"What is this?" Nightingale asked, looking at the shiny black stone on the table.
"Obsidian." Roland didn't lift his head, and concentrated on drawing the blueprint in his hand.
"Black... what stone?"
"No, I'm talking nonsense." He sighed, just looking at the shape and color, the ghost knows what kind of stone this is. He didn't study geological prospecting, and even pure metal could not be distinguished in front of him, let alone ore. The only bit of knowledge in his head was telling him that most of the ores were compounds with complex compositions, and the impurities had different colors. Take iron ore as an example. Hematite, pyrite, and siderite are all based on their appearance. It can be called a difference of thousands of miles, especially pyrite, which sometimes has a light yellow metallic luster, and is often mistaken for gold, so it also has the nickname of fool's gold.
As for high temperature resistance... The compound itself does not have a fixed melting point, it is also related to impurities and components, and the temperature alone cannot distinguish its varieties. Moreover, metal elements exist in an ionic state, and it is useless to burn them without knowing the purification method.
"Is there something you don't know?" Nightingale asked in surprise.
"There's more," Roland put down the quill and made himself a cup of black tea, "Do you want to drink it?"
"No," she waved her hand, "by the way, beef jerky is not as good as grilled fish fillets. You should keep fish fillets in your drawer in the future."
"..." Roland was silent for a moment, and decided to pretend he didn't hear this sentence. He also intends to throw this stone to the chief alchemist Kemo Strell to deal with. The minerals are more or less radioactive, and it is not a good choice to use as a decoration in the office.
After Soraya's ability evolved recently, he found that there were suddenly a lot more things that he could make.
The first is the water system, which can greatly improve the happiness of residents. When you think about it, coming home in sweat after a busy day, trying to wash off the sticky body, only to find that the water tank is empty, and to go to a nearby well to fetch water, this must be a terrible feeling. Moreover, Roland is also very tired of the process of scooping water from the water tank to wash his face and wash his hands. He always feels that the water can grow parasites after a few days in the water tank, not to mention that the water tank is rarely cleaned once a month. Look carefully. If you arrive, you can also see the scale deposited on the bottom of the tank fluttering like caterpillars.
If the water tower is used for water supply, there is no technical difficulty to use the steam engine to pump the water from the Chishui River into the water tower, and then rely on the siphon principle to flow into each household along the pipeline, forming an automatic water supply system. The reason Roland hasn't put it into practice is because of the... material.
The water supply pipes are either made of iron or copper. If the iron pipes are not treated with anti-rust treatment, they will be scrapped after a few years of use. The copper pipe is a perfect water supply pipe. It is corrosion-resistant, non-scaling on the inner wall, non-toxic, and even the copper ion has a bactericidal effect. The output of the North Slope Mine is far from luxurious. Even in later generations, copper water pipes will only be considered by high-end residences.
At present, Border Town is not only unable to export minerals, but even imports metal ingots. Therefore, regardless of whether it was an iron pipe or a copper pipe, Roland was reluctant to use it to create a water supply system that could not benefit and was purely for enjoyment.
But now it's different. With Soraya's coating, it means that he can use the white wolf with no gloves to produce water pipes. For example, take an iron pipe as a mold, wrap it with paper, and then let Soraya cover it. layer, which becomes a pipe after being pulled out of the mold. Even if such a water pipe is not pressure-resistant, it only needs to be placed in a water pipe trench with a cover plate.
The second is the power supply system... I'm afraid it won't be able to popularize the whole town in a short time, but making the castle full of light has always been what Roland wants to achieve. Reading a book with a faint candle is too painful, and it is very harmful to the eyes. What does it feel like to be full of torches and candles on a sweltering night last summer
With generators and wires now in place, it doesn't seem that far off to bring the castle early into the electrical age. As for the filament of the light bulb... He vaguely remembered that before the use of tungsten filament, people generally used carbonized bamboo filament to make incandescent lamps. Bamboo is not a rarity, it exists in the woodland south of Chishui River.
However, what Border Town needs most at the moment is iron smelting facilities. The output of iron is directly related to the scale of machinery production and weapon manufacturing, and is also the foundation of the town's survival.
"This is... a tower you drew?" Nightingale asked curiously, sitting at the table.
"Almost," Roland nodded, "but it's empty inside, used to fill fuel and ore. It works like a shaft furnace and can smelt iron ore into pig iron."
This is an upgraded version of the ancient shaft furnace of the blast furnace.
He once went to the construction site to watch the shaft furnace designed and manufactured by Losya. To be honest, apart from the small capacity and low furnace temperature, the structure of this furnace is very close to that of the blast furnace. If it weren't for the evolution of Soraya, the town had With the ability to produce refractory bricks, he had planned to build more than a dozen such shaft furnaces.
But with refractory bricks, it is natural to consider a blast furnace with a higher furnace temperature and a larger output.
The height of the newly designed blast furnace is nearly eight meters, which is four times that of the shaft furnace. The furnace body is tower-shaped, and the maximum inner diameter is three meters. The furnace wall is thin at the top and thick at the bottom, and the thickness of the belly is half a meter. The innermost layer is made of fire-resistant bricks coated with Soraya brand. At the same time, there is a circle of air supply holes, and the steam engine draws air into the belly.
In order to make full use of the power of the steam engine, Roland also designed a set of automatic feeding equipment for the blast furnace, including a climbing rail and a special feeding car with a movable door at the bottom. After the trolley climbs to the top of the furnace under the traction of the steam engine, the buckle at the bottom of the car will be hooked into the hook, so that the pouring port is opened and the fuel or ore is poured into the furnace. For this era, the system has been regarded as the top technology.
Unlike shaft furnaces with large openings and low heat, once the blast furnace is put into production, it will not stop for a long time. As long as five or six such blast furnaces are built, the town's pig iron production will be multiplied.
…
After drawing all the drawings, Roland rubbed his numb wrist, took out a box from under the table, and pushed it in front of her.
Nightingale was startled, "This is...?"
"Well... I planned to give it to you earlier, but it took a while to engrave the patterns. After all, I'm not very skilled in using those machines in the factory," Roland smiled, "Open it and take a look."
She reached out to open the box and couldn't help but let out an exclamation.
I saw that there were two revolvers staggered left and right inside. They were different from the prototype gun Carter used on the day of the test. The two pistols were shiny silver, and the surface was bright enough to reflect the silhouette of people. The handle and gun body were engraved with exquisite patterns. , the barrel also bears Nightingale's name: To Veronica.
This plan has been brewing in Roland's head for a long time. Compared with the front-loaded flintlock gun which is inconvenient to carry and use, the newly developed revolver has been quite perfect, and both safety and firing rate are maintained at a high level. As a witch with high mobility like Nightingale, what kind of power a firearm can exert in her hands, it is exciting to think about it.
"Thank you," she smiled and picked up two pistols, jumped off the table, and gestured to shoot, "Will you teach me how to use them?"
"Of course," Roland nodded, the other party's pure white assassin and a dazzling smile made him instantly understand what it means to be handsome without friends, "It's not difficult, just sneak up to the target, pull the trigger, and at the same time Just shout that noon has come." (.)