Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 268 The World's First Car

  Red River Valley University

  This is a beautiful campus located on the banks of the Baixi River, surrounded by green trees with red walls and tiles, overhanging eaves, and architectural carvings with strong Chinese ethnic characteristics, full of ancient oriental charm.

As a private university, Li Fushou, Earl of Queensland, personally served as the chairman of the school and poured a lot of funds into the construction of the school. He allocated more than 300,000 pounds each year to build this institution of higher learning and hired famous professors from all over the world to teach. The results are outstanding.

Since appointing the famous educator Mr. Ma Xiangbo as the president of Red River Valley University, the university has newly added the College of Humanities, and the related history majors, Chinese majors, archeology majors, language and culture and education majors have gradually developed and become the liberal arts majors of Red River Valley University. Outstanding, professional signboard with oriental characteristics.

Red River Valley University has been focusing on the development of science majors, especially mathematics, physics, chemistry, engine design and manufacturing, ship design and manufacturing, communication and power transmission and transformation. Of the world-renowned professors, and their teaching level is quite high.

  In a quiet experimental base of the university

There is a small square in front of the classical building with three stories up and down. A strange-looking car is parked on the square made of slabs of stone. Next to it is a group of criticizing scholars and professors. Among them, a tall young man is Li Fushou. Also stand in the crowd to participate in enthusiastic discussions.

  "The four-wheeled vehicle made by the engine system is really ugly. I think it is a wagon with a steering wheel. Oh... by the way, there is also a diesel engine that smokes suddenly. I doubt its practicality."

"This four-wheeler...Oh, please forgive me, Lord Earl's new name is called that~"car". I really don't think it's comfortable without a carriage. The workmanship is simple and rough, it looks like a rigid pile of machinery, and it needs improvement. Too much."

  "I think this is a very interesting machine. It saves the work of serving horses, no need to prepare black beans and fodder for it, and it saves the cost of hiring a horseman."

  "I object to your opinion. Although black beans and grass fodder are not needed, the diesel engine needs to burn diesel. You have to go to the department store to buy diesel every day with an iron can. This expenditure is not a lot of money at all."

   "It's a new thing anyway, it's worth studying."

Li Fushou was still holding his arms and looking at the world’s first four-wheeled car with a smile. The maturity is far better than that of the car made by Karl Benz alone. The reliability and practicality are even more different. language.

  This car still looks like a carriage. The two wheels in the front are smaller, and the two wheels in the back are larger. It has four seats in the front and two in the rear.

  A 0.8-liter light diesel engine is placed in the front of the car. The power is directly output to the two rear wheels through a steel chain. There is no clutch or gearbox. The horn is sounded through a pneumatic copper horn, which is simply like a four-wheeled bicycle.

  When the car is started, it is through the front steel crank. Before the starter is invented, this thing will take at least several decades.

The biggest innovation and bright spot is on the steering wheel. The professors of the engine department designed the horizontal pull arm and the straight pull arm under the steering wheel through ingenious ideas, and connected them with a ball lock pin. These designs are close to the steering principle of later cars. It's just becoming silly, big and clumsy, and it needs some improvement.

"Joe, I think your design is very good. Just cover it with a beautiful shell and add a windshield. I think it is a very eye-catching travel tool. At least those nobles who like to be curious are very interested." Li Fushou embraced his arms and made a very pertinent evaluation.

Nowadays

  No one can predict how popular the automobile will be in later generations, what a huge industrial chain will be created, the huge wealth of gold and silver, and even become the economic pillar of the world's major powers.

French professor Joe Neville is a fat middle-aged man with round glasses. He is dressed in coarse work clothes. His hands are covered with oily black and gray. He is crazy obsessed with mechanical design. He is a skilled mechanical design. Teacher, but not good at talking.

  Only when you talk about your mechanical profession, you will open the chatterbox and talk endlessly. The wide range of knowledge is amazing.

  "Thank you for your praise, Lord Lord." Joe Neville's face was a little red, and his expression still seemed restrained.

  Beside him stood several Chinese students with the same black hands. This is an assistant to Professor Joe Neville’s research group and also a senior student in the engine department.

   "How did this car run in your test?" Li Fushou knelt down and looked at the chassis carefully, and asked aloud.

"Your Honorable Lord, we ran more than 2,000 miles on this car on a trial basis, found dozens of problems and made improvements, and more improvements are needed in the future." Speaking of the car, Professor Joneville immediately Opened the chatterbox and introduced endlessly;

  "At first, we used the ready-made frame of the carriage and then installed the diesel engine. Soon we encountered the power output problem. How to smoothly output the power of the diesel engine to the wheels?

  We got inspiration from bicycles and designed a scheme to transmit power by chain, which perfectly solved this problem.

  But during the actual driving on the road, there were frequent failures, and even the copper tubing was broken, and the entire frame was deformed.

  For this we had to stop and redesign the entire frame.

After cooperating with the professors of the Department of Physics, considering the force and twisting force, we designed a new combined frame with "I" beam and "U" beam, which is not only light in weight, but also highly resistant to twisting. And anti-fatigue performance, once again solved this obstacle.

Later, we found in experiments that the steering of a walking tractor greatly affects the feeling of control, and it is impossible to sit on a person in the front row. The huge front wheel not only affects the line of sight but also makes it difficult to steer. A strong young man can't control it. For too long, the heavy and heavy machine will be exhausted and panting in half an hour.

To this end, we designed more than ten improvement plans, which lasted more than three months to demonstrate, and finally completely overturned the original design, adopted a completely innovative steering wheel steering structure, and reduced the front wheel of the car, which solved this problem well. .

on the basis of

  We adopted the leaf spring and damping spring scheme of the carriage, and carried out a moderate optimization, which greatly reduced the bumps of the vehicle during driving and increased the reliability.

  We have added a rubber cushion to the rigid connection between the diesel engine and the frame to reduce the resonance of copper tubing and other parts, and set a ball lock pin for the steering mechanism, and use butter for lubrication to reduce the wear of the steering mechanism.

  We also heightened the chimney of the diesel engine to prevent black smoke from hitting our faces when we opened it up. That is really a very painful thing...

  Li Fushou listened carefully to Professor Joe Neville’s explanation and nodded in appreciation.

Unlike Karl Benz who made a car in his home warehouse alone, this research project designated by the Lord of Queensland allocated a large amount of research funds for in-depth research. The world's first car has a high degree of maturity and has a very high degree of maturity. Strong practicality.

  Although the four wheels adopt the scheme of small front and large rear, they use the most advanced air tires and reinforced wheels in the world, and the comfort is greatly improved.

  Although there are still many flaws in the entire frame, it is already a remarkable improvement for this era and cannot ask for more.

"Joe, this prototype car looks very good overall, but I always feel that the front and rear wheels are different in size and a bit awkward." Li Fushou stood up and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help commenting; "Moreover, this seat is set up. The front is low and the rear is high. It is also related to the high rear wheels. It feels unstable when turning sharply and the center of gravity is too high. It is better to change this design and change it to 4 wheels of the same size. It will be much better. save costs."

  Li Fushou is the investor and chief designer of the entire automobile project. This guy is thinking of the resounding title of "Father of Automobiles" in his heart, and he is not prepared to give up this honor in his heart.

Perhaps a hundred years later, when people remember themselves, they will use great pioneers, founders and guides of Chinese overseas establishment, politicians, philanthropists, financiers, educators, inventors and practitioners of advanced technology. Name it by stringing gold signs.

  That...the capitalists don't need it, this is not a good word.

It’s already a lot of honors to count. The construction of the world’s first hydroelectric power station, the organization of the research and development of a series of new diesel engines, the invention of gas tanks and gas stoves, the invention of air tires and the world’s first automobile are all worthy of a big book. The shining point of the special book.

   Therefore, Li Fushou has to make more or less substantial contributions to the research and development of the world's first car, and control the overall direction.

  As for the specific technical details, let the professionals solve it.

  Li Fushou was very familiar with cars in his previous life, but he only met to refuel. He didn't understand the specific mechanical principles and structures, so he had to have professionals.

  But Li Fushou can put forward some very pertinent opinions and make a substantial contribution to perfecting the world's first car. He is worthy of the title of chief designer. All scholars and professors present can prove it instead of being untrue.

   "Joe, I think you can add a bar in front of the axle to prevent it from hitting a tree and ruining the engine. It takes time and effort to repair."

   "Well...Also, the place where the two lanterns are designed in the front must be designed firmly and not upside down. Um... It is good to put it in this position, so that if you have to drive at night, you can see the road."

  "The horse lantern is the kind of ordinary kerosene lamp. You can design a reflector at the back to let the light shine on the road forward, yes, yes...just like a lampshade."

  “There is also a mirror for it in this place. I call it a rear-view mirror, so that you can observe the surroundings while sitting in the car. If there are carriage pedestrians or children, you can see it more clearly.”

"Joe, your seat is too hard and uncomfortable. I need the kind of seat wrapped in thick sponge. If this kind of car is introduced to the market, it will definitely be bought by rich and leisurely nobles. I will consider using premium leather. Sewing the seat with a thick sponge padded inside will make it more comfortable. Don't worry, someone will pay for it."

  ...

  Li Fushou said in a gesture of opinion for a long time, and the students of the research team on the side took pens and wrote them all in the notebook. The words of Lord Earl are more important than the professor, and will be implemented as the next key improvement point.

At this time, a professor leaned forward and said, "My Honorable Lord, I always feel that this machine is too ugly. It should be designed by an architect or artist with aesthetic skills to present a noble and elegant style. The distinctive temperament of aristocrats."

"Well, it makes sense. The two categories of architecture and art are the blanks of Red River Valley University. It happened to take advantage of the opportunity to hold the Red River Valley Cup World Architect Design Grand Prix this time to hire several world-renowned architects as guest professors. For example, Mr. Eiffel, who designed the iron tower, built the discipline of Red River Valley University." Li Fushou very much agreed with the professor's opinion and directly applauded.

  (End of this chapter)