When we say that a steam engine explodes, we actually mean the boiler explosion of a steam engine. Recently, boiler explosions have been frequent, but it is the first time that Li Guo has caught up with such a thing.

I only heard a loud bang, and the huge pressure in the boiler did not have time to release, and it broke out, bursting the boiler and directly blowing up the roof, and the scene was a mess.

Li Guo and the others were all shocked, and it took a long time to get up.

Fortunately, the boiler was only blown up, not shattered, and the casualties were not large, except for the two boilers that burned the boiler and three were seriously injured, the rest were only slightly injured.

Although Li Guo was not injured, his head was also hit by the rubble falling from the roof, and Song Yingxing's face was scratched, although it was only an out-of-skin injury, it was also bleeding loudly, which looked terrifying.

The pro-soldiers guarding outside were all frightened, and Jiang Fa, as the captain of the pro-soldiers, opened his mouth and did not recover for a long time.

Zhang Ding arrived as soon as possible, he was in charge of the Chinese army at this time, leading 10,000 people, protecting Li Guo at all times to prevent accidents. It's just that Zhang Ding is not interested in business and technology, so Zhang Ding only trains the army and does not participate in Li Guo's other things.

Zhang Ding looked at the tragic situation at the scene, and knelt down to Li Guo, "Daddy Li, don't do anything about this Rausch, it's too dangerous!" ”

Li Guo shook his head: "How can you do it if you don't do it?" I heard that Zheng Zhilong is quite jealous of us, in addition to the military has increased the strength of the infantry army, the sailor is even more to build warships, I heard that Zheng Zhilong has begun to build a lucky ship! The spies we sent there reported that Zheng Zhilong was targeting us! That's why we want to build a good steamship. Now all the qiē is shipbuilding, and defeat Zheng Zhilong first. Only then can there be no worries and can the world be calmed. ”

Song Yingxing wiped the blood from his face. While agreeing, he said, "What the tiger master said is right, during this time, I went back and thought about it carefully, the tiger master's whimsical ideas are indeed very useful, but there are some real things, so it's better to ask the tiger master not to participate." ”

How can you do it without participating? The current technology is not perfect, of course, Li Guo has to do it himself.

Li Guo has now made the rubber, but the problem of the boiler is a big problem. As long as the problem of the boiler is solved, the steam engine can really play a role.

The explosion of the steam engine is nothing more than too high pressure, and the excessive pressure is due to poor temperature control.

Let's be honest. The scientific and technological progress at that time was indeed beyond Li Guo's expectations. Because there were already thermometers at that time.

As early as 1593, the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei invented the thermometer. It's just that his thermometer is a glass tube with an open end and a walnut-sized glass bubble at the other. To use, heat the glass bubble and insert the glass tube into the water. As the temperature changes, the water surface in the glass tube moves up and down, and the temperature change and temperature can be determined according to the amount of movement. However, this thermometer is greatly affected by environmental factors such as outside atmospheric pressure, so the measurement error is large.

So. Li Guo decided to build his own thermometer.

For mercury thermometers, Li Guo is really familiar. The freezing point of mercury is: -39°C, the boiling point is: 356.7°C, and it is used to measure the temperature. Simple and intuitive. Moreover, the scale on the thermometer is also easy to do, and the temperature of the human body is about 37 degrees. The temperature of the ice is zero, so that. You can accurately measure the temperature.

Now, mercury is very common. The Chinese people have long been able to make this kind of thing. And glass products, under the guidance of Li Guo, the process is also becoming more and more perfect. Therefore, making zuò thermometers should not be a big problem.

But after the thermometer was made, Li Guo found that it was not good, and the excretion problem was too much pressure. Li Guo turned his head and thought of the pressure cooker of the original time and space.

An ordinary pressure cooker is composed of a pot body, a pot lid, a fusible sheet, a vent, a safety valve and a sealing rubber ring, which is similar to a boiler to put it bluntly. The safety valve is very important, when it exceeds a certain pressure, the safety valve will automatically pop up and release the pressure to avoid explosion.

So, Li Guo ordered Song Yingxing to send someone to make the safety valve, because it was not possible to test the pressure now, so the size of the safety valve had to be based on experience, and after blowing up a few boilers, Song Yingxing finally got the number of jù in general.

In this way, there are no major problems with the steam engine boiler on a steamer.

The next step is to transform the pipeline for transporting steam, the previous pipeline is not tightly sealed, so that a large amount of steam leaks, now Li Guo thought of a way, all the cast pipes are of uniform length, the pipe at one end of the pipe should be larger, and the other side should be smaller, so that when the two pipes are assembled, the small head is just inserted into the big head, and a dense rubber pad is placed at the connection. If the outside is stuck with a clip, it will be airtight.

The conveyor belt that drives the gears to rotate has also been changed from a belt to a rubber belt, and the transmission power has also been greatly increased.

So, the steam engine system was relocated to the ship. Of course, the steam engine ship was also sailed again, and when it was running normally, there was no need to burn coal, saving energy. In addition, the sails are also installed to prevent the steamship from breaking down and not being able to walk, just in case.

In terms of the firepower of the weapons, the steam engine ships are all equipped with large guns with the longest firing range, and a winch is placed under the guns, so that the muzzles can be moved freely, and the guns can easily adjust the direction of fire. The gunners on the steamship have systematically learned the principle of parabola, and can accurately hit distant targets by using the crosshairs on the cannons.

On steamers, not a single gun with a shorter range was installed. Li Guo's idea was that his steamship could run fast and could run against the wind, so it was impossible for the enemy's fleet to approach him to fight, so he didn't need to get close to the enemy to fight. Unlike most sailing ships nowadays, the speed is about the same, and sometimes only melee combat is possible.

So, on the specially selected auspicious day of the zodiac, Li Guo took his subordinates to cut the ribbon of the relaunched steam engine ship.

But as soon as he saw the flag, the steam engine started, and white steam and black smoke billowed out. On the chimney where the steam was released, a movable steam whistle had already been installed, and the whistle resounded over the sea, and the soldiers and the people who watched cheered.

Li Guo looked at this big ship of more than 100 meters, and he was indescribably proud, the appearance of this modified steam engine ship heralded the arrival of the Age of Discovery, and the future sea overlord was about to be his own. Li Guo seemed to see that on the sea that ruled the future, his own flag was fluttering.

Although there is only one now, it is still being built in its own dockyard, not only warships, but also coal pulling ships and troop carriers.

However, it took more than half a year to renovate the ship.

For such a long time, in addition to the success of steamships, Li Guo also carried out large-scale modifications to firearms.

Li Guo is full of confidence in the future. (To be continued......)