The four-wheeled carriage on the first drawing was very beautiful. With Yan Liqiang's excellent painting skills, he only needed a few strokes to make a luxurious and beautiful four-wheeled carriage come to life on the paper.
Yan Liqiang drew the four-wheeled carriage on the first drawing directly according to the four-wheeled carriage that European nobles used to travel in the past, which he still remembered in his mind. The spacious and bright carriage, the carriage doors that opened like doors, the carriage steps and stools for passengers to get on and off conveniently, the two horse lanterns on the left and right sides of the coachman's position in the front of the carriage, and the luggage racks on the top and back of the carriage all came to life on the paper, making people's hearts beat at the first sight.
Not to mention anything else, because of the unique characteristics of the four-wheeled carriage, the carriage's compartment is as spacious as a house. Compared with such a four-wheeled carriage, all the two-wheeled carriages in the entire Han Empire, even the "luxury car" that Manager You gave to Yan Liqiang when he returned to Ganzhou from the Imperial Capital, instantly became extremely simple. It is no exaggeration to say that the comparison between a two-wheeled carriage and a four-wheeled carriage is like the comparison between a motorcycle and a Maybach.
Qian Su opened his mouth in astonishment. After looking at the first picture for a few seconds, he looked at the second picture below.
The second picture shows the structure of a four-wheeled carriage. On both sides of the carriage are bright windows. In the carriage, there are two spacious seats as big as sofas facing each other. They look extremely comfortable. Even though Qian Su has never sat in such a carriage, he was attracted by the design at just one glance.
Due to the limited space in the carriages, it was impossible to move such comfortable seats into the narrow and cramped space of all the two-wheeled carriages of the entire Han Empire. The two-wheeled carriages were filled with small benches or wooden boards fixed inside the carriages. The so-called luxury was at most just a little fur padding on the benches and boards. Some carriages exclusively for women, for the sake of comfort, directly put a soft couch for lying down or sitting cross-legged. In terms of comfort, of course, it was not as comfortable as the picture drawn on paper by Yan Liqiang.
"Is this... a four-wheeled carriage?" Qian Su looked at the two drawings, then at Yan Liqiang, with surprise flashing in his eyes.
"Yes!" Yan Liqiang said with a smile, "Isn't this obvious?"
Qian Su smiled bitterly, "I have to say, Li Qiang, your drawing is really good, but this four-wheeled carriage is simply not good. If a four-wheeled carriage could be made so easily, I'm afraid all the carriages in the world would be four-wheeled carriages!"
Yan Liqiang pretended to be curious and asked, "Oh, why is it so difficult to make this four-wheeled carriage?"
"It's actually very simple to make, but this four-wheeled carriage is not very practical. Why is it not practical? Because the four wheels of this four-wheeled carriage are fixed to the body of the carriage. Once it starts moving, it can't turn at all!" Qian Su pointed at the four wheels of the four-wheeled carriage drawn by Yan Liqiang and said, "So now two-wheeled carriages are popular all over the world, because two-wheeled carriages can turn very conveniently on the road, and a coachman can control it. I heard that there are four-wheeled carriages in the Imperial Capital. It is the emperor's throne, but the emperor only sits on it very rarely, and he can only go for a distance on the straight official road. If you want to turn around, a lot of people have to go to the trouble of untying the horses and lifting the carriage. It's too troublesome..."
"What if I could fix the steering problem of the wagon?"
"Ah, how is it possible..." Qian Su said habitually without even thinking...
Yan Liqiang smiled and handed the third sketch he had drawn to Qian Su. The third sketch he had drawn was the structural diagram of the bogie connecting the front and rear wheels at the bottom of the four-wheeled carriage.
As soon as Qian Su saw the picture that Yan Liqiang brought over, his eyes widened instantly. Within a few seconds, his hands holding the picture began to tremble slightly with excitement.
Seeing Qian Su's look, Yan Liqiang sighed. The principle of a four-wheeled carriage is not complicated to explain. It is just a layer of window paper. As long as it is broken, everyone will understand it at a glance. Qian Su said before that the four-wheeled carriage cannot turn. That is because everyone is accustomed to installing the four wheels on the same fixed frame. Therefore, it is very difficult to turn such a four-wheeled carriage. It is not practical. In his previous life, there was a four-wheeled carriage in the famous "Along the River During the Qingming Festival", but that kind of four-wheeled carriage was a load-bearing vehicle pulled by oxen. All the turns were completed by the oxen pulling the carriage in front with their strength. Such four-wheeled ox carts were still used in rural areas in China even before liberation.
To solve the steering problem of a four-wheeled carriage, it is very simple. Just break through the limitations and inertia of thinking, install the front and rear wheels on two different frames, and then connect the two frames with a vertical hard axle. In this way, the problem of four-wheel steering can be easily solved. This is the bogie of the carriage.
Yan Liqiang had thought about making a four-wheeled carriage before, but at that time, the conditions were not ripe and there was not much significance in making it, so he did not do it. This time, on the way back to Ganzhou, after Yan Liqiang had been bumpy for tens of thousands of miles in the two-wheeled carriage, he finally learned his lesson and decided to make a four-wheeled carriage to benefit people all over the world.
Food, clothing, housing and transportation are all the most profitable and in-demand businesses. Once this four-wheeled carriage is made, Yan Liqiang has no doubt that it will become popular all over the world. As the creator of the four-wheeled carriage, even if he cannot monopolize all the four-wheeled carriages, but with his fame, as long as he occupies the most high-end part of the four-wheeled carriages, there will be a steady stream of profits and money rolling in to him. At the same time, he can also use this to cultivate his own power.
In addition, the biggest advantage of a four-wheeled carriage over an ordinary two-wheeled carriage is that it has a strong load capacity, which can greatly improve the carrying capacity of the carriage. For an individual, this four-wheeled carriage is not very meaningful, but for a country like the Han Empire that mainly relies on land transportation to complete the circulation of goods, it has extraordinary significance - the convenience and efficiency of land transportation will first reduce the logistics and transportation costs of goods, and facilitate the circulation and migration of goods and people in a large area. In this way, commerce can be greatly developed. With the development of commerce, handicrafts will also develop and prosper, and there will be demand and motivation for the improvement of production technology, which will bring about a series of changes...
Of course, if you want to make a high-end four-wheeled carriage, it is not enough to just have a bogie. Anyone can tell how to make the bogie at a glance.
Therefore, Yan Liqiang then handed Qian Su a picture. In that picture, Yan Liqiang designed a coil spring for shock absorption at the bottom of the carriage and the connection between the rear axle...
"What...are these circles?" Qian Su asked in amazement as he looked at the picture.
“This thing is called a spring!”
"Spring..." Qian Su repeated, apparently still a little confused about what a spring is. "What is this thing used for?"
"It can be soft or hard, big or small, stretch or shrink..." After saying this, seeing Qian Su's strange expression, Yan Liqiang suddenly reacted, "Ahem, Uncle Qian, don't get the wrong idea. This thing is used to reduce the shock of the carriage while it is moving and increase the comfort of the carriage. You will know when it is built!"
Qian Su laughed, "Do you know how to make this thing?"
"Of course!" Yan Liqiang looked at Qian Su seriously, with a look of reminiscence on his face, "I had another dream a few days ago. In that dream, the immortal grandfather who once taught me how to save people taught me how to make a spring!"
In an era without springs, springs are definitely "high-tech" products. And because of their special production process, Yan Liqiang can completely control the production process of springs in his own hands, so that others can see them but cannot make them in a short time. In this way, the gap between the four-wheeled carriages they produce and those produced by others can be widened, and the status of "luxury cars" produced by Ganzhou Manufacturing Bureau in this era can be established...
The Rolls-Royce among the four-wheeled carriages produced by Yan’s is not a dream…
Qian Su suddenly looked at Yan Liqiang eagerly, "Liqiang, can I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it, Uncle Qian?"
"Can you talk to that immortal grandfather? In my dream, I welcome him to come anytime. Really, I have a strong desire to learn from such a master since I was a child. I hope he can teach me a few tricks!"
(End of this chapter)