ATPnovel Chapter 41 The East India Company's Concerns
Chapter 41 The East India Company's Concerns
The traditional old-fashioned foot-operated sewing machine is one of the "three turns and one sound" essential for weddings in the eyes of older generations of Chinese people, and the "one turn" is the sewing machine.
Chen Wenbin was not unfamiliar with this, because he had played with the Butterfly brand sewing machine that his grandparents used when they got married when he was a child.
The specific principles of the machine are not difficult to understand; it just requires some ingenuity in its design. However, people with weak spatial imagination may find it difficult to grasp.
However, for Chen Wenbin, whose mind had already been upgraded, the difficulty was like picking up pebbles from the ground. He only needed to tell James Merlin and William Marcus the blueprints and design ideas, and guide them to process the parts on a lathe.
The reason why this Robin sewing machine is designed to be hand-cranked is to reduce its size and weight, making it easier to transport and commercialize.
"...Your Majesty!"
James Merlin exclaimed in disbelief, "My God! You really intend to present it to His Majesty the King!"
He knew that the sewing machine was a great invention comparable to the Jenna spinning machine, but he never expected that it would be presented to the king as a gift!
Seeing his excited reaction, Chen Wenbin frowned slightly, but didn't say anything more.
Most commoners in this era revered the monarchy, as the king, who was high above them, was very distant from them. On the contrary, the nobles, who were closer to the monarchy, only showed respect to the king.
Unlike the East, Western Europe did not have a high degree of centralization of power. Many noble families were long-established and influential, and the king was more like the leader of the nobles than their master.
Perhaps only France, under the centralized rule of Louis XVI, is an exception in this regard.
"...James, this is a gift for the King, so time is tight. I need you to make at least one hundred finished products within a month!"
Chen Wenbin instructed, "Also, the ball bearings must be processed as soon as possible. The spring-loaded carriages of the King, Queen, and Queen Mother require these bearings!"
"Yes, Your Excellency!" Merlin quickly perked up and said, "I guarantee I'll get everything done before you depart!"
Seeing this, Chen Wenbin smiled and offered a few words of encouragement, but in his heart, he lowered his level of trust in him by one level.
James Merlin, being of English descent, was naturally less reliable than the German William Marcus in this respect.
Perhaps only when the students in the school grow up will he be able to gain a group of truly trustworthy subordinates.
But these subordinates were not his compatriots who shared the same blood... This made him think of a guy named Henry Courtes that Captain Charles House had mentioned in a letter four days ago.
The man was the son of a director of the British East India Company. Upon hearing about a method to prevent scurvy, he immediately took a fast ship from England to Newport and found Captain Charles House of the Royal Navy, hoping to obtain the research results...
If Chen Wenbin wants to obtain immigration from China, he probably has no choice but to seek help from the East India Company now!
After leaving the machinery factory, Chen Wenbin and several guards, including Anthony, went to the chemical plant next door.
The main products of the chemical plant are not white phosphorus and red phosphorus, nor sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid, but sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash, which is used to make transparent glass.
The reason is simple: the raw materials for white phosphorus and red phosphorus require a large amount of animal bone meal, but the scale of livestock farming in Providence is not large, and no calcium fluorophosphate ore has been found nearby, so the industrialization of red phosphorus matches can only be postponed.
The glass manufacturing industry, however, is currently a blue ocean market. From the simplest civilian window glass, cans, and tableware, to mirrors that still have great market potential, and then to advanced laboratory glassware and optical telescopes and microscopes, high-quality glass is always indispensable.
Therefore, Chen Wenbin is already considering whether to change the development direction of the chemical plant to the soda ash industry and the downstream glass and optics industry... The market prospects of this industry are much broader than those of the phosphate industry!
Brunner Mond Company, which monopolized the pure alkali industry through the Solvay process in the second half of the 19th century, made a fortune.
Chen Wenbin had learned the chemical principle behind it in junior high school chemistry class. It was not complicated; it was simply a matter of using salt, ammonia, and limestone to produce it through a chemical reaction.
However, he hasn't revealed it yet, and is still using the method of burning wood ash to obtain alkaline water... The profits involved in this technology are too great, and he has enough money to live on for now, so it's not the time to reveal the technology.
Before evening, Chen Wenbin toured the remaining blast furnace area, forging area, shipyard dock, and timber drying plant of the ironworks, providing solutions to some problems, but not interfering too much with the more detailed aspects.
After all, he is only one person, and his energy and time are limited. He can only focus on promoting the most critical work. As for other things, once the management system and technical roadmap are set, he just needs to grasp the general direction. If he tries to interfere in every little thing, he will definitely be exhausted in the end.
……
Two days later, at the hunting grounds northwest of Robin Manor, near the forest.
Chen Wenbin rode a tall black Quarter horse, raised his Robin rifle, aimed at a wild rabbit about eighty meters away, and pulled the trigger!
"……Bang!"
The hare was hit by a lead bullet, fell headfirst, and its legs twitched twice before the pain ended.
"...Well done, Robin!"
"A perfect shot!"
Beside Chen Wenbin, two other gentlemen, also mounted on horseback and armed with guns, cheered upon seeing this, one with a genuine tone of praise and the other with aristocratic reserve.
They were the guests at Robin Manor today—Charles House, a former customs commissioner at Newport Harbor and an old friend of Chen Wenbin, and Henry Courts from London.
"Thanks!"
Following the aristocratic social etiquette he had learned from Diana, Chen Wenbin nodded slightly in thanks to the two men, then tucked the rifle into the holster in front of the right saddle, took out another rifle from it, and shook his head, saying:
"Loading a rifled rifle is much more difficult than loading a smoothbore rifle, so it can only be used for hunting or dealing with a single enemy. Large-scale operations must use smoothbore rifles, which are less prone to errors!"
Therefore, I am considering inventing a new bullet suitable for rifled guns, which might change this!
Upon hearing this, Charles House couldn't help but laugh and said, "Robin! If you can really make loading a rifled gun as easy as loading a smoothbore gun, then you're going to change the nature of warfare!"
It's important to know that rifled guns generally have twice the range of smoothbore guns. If their failure rate could be reduced, line infantry tactics might become obsolete!
Judging from his tone, he seemed to have no belief that Chen Wenbin could do it... It took two hundred years for the Spanish phalanx to evolve into line infantry. How could military technology change so quickly?
Henry Coates, a man in his early thirties with a pale Anglo-Saxon face, shook his head and smiled. "Mr. Senator, I look forward to your new invention. The Royal Military Academy will certainly be interested."
But before we discuss your new invention, shouldn't we talk about your trip to the UK?
As you should know, the East India Company takes your discovery very seriously!