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The previous chapter ends with the call of King Mohammed IV of Tunisia to "measure the material resources of our country and the hearts of the people of the West"; But back at the end of 1495, for Ferdinand at the time, the matter was still a matter of story. He is also working on some technical research......

In 1493, Ferdinand carried out the well-known "Experiment of Measuring Atmospheric Pressure" and "Madrid-Roman Hemispheric Experiment", two experiments that determined the existence of atmospheric pressure and determined it. A "standard atmospheric pressure" is defined as 101325 "Pa" (Parma, which serves as the address of an atmospheric pressure measurement experiment instead of Pascal's name).

This experiment gave Ferdinand a reputation in the scientific community. Subsequently, Ferdinand formulated the Fijs temperature scale, which is equivalent to the Celsius temperature scale of later generations.

Ferdinand conducted experiments on the single pendulum and the Foucault pendulum – these two experiments and their results are kept secret from the public, because the results of the two experiments combined to explain the rotation of the earth and seriously impact the geocentric theory, so they cannot be made public.

Technically, Ferdinand had craftsmen make the world's first pendulum clock based on a single pendulum, and soon more than 100 more.

Now, by enumerating these scientific and technological achievements of Ferdinand, Ferdinand is not trying to show how he made Newton die on an apple tree and replace him, nor is it to show the rise of the Scientology he founded, although (*σ?? σ these will all become facts in the future......

Rather, it is important to point out that these achievements have played a very important role in promoting the modernization of industry.

Further precise measurements of time prepared a timetable for modern factories. Cotton textile mills were able to develop advanced looms such as water-powered reel spinning machines, spindle worsted spinning machines, and water looms.

The scientific breakthrough in atmospheric pressure and temperature scale provides a theoretical basis for a shocking dynamic breakthrough in human history.

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Here it is.

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Steam engine.

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Yes, the idea is good, but ......

"You ......" Ferdinand looked at the craftsmen in front of him with a complicated expression, all of them were the most skilled craftsmen in Aragon and Sicily, and two others had been invited from Flanders.

"Just make a ...... for me" Ferdinand summoned them to the royal service in order to build the most important power engine in human history, the steam engine.

Of course, it's a junior low-profile version. Ferdinand didn't want to be a god all the time, and God was also very tired. At that time, Ferdinand briefly expounded the principle of the steam engine. Then it was left to the craftsmen.

A year later, on the day of the box, Ferdinand, who had just received a Berber attack on the city of Melilla, had received a report of the craftsmen of Barcelona making steam engines. So Ferdinand hurried over to take a look, and then he witnessed the masterpieces of the craftsmen......

"This kind of thing?"

This is a primitive steam engine, and the power it can produce is...... 1 horsepower.

A rather glaring number.

It reached the level of the English steam engine approximately in 1702.

In fact, this was already a remarkable achievement for the Spanish craftsmen of this era, because Spain's industry was already underdeveloped and lagged behind that of Northwest Europe.

And now the steam engine they built can reach the advanced level of England in 1702 at the end of the 15th century, just relying on the king's ideas and guidance, and the cooperation and guidance of two excellent Flemish craftsmen, which is already a great achievement.

After all, even in 1820, Birmingham, an important industrial city in England, had only 16 steam engines, with a total steam power of only 1,000 horsepower.

1 horsepower is really remarkable.

But Ferdinand was still not satisfied!

First of all, although there are extenuating circumstances, 1 horsepower, which is a meager power, is greatly insufficient for the mining industry represented by coal digging and the cotton textile industry.

In particular, there are two limiting factors. At this time, the 1-horsepower steam engine was not lighter than the 15-horsepower steam engine of the early 19th century due to technical limitations. It takes time and effort, resulting in a 1-horsepower power machine that cannot be moved, and the gains outweigh the losses.

This problem is exacerbated by the second restrictive factor peculiar to Spain.

It's an old topic, lack of coal and iron!

Especially now this primitive version of the steam engine, which is very inefficient! 1 horsepower requires a lot of coal, and Spain does not have many coal mines, and the grade is not as good as that of England. Ferdinand seriously doubted that this steam engine would consume more than the output when it was used to dig coal mines!

The power to make cotton weaving is also choking enough to be vetoed, unless you've been importing a lot of coal from the UK, and you're putting up with huge land and inefficiency and noisy noises – and you're going to lose money after all that.

Even if Ferdinand could get coal from the Alabama region of North America, the coal coming from across the ocean was not such a profligacy.

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"Alas!" Ferdinand returned to the palace disappointed, he did not punish or condemn the craftsmen, he knew that they did their best, after all, he was only talking about it. But he was disappointed.

Fortunately, the results of his previous all-night work at the palace played a role, and the drawings of the Newcomen steam engine and the Watt steam engine shone brightly on the red oak table.

"Let me unleash the power of science!"

Eventually, Ferdinand embarked on the path of Scientology.

However, even the power of science is still constrained by reality.

For example, Ferdinand had planned to build the Newcommen steam engine first, and then get his hands on the Watt steam engine. But now he found that he couldn't do that.

On the one hand, the efficiency of the Newcomen steam engine was still too low, consuming too much coal. Britain has abundant coal and iron ore, which means that there is no pressure on this, and even many of the flooded deep coal mines have been revived by the use of the Nukomen steam engine, and the coal mining volume in Britain has benefited greatly from the steam engine half a century before Watt's improved steam engine.

And where in Spain are there so many coal mines for you to mine.

Thinking too much, I have my own national conditions here.

On the other hand, from the Newcomen steam engine to the Watt steam engine, there is not too much "hard technology" gap, the leading is mainly concept and design, compared with experience and brain. As a single-acting atmospheric steam engine, the principle of the Newcomen steam engine itself wastes a lot of heat energy.

If you want to talk about the technological gap, in fact, in 1713, when the Newcomen steam engine was just born, it had already applied the jet pump connecting rod movement to achieve automatic control of the valve. There are some rumors that the machine was operated with a grappling hook and a cable, which was basically the same thing as Watt's teapot and Newton's apple.

For another example, the conical centrifugal pendulum governor that controls the butterfly valve on the steam intake pipe to keep the speed of the Watt steam engine constant under load has actually been commonly used to control stone mills in flour production factories at that time, and it is interesting to note that after the birth of the Watt steam engine, a considerable part of its power was used to grind flour......

The great improvement in the mechanical strength, precision, and materials of the steam engine actually had to wait for the further improvement of the Watt rotary lever steam engine, which was also a double advance in technology and design.

And Ferdinand now had to solve the problem of starting something from nothing. Therefore, he boldly felt that he began to tinker with the Watt steam engine and give it a try!

Of course he knew how it worked – when the piston was at the top of the stroke, the exhaust valve opened, creating a vacuum under the piston, and the intake valve opened at the same time, and steam went above the piston. Then atmospheric pressure and vapor pressure force the piston down. By the time the stroke is reached, both the intake and exhaust valves are closed, the balance valve is opened, the pressure on both sides of the piston is equal, and the weight of the pump rod lifts it back to the top of the cylinder......

As for important mechanisms such as the crank linkage, governor, and separating condenser, Ferdinand has observed detailed models, and there is no pressure to copy them on the spot.

However, technical limitations remained, such as why the Newcomen steam engine had a water seal device, because the accuracy of the boring machines at that time - these boring machines were mainly used for casting artillery and other weapons - was still too low, they could be boring 7-inch guns, and the pump barrel could also be boring, but the exact size of the cylinder could not be helped. These boring machines are for the army to bore artillery, and even such advanced boring machines cannot be done, and the steam engine cannot progress if it wants to.

Watt's steam engine cylinder still depended on a powerful supplier at the time, Wilkinson, who produced a new type of boring machine for cannons in 1774, so that Watt's steam engine could be successfully born.

Therefore, Ferdinand at least needs to improve the performance of industrial machine tools, which is a matter of killing multiple birds with one stone. As soon as the performance of industrial machine tools is improved, it is not as simple as making steam engines, and all kinds of looms and even weapons can improve output and performance.

For example, boring a 283 mm Wetworth breech rifle cannon, with the current Spanish technology, I am afraid it is enough, and so Ferdinand to improve the industrial machine, such as improving the boring machine, introducing planers, etc., as soon as these measures are completed, all kinds of guns and artifacts can be mass-produced, and the proper productivity is crushed!

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