Leaving the restaurant, there is still about an hour before the scheduled time of departure for Newsar in the afternoon. Dussaint decided to walk to the workshop to see how his Polina's research was going.

Walking to a place one or two hundred yols away from the workshop, Dussander heard a familiar sound.

It was the continuous movement of the engine exhausting, and it sounded like a continuous, low-quality car engine running that might be scrapped.

And it seems to be getting louder.

Dussander narrowed his eyes and looked into the distance, and immediately spotted a steam horse with almost all of its shell torn down and all moving parts of its body exposed.

Instead of dragging a passenger carriage like other steam horses, the steam horse had a very simple platform - two wheels plus a wooden plank that was fastened directly to the bare steam horse's shoulders.

It looks like a flatbed donkey cart that can only be seen in movies in the previous life.

The "steam horse" pulling the flatbed donkey cart has an engine stuffed into its belly, and the machine, which is tethered to the skeleton by wires of various sizes and thicknesses, and is running at full strength. On the horse's chest, a four-bladed wooden paddle is turning rapidly. Behind the fan, there is a radiator full of handmade traces.

Polina is now dressed like a World War I winter pilot, wrapped in thick leather gloves and a thick leather coat.

Dusand was able to recognize Polina because she had written her name very roughly on her clothes.

"Mr. Lord." Polina, who was sitting on a donkey cart, saw Dusander. She screwed the valve of the high-pressure gas cylinder, and then waved her hand excitedly, "The coolant you sent worked well, it moved!" ”

"Congratulations, Miss Polina." Dussand's face was overjoyed and he warmly congratulated Polina, "You are right, it is indeed the most important invention of our time!" ”

Of course, a flatbed donkey cart pulled by a struggling "steam horse" cannot be "the most important invention of our time", but it is indeed an internal combustion engine that is ready for use. Dussaint was so excited that he circled the donkey cart several times before suddenly stopping.

However, this "horse" ...... It doesn't look very good. It walks slowly, and often makes strange noises with unsteady gear engagement.

Dussaint asked, "This horse looks like there's something wrong with it, this ...... Can it be solved? ”

"I'm afraid it's hard." Speaking of this, Polina's expression that was full of joy at first suddenly became bitter, "The torque of the gas engine is too small, and it is difficult to drive these structural movements of the steam horse. I'm thinking about whether or not I can do some optimization of the steam horse's internals, at least by removing the gear set and levers that are running at high speeds – that might save a lot of weight and consumption. ”

Dusand was about to encourage his teacher to continue his work in the field of engineering, when he suddenly slapped his thigh.

He was really distorted by this style of painting.

Internal combustion engine, why should it be installed in Steam Mali?

"The torque of the steam engine is large, so it can be used so luxuriously to push a large number of gears and levers." "The gas engine doesn't have that much torque, so ...... I think we could have thought differently. He pointed to the "flatbed donkey cart" behind Polina and said, "It should be much more efficient to let the internal combustion engine drive the wheels directly, right?" ”

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Dussaint had seen the world's first car in a textbook, and it looked like a big, three-jumper.

The first car invented by Karl Benz was, by modern standards, a defective product – it had only three wheels, a single-cylinder engine, and a drive belt and chain to drive the rear wheels.

And this thing doesn't have a gearbox, not only can't it accelerate dramatically, but it can't even reverse. The speed at which such a car travels depends on whether the terrain it is traveling on is uphill or downhill. And since the differential wasn't invented yet, the "car" couldn't even turn around at a wide angle – the difference in rotation between the inside and outside wheels would make the whole car "bounce" when turning.

Mr. Karl Benz's inventions have been derided as "useless waste" for quite some time, but this does not mean that Dussand and Polina will be ridiculed for as long as Mr. Benz. In fact, a large number of key devices that modern cars should have exist in this world where the technology tree is biased to the weird world.

But in the Empire, the gearbox was born much earlier than the internal combustion engine. Tolsmith was able to bring the steam machine to the level of a "work of art" thanks to the transmission device he invented.

It is impossible for a steam engine to be like an internal combustion engine, which can be started if you want to, and can be shut down if you want to. Pressurization in the boiler after combustion requires a process, while it takes more time to safely release pressure after shutdown. This is determined by the principle of operation of the steam engine.

However, in precision machining, it is important to ensure that the power source is continuously and reliably available and can be terminated at any time when needed – this is an important condition for machining. A drill bit that can't be stopped is equivalent to a drill bit that doesn't move in the field of machining.

It's useless anyway.

Thus, when the steam machine tool was born, the "clutch" was also invented, which could temporarily and safely cut off the power and restore the power in a short time.

On the basis of the clutch, Tolsmith added a gearbox that can change the speed and direction of rotation of the cutter head. Once the clutch is depressed, simply pull the lever to the desired gear and release the clutch – and the head will be able to move at the speed and direction required by the machiner.

In other words, the Tolsmith company invented the manual gearbox. And it's getting more and more advanced – an eight-speed manual gearbox with five forward gears and three reverse gears is standard on all of Tolsmith's products.

An advanced manual transmission is already available, and the internal combustion engine is readily available. Dussander quickly described his impression of the car to Polina and asked, "There is no problem with the form of drive, but we need a mechanism that can output power and solve the different rotation angles of the wheels on both sides at the same time." ”

Polina replied very bluntly, "This design is off-the-shelf, and I remember that the mining consortium gave this design request - they used it in the freestyle transport minecarts." ”

"Then it's all ready-made." The more Dussaint talked, the happier he became, and he even had an idea, "If you can, can you make a working prototype car in a week?" Four-wheel drive, with an enclosed cockpit and a cargo hopper about the size of a steam carriage. We will have a joint operation with the naval commandos in the future, and if we can show the great potential of the internal combustion engine vehicle in front of them, then we will not worry about running out of orders! ”

"It should work." Polina thought for a moment and then said, "Then you need a transfer case to transmit power, and the front and rear differentials ......" She seemed to open the door to a whole new world, and while excitedly imagining, she quickly recorded it in her notebook, "Military vehicles don't necessarily have a flat road surface to walk, and you also need to adjust the suspension structure and drive structure form......"

Dusand watched Polina fall into a "frenzy", and he also circled excitedly twice, and then instructed, "This early equipment does not have to be perfect, but it must be durable." ”

"Rest assured, my good lord." Polina turned around and walked away excitedly, even throwing away her own donkey-pulled flatbed, "I'll go and perfect the design now, and I'll get the sketch out for you tonight!" ”