The Mechanical Era

Chapter 205 Testing The Parts

30th of Sunt, 5018.

Ezekiel walked down the street while talking to a co-worker. They had met up on the tram ride, on the way to the testing site. It had been 12 days since they presented their wooden models, to be assembled into one large train.

When it was made clear that it was good to go, the managers sent the blueprints to a few firms to build the necessary components. They have been informed that they have been completed just 2 days ago, and were sent to the office yesterday. Today, they will test the components they have designed, to see if they hold up.

The two enter the testing field, which was a new building constructed by the palace, specifically for testing these things. It was a large compound made of bricks, sealed away by a large wall. They walked up to the gate and presented the passcode to enter.

When they enter, they were introduced to a long railway, build on top of wooden sleepers and steel rails on the open field. The two assumed that was where they will be building the final product. The two engineers then headed inside the room, where they were greeted by the manager.

"Welcome, you two! You are the last ones to get here. Now, may I name your names?" the manager asks.

"Ezekiel. Ezekiel Beserk, sir."

"I see. Thank you. You must head to room 12. We have provided you with the instruments that you need to test out your component," the manager informed.

"Thank you, sir," Ezekiel replied before he went on his way. The manager then turned to the co-worker.

"Now, as for you?"

"Jordi. Jordi Cooper, sir."

"Ah. Jordi. Yes, head to room 3. You will help out with the boiler."

"Alright. Thank you, sir."

Jordi walked over to room 3, which was relatively close by. There, he found a bunch of Mechanical Engineers, setting things up to conduct the tests of the boiler. One of them turned around and asked him to come help. Without hesitation, he agreed.

Jordi was in a rather strange room. The room itself was separated in two, by a large wall with a solid glass window on it. On the other side where the engineers were setting up, was a large steel boiler, with a firebox and some other components.

The boiler itself had been connected to a pressure gauge, which was a tool that was used to measure the pressure inside of anything. Their job here is to use the pressure gauge, to see how much pressure the boiler could withstand before blowing up.

Now, obviously, since it would be impractical to have the boiler completely blow up, causing harm to the engineers themselves, instead, there was a cap attached to the boiler, a bit weaker than the others. This way, when the pressure builds up to the point that it won't be able to hold, the smaller cap would go off, while leaving the larger boiler intact.

"Alright. Everything has been set up. Now, let's do this." one of the engineers replied. They quickly filled in the boiler with water, then activated the firebox using coal. They then retreated back to the other room, where they were safe from the boiler, and examined it.

They kept on increasing the coal quantity by using more coal in the firebox, using the help of a few conveyor belts. Once the cap explodes, sending the lid into the air, they record the pressure, put on another cap, and start the experiment again.

Meanwhile, in room 12, Ezekiel examines the steel cylinder presented on the table. Using a few tools that he brought, he disassembled the component itself, to see if it was up to his standards, while the other engineers just watched.

"Is everything alright, Ezekiel?" one of his co-workers asked.

"Hm... Impressive. They have done a good job. Alright. We can set up the indicator diagram," he replied.

An indicator diagram, originally developed by James Watt and his employee John Southern, now reinvented by Kant, had brought a new way to test out the Horsepower of the steam engines.

It was a device that consists of a piston that is connected to a special mechanical pen. As the piston moves in response to changes in pressure inside the cylinder, the pen will move to trace a line on a sheet of paper. Using that, they can determine whether it produced enough output to be viable.

The mechanical engineers first attached the indicators to the cylinder. Then, they attached the cylinder to the small boiler, which they used to power up the steam engine in the first place.  The water inside the boiler was then heated and boiled, allowing the cylinder to activate.  Once the cylinder was running smoothly, they took measurements with the indicator.

They made sure to get a few of these diagrams. Due to their rather poor skill, a lot of the diagrams came out with inaccurate results, forcing them to repeat them over and over again. Once they did have a few good diagrams, they started to calculate the horsepower.

...

The sun was finally setting. The engineers, after being trapped in their rooms for days on end, came out of the testing rooms and handed over the results. Though they were done for the day, the testing was said to be conducted for a week, before there was an attempt at construction.

"Jordi! How did it go?" asked the project manager.

"It went well, sir. The boiler appears to be much stronger than anticipated."

"That is good. Make sure you come a little earlier tomorrow, alright? I know you were not late, but you don't want to keep your co-workers waiting, alright?"

"Alright, sir. I will," Jordi replied, before leaving.

"Ezekiel! How was the test? Did it reach the adequate horsepower?" asked the manager.

"Yes sir. If I remember correctly, his majesty wanted us to reach about 100 horsepower at the least."

"And..."

"Well... I am glad to inform you that, so far, we have managed to calculate an average of 60 horsepower on the cylinder. Considering there are two cylinders, it would lead to the train ending up having 120 horsepower in total," Ezekiel replied.

"That is wonderful! Well done, Ezekiel. His Majesty will be extremely pleased." the manager replied.

"Thank you. Now, may I please leave? I need to head back home soon."

"Alright. You shall. Just make sure to come back a little earlier tomorrow. Don't want to keep your co-workers waiting!"

"Alright, sir. I will."