detailed drawings, I wouldn’t have been able to make it in such a short time,” Ban quickly said.
When Su Bai had been thinking about making the steam engine, he had given Ban a detailed explanation about the steam engine’s principles.
He had also drawn very detailed blueprints for him, with all aspects of the details explained very clearly. He only needed to follow them.
Although this sounded quite simple, actual experimentation and operation still had its difficulties.
Without several attempts of trial and error, there would be no way to make a steam engine, so one week was truly very fast.
*Step step step…*
Everyone stepped into the workshop. This workshop used for making the steam engine was a large wooden house, far larger than ordinary wooden houses; about two or three times their size.
This was a temporarily constructed location, also built for researching the steam engine. When spring arrived, specialised workshops would be built with cement.
Many kerosene lamps were lit inside the workshop. It also looked rather messy, with materials everywhere – large and small pieces of iron sheeting, wood, and some discarded steam engine frames.
The ground was also covered with food scraps everywhere. Seeing these, Su Bai finally understood why it had been manufactured in such a short time.
It seemed that eating, drinking and sleeping had all been resolved inside this wooden house, otherwise it would not look so messy inside.
“Shaman, this is the steam engine.” Ban removed an Animal Hide, revealing the steam engine.
That steam engine was very large, about the size of a tractor from Earth.
However, being able to make it like this was praiseworthy, considering it was their first time making one. Wanting to make it much more compact at their first try was really asking for too much.
Su Bai carefully examined the colossal machine before him. The overall appearance was a very large square, with many pipes on top of the square and several exhaust outlets.
On the side were levers, all used for controlling the steam engine. On the other side there was an extremely large water inlet, where water needed to be added and allowed to boil before the steam engine could operate.
“Start it up for me to inspect.” Su Bai instructed.
He was quite satisfied with this steam engine, except that the size needed further improvement. Besides this, he also needed to see the steam engine’s performance.
“Yes.” Ban immediately responded, promptly pulling out another device to connect to the steam engine.
The other device was the stone-crushing machine, which was even simpler to make.
It was also made from large iron sheeting into a funnel shape, with some sharp iron blades added underneath. These iron blades were quite thick, with several gears connecting the two devices.
As soon as the steam engine started, this stone-crushing apparatus would also rotate along with it. At that time, stones only needed to be placed into the stone-crushing apparatus.
*Rumble rumble rumble…*
*Bang bang bang…*
The sound from the Steam Engine was very loud. Steam continuously escaped from the exhaust outlets, and the stones placed into the stone crusher were gradually crushed into smaller pieces.
Although the entire process was not very fast, it was still much faster than if done by human hands. All except the sound was fine.
Su Bai frowned as he watched this scene. Although the steam engine’s development did not have any major problems, there were still some issues that could be improved upon.
He crossed his hands and said seriously, “Let’s leave it like this for now. Later you should carefully focus on reducing its size and the noise.”
“Yes,” Ban replied.