Sword of Dawn

Page 214

Chapter 0507 Cars

All affairs in the territory seemed to be in order, and Gao Wen finally got a short period of leisure.

In the study of the lord's mansion, he finished handling the official duties accumulated in the past few days, and then leaned back in his large chair, listening to the daily affairs reported by Hetty while relaxing.

"...In summary, all autumn grain storage and statistics work has been completed, and winter rations in remote areas have also been distributed. There should be no large-scale famine outbreaks in the main areas of the southern border this winter...

"The magic net project is still expanding along the cross axis, and it has now covered the Palin area...

"The commercial courier sent to the east has set off..."

Gao Wen breathed out slightly: "It's a good day without bad news."

"It's impossible to have bad news every day. It's hard for us to settle down." Hetty smiled, but halfway through the smile, his expression became a little subtle, "But although there is no bad news, there is one thing that makes people care It's—that kid Rebecca seems to be tinkering with something lately..."

Gawain's relaxed expression stopped immediately: "Rebecca? What has she been up to lately?"

"She built a big pool in the Institute of Magical Technology..." Hetty looked almost blank when she said this, "raise ooze monsters in it."

Gao Wen: "...What is she raising the slime monster for?!"

"The submitted report said that it was to study the industrial value of the slime monster, but because it was a group project within the Institute of Magic Technology, she knew the details of the project herself."

Gao Wen's forehead was full of question marks, but just when he was about to continue asking, the Magic Net terminal installed next to the desk suddenly lit up and made a loud buzzing sound.

Gao Wen casually activated the terminal, but he didn't expect that it was Rebecca's figure that emerged from the holographic projection above the machine.

"Rebecca? I happen to be planning to..."

However, Gao Wen's words were interrupted by the other party just halfway through. The girl was wearing a researcher's white robe over her dress, her face and hands were covered with oil, and she was jumping up and down excitedly in the screen: "Master Ancestor!! ! Car! There is a car!!”

Gao Wen was taken aback by the nonsensical words: "What did you say?"

Hetty couldn't help but frowned seeing Rebecca's lack of aristocratic behavior: "Rebecca—have you forgotten etiquette?"

"Ah! Auntie!" Rebecca noticed that Hetty was also opposite the communicator, and her expression and movements froze instantly, "You are too..."

"Are you in the Machinery Manufacturing Institute?" Gao Wen noticed the scene behind the girl after Rebecca stopped jumping, and after seeing those lathes and the wide assembly platform, his heart moved, "Is it a magic car? !"

"Yes! Eggy and I finally managed to solve the last few problems! We built a usable chassis!!" Rebecca excitedly threw herself in front of the communicator, and 80.00% of the holographic projection in front of Gao Wen was covered by this The girl's oily face was occupied, "Come and see! Come and see!"

The voice of Mr. Nicholas Dandan came from the background sound of the communicator: "Why is this becoming Dandan again—didn't you call Mr. Dandan last time?"

Afterwards, Rebecca seemed to say something, but Gawain was no longer in the mood to continue listening. He suddenly got up, turned off the communicator, and said to Hetty as he walked towards the door: "You come with me!"

At this time, Hetty was still thinking about the question "Why did Rebecca raise the ooze monster", but from Gawain's reaction, she realized that Rebecca might have made some amazing results again. Enough to make the ancestors throw all the slime monsters behind them.

She quickly agreed, and quickly followed Gao Wen's pace.

Mechanical Research Institute, next to the "mechanical platform" of the first workshop, hundreds of technicians wearing overalls or researcher uniforms gathered together, looking at the hard-won results on the platform with eager and proud expressions, Rebecca and A few of his assistants were also standing among the crowd, discussing excitedly the possible future uses of this epoch-making creation, while the silver-white Nicholas Dan with a happy smile on his face was quietly floating in the distance from the mechanical platform. In the nearest place, he felt every delicate detail inside that complex machine, every tight gear and lever, every repulsive mechanism and pump device ready to go, an unprecedented sense of satisfaction filled his diameter. [-] meters in a body weighing one and a half tons.

There was a sound of heavy and hasty footsteps coming from the door of the workshop. Rebecca immediately raised her head. After seeing the person coming, she excitedly waved her hand and said hello: "Master Zu! Aunt! You are here!!"

Gawain walked through a group of researchers paying tribute to him, and looked eagerly at the mechanical creation on the circular platform: "That's it?"

"As you can see..." Rebecca raised her hand, imitating the gesture of a butler or a senior attendant introducing guests, pointing at the creation, "Isn't it beautiful?"

Frankly speaking, in the aesthetics of many people in this era, that thing may not be considered beautiful, but in the eyes of those who have accepted Cecil's magical and mechanical painting style, it can indeed be associated with "aesthetics" .

It was a complex machine made of black steel. Its shape was slightly similar to the car chassis in Gao Wen's impression, but there was a huge difference.Because it is a test product, it does not have a casing, and almost all the mechanical structures are directly exposed outside. Those assembled gears, levers and axles are like a monster that has lost its flesh and blood, which makes it look quite scary—but There is a certain strange beauty.

Since there is no shell, Gao Wen can clearly see many structures of the chassis: there are four steel wheels installed on both sides of the same steel frame, and a miniaturized, specially designed for mobile vehicles The second-generation magic energy engine is installed at its tail to provide power. A large number of runes are spread over the entire chassis structure, forming a complete set of magic net structure. In the center of the chassis, you can see a very conspicuous "Beam" - it is not only a large beam that provides structural strength, but also a part of the magic mechanism. Gawain saw that a large number of runes were concentrated on this beam, and the magic net of the chassis was also connected to the beam. There are many connecting rods and wire mechanisms that control the rune triggers are also integrated in the front section of this beam. This structure gave him a sense of déjà vu.

Rebecca quickly answered the source of his déjà vu: "Did you think of the 'power ridge' on the magic warship?"

Gao Wen suddenly realized: "The same idea?"

"Yes, the power ridge of the magic warship gave us a lot of inspiration," Rebecca nodded, "integrate various control mechanisms and energy transmission structures into one module, reduce intermediate structures as much as possible, and reduce the number of trivial parts , the failure rate can be reduced to the greatest extent, the reliability of the machine will also be improved, and it will be convenient to repair once it encounters a failure-if the failure is too big, the entire power spine can even be replaced directly, so that in the shortest time The whole set of machinery can be restarted. I think that in the future, as long as it is a large-scale magical machinery, such as vehicles and ships, it can use the structure of the power ridge.”

For a while, Gao Wen couldn't think of anything that could replace this structure, so he nodded slightly: "Very good."

The power ridge structure can be said to be the most typical technical achievement created by local technicians since the establishment of the Magic Technology Research Institute and the Machinery Manufacturing Institute—and not only Gao Wen did not intervene at all, even Rebecca was not a power ridge. The main inventor of the framework.

It was a group of mage apprentices from the Lesley area who came up with this structure. After they were transferred to become magicians, they were sent to carry out magic transformation of old ships. Introducing a large-scale magic device and integrating all complex systems into a stable and reliable control-energy supply structure, they referred to the control technology of the Mage Tower and proposed the original concept of power ridges.

After that, nearly a hundred runemasters, mechanics, magicians, and craftsmen from all over the southern border worked together, and the first generation of truly practical "power ridges" was created and used on the Aurora and Morningstar.

But now, this technical achievement, which proved to be stable and reliable on the magic warship, has been successfully miniaturized and installed on the chassis of the first-generation magic vehicle through the tireless efforts of the technicians of the machinery manufacturing institute.

If Rebecca's plan is reliable, then the "power ridge" structure will continue to develop and become the central structure of various magic vehicles and various large-scale magic facilities in the future-it will continue to be improved and popularized until One day in the future, a more epoch-making, more stable and reliable architecture can replace it.

Gawain didn't know how to describe this feeling—even though he opened up this era, the flashes that emerged in this era were always beyond his expectations.

He raised his head and looked at the control part of the "prototype magic vehicle"—a chair was welded to the front middle of the chassis, and many control devices were set in front of the seat, which was the same as the mechanical structure exposed on other parts of the chassis. It is also a completely unobstructed "driver's seat".

At least the steering wheel looked the way he knew it.

But the several levers and pedals outside the steering wheel are not quite the same as his previous life memories.

Apparently, the designers did not design the operating system of this machine according to the "conceptual plan" originally proposed by Gawain. They planned the functions and positions of the levers according to their own habits, or it may be based on the "rune trigger" It is more likely that these changes were made in the special operation method of the company - they asked the most experienced coachman in the city, and planned the entire control seat based on the coachman's driving experience.

Gao Wen would not comment on this, although he has a mature design of another world in his mind and the experience of being a human being in two lifetimes, but he knows that his experience is not always applicable, and the expert here is not him , Whether these things are useful or not depends on the actual test results.

As for now, looking at the unsealed shell in front of him, with exposed mechanical structures everywhere, like some kind of punk product, he can only feel joy in his heart - but due to the burden of his ancestors, he can only do it in front of others. He made a serious review, and turned around the mechanical platform again and again, and when he turned to the third circle, he couldn't help reaching out and touching the wheels curiously: "... What do you use to make it?" tires?"

Due to the discrepancy between the material list and the technology tree, Cecil has no rubber—whether it is natural or man-made—no rubber, and various rubber products including tires are naturally out of the question. When designing magic vehicles At the beginning, this was one of the difficulties that Gao Wen expected.

Tires play a huge role. They can reduce vibration, make drivers more comfortable and prolong the life of mechanical structures. They can provide reliable grip friction, prevent slipping, and prevent steel wheels from being directly worn. Excellent tire design It can also make the driving of the vehicle more labor-saving and energy-saving...

But without rubber, all is fantasy.

Gao Wen even considered using the method of suspension structure + tracks to barely bypass this problem, but now it seems that the team of Rebecca and Nicholas Egg has solved the problem of materials—although I don’t know what they used What material, but the layer of substance on the outside of the wheel is obviously not rubber.

It is off-white, rough to the touch and has a certain degree of elasticity. If you smell it carefully, it seems to have a very slight earthy smell.

Rebecca seemed very happy to see that the omnipotent ancestor was curiously asking herself questions, she put her hips on her hips, with a smug smile on her face: "Master ancestor, guess what we used?"

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and then began to search his memory bank, but before he could think of the answer, Hetty, who came along with him, rubbed the surface of the wheel with his hands, and immediately showed an uncertain expression: "This thing Could it be... no way...you use the excrement of ooze monsters to make... tires?!"

Chapter 0508

Hearing Hetty's words, Gawain's expression froze immediately——the excrement of the ooze monster? !

Rebecca over there was still nodding excitedly: "Yes, yes - we have raised a large pond in the backyard of the Institute of Magic Technology! I caught one of the ooze monsters myself..."

Gawain finally knew what happened when Hetty reported that Rebecca was raising ooze monsters...

"Thank you for thinking it out!" Hetty's expression was as weird as it was, "I'm curious as to how you connected these two things..."

Gao Wen couldn't help but rubbed his forehead: "Why do I feel a little sick?"

"It's not disgusting," Rebecca said immediately, "Although it is said to be the excrement of ooze monsters, ooze monsters are almost a kind of elemental creatures, and the things they excrete are more like mixed slag generated in alchemy reactions , clean——Aunt, didn’t you tell me that the mages in the Violet Kingdom would even use the excrement of slime monsters to apply on their faces to improve their skin?”

Hetty couldn't help covering her face: "...but that's a curse word..."

Rebecca scratched her head: "Hey? Is that so?"

Listening to the conversation between Rebecca and Hetty, Gao Wen quickly accepted the source of the "tire" in front of him.

He knew about the ooze monster—a magical creature with weak power but strong vitality. It usually lived near the focus of magic power and was the product of the combination of earth element and biomass.The wild ooze itself is not very offensive, but because its habitat is close to the focus of magic power, there are often strong monsters nearby, and it is not easy to catch - but because they are not very useful, so except for a few Apart from mages looking for ooze monsters in order to collect specific materials, most people are not interested in those low-level elemental creatures.

As elemental creatures, ooze monsters will leave a variety of gel products after eating soil and rotting plants, which are their "excretions", but as Rebecca said-as long as you psychologically adjust If it is in place, it is just a by-product of the magical reaction...

But anyway, looking for inspiration from the excrement of the ooze monster, and even thought of using it to make tires... This is really a fresh and refined idea.

With a weird expression, Hetty continued to poke the off-white slightly elastic "tire" with her fingers, and asked curiously: "You should have dealt with it, right? Normal ooze monster secretions should be softer than this." , and the taste is stronger..."

"We mixed very fine quartz sand into it, and used giant wood gum to remove the smell. The effect is not bad, but I think there should be room for optimization," Rebecca said while nodding, "In addition, for To make the secretions from the ooze monster more in line with the requirements, we have also tested many different 'feeds', and now this feeding formula is definitely not the most suitable..."

Ooze monsters are very strange elemental creatures. They eat everything, and then perform complex magical reactions on the swallowed substances, and absorb energy in the process. Their physiological process is like a continuous alchemical reaction. This also leads to the fact that if the things they eat are different, the things they expel will be very different-of course, they are basically gel products of various viscosities and hardnesses.

Looking at the off-white "tire", Gawain nodded slightly.

I am afraid that there is really no natural rubber in this world, and humans will never be able to produce artificial rubber based on the oil industry, but alternatives still appear.

A low-level primitive magical creature actually solved a major problem in the magic industry. Regardless of how Rebecca thought of this solution, this fact alone was enough to give Gawain enough confidence in the future.

"Can it start now?" Gawain asked expectantly, pointing to the prototype magic vehicle on the mechanical platform.

"Of course~~" Rebecca said happily, "Before you came, we have already started it once in the suspended state, and adjusted many small problems, and now it can be fully opened. Although I haven't tried it, I think It can even be driven outside the workshop."

Gao Wen didn't talk nonsense: "Let's demonstrate."

"Okay~~" Rebecca had been waiting for her ancestor's words for a long time, and she immediately agreed while walking towards the mechanical platform—obviously, she couldn't wait to demonstrate this miracle of the magic industry to everyone in person. .

Gawain watched Rebecca get on the platform, then climbed onto the pile of mechanical monsters made of steel, watched her sit in the crude seat welded directly to the frame, and then began to pull and operate The levers and wrenches in front of the seat, and the runes on the chassis of the prototype magic vehicle gradually brightened. A low hum sounded from the connection between the power ridge and the magic engine, and countless gears and levers began to vibrate slightly. Brewing up surging momentum——

Hetty listened to the movement from the pile of machines, looked at Rebecca who was fiddling with the lever with excitement, and couldn't help worrying: "Ancestor, is this thing really okay?"

"You have to trust her," Gao Wen said in a low voice, "and trust the hard work of so many technicians for such a long time."

Hetty opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something more, but she swallowed all her words after seeing the scene in front of her——

The heavy industrial beast made of black steel and with countless exposed mechanical structures let out a deep roar, and the rotor-type magic energy engine drove all the mechanical mechanisms to run. With vibrations and noises, its four wheels Slowly started turning.

"Look, Ancestor! Let's get up!!"

Rebecca yelled happily, and at the same time pulled another pull rod on the left side of her body. Accompanied by a series of clicks of gears changing positions, the rotation speed of the wheels increased accordingly—in a series of noises and vibrations, this The huge machine stepped off the platform, just like the first cry of a human baby in this world, the sound it made was noisy and loud.

The machinists and magicians around the platform cheered and clapped vigorously.

Gao Wen knew that the machining accuracy of Nicholas eggs could be very high, but that was when the blueprints had been perfected. When manufacturing the prototype, in order to verify the blueprints and improve the success rate, in order to leave enough space for all the mechanical structures Safety residual value, in order for the mechanics to confirm the wear rate of all structures and to facilitate disassembly and modification, these initial machines will leave an acceptable margin between the parts, and these margins lead to the prototype magic vehicle running The noise and vibrations of the process—they sound loud and chaotic, but the mechanists find this sound familiar and familiar.

It signifies the birth of a new mechanical creation, and the sound of the collision and friction of gears and levers is the resounding announcement of the birth of a new mechanical spirit in this world.

Rebecca drove the crude prototype car off the platform, and then controlled it to drive around in the vast open space of the workshop. The girl drinking tea and admiring the flowers on the balcony is wearing a dirty researcher's robe at the moment, sitting among a pile of iron frames and parts, yelling even louder than the machinery under her body——

"Look, Ancestor! Look, Auntie! It's really walking! It can run!!"

She smiled like a child.

And amidst Rebecca's cheerful laughter, the magic car's lever was pushed into a higher acceleration gear——within the range allowed by the workshop space, this complicated machine accelerated again, and it made a loud noise. With the sound of roaring, the magic engine drives the gear set, causing the whole car to quickly drive towards the exit of the workshop: it is obvious that Rebecca intends to drive the car outside.

Hetty showed a worried look on her face, but Gawain gently pressed her shoulder.

Hetty breathed a sigh of relief, and then put aside unnecessary worries: There is a legendary strong man watching here, and Rebecca and the "machine friend" she made should not be able to make a big deal no matter what. trouble.

However, just when she breathed a sigh of relief, there was a strange creaking sound from the mechanical car that had already run to the workshop gate. The vibration slowly stopped, and the magic runes on the power ridge also went out one by one.

Gawain and Hetty looked at each other, and then a large group of people hurried to the place where the locomotive lay.

Rebecca pulled the lever next to the seat, and stepped on the pedal under her feet hard. After finding that she couldn't restart it, she had no choice but to stand up from the seat and jumped to the ground with a frustrated face.

"broken."

She said to Gao Wen with a sad face.

However, just when Gao Wen wanted to comfort the girl, Rebecca had already turned her head away. She took out a wrench and a screwdriver from her pocket, and began to disassemble the connection between the magic engine and the mechanical cabin. cover plate.

A large group of technicians immediately surrounded it, and Nicholas Egg floated above the locomotive, and began to help Rebecca get those stuck or even distorted gears out of the gearbox and differential.

In front of Gawain and Hetty, the Mechanics and Magic Technicians began to discuss:

"The shifting place seems to be stuck..."

"The differential seems to be fine...it was damaged by coasting after the gearbox suddenly stuck."

"How could it be stuck... There is no problem when testing alone?"

"Is the lubricating grease less effective after being heated by friction?"

"Certainly not, this alchemy ointment is also used in the puppet. The temperature of the puppet's power core is much higher than the friction of the gears..."

"Hey look at this connecting rod - it seems to be stuck! It came off during the vibration! There is a problem with the way this place is connected!"

While Gao Wen was still hesitating whether to go in and have a look at the situation, the discussion among the technicians seemed to have come to an end.

Rebecca got out from the crowd, and the girl had several more oil stains on her face and hands, but her eyes, which were depressed just now, lit up again: "My lord ancestor, the problem is now clear! There is a There is a problem with the connection of the connecting rod..."

"It was our mistake." A mechanic in blue overalls stood up. Gawain recognized him as one of Hammer's apprentices. "We didn't estimate the impact of the vibration."

"It's okay, it's normal for the prototype to have problems." Gao Wen didn't mean to blame anyone at all, on the contrary, his happy mood at the moment was not weakened by this small mechanical failure at all.

Although there was a mechanical failure, it was just an unavoidable episode in the development process - Rebecca drove the prototype magic car off the platform, and this is the real meaning of today's test.

This shows that at least in general, the design of magic vehicles has been successful.

He raised his head and looked in the direction of the mechanical platform in the center of the workshop, and then looked back at the prototype car that was quietly parked at the door of the workshop.

From stepping off the mechanical platform, testing driving in the workshop, and then driving to the exit of the workshop, the first magical locomotive should have only traveled 500 meters.

That's great, there are four to five hundred meters.

Chapter 0509 Alternative Plan for Gao Wen