Struggle in the Steam Age - Chapter 662

There is a huge difference between planning and actual operation in many things in the world, especially when the planner and the manipulator are not alone.

According to the engineer who led Lawrence, there has been a lot of chaos in the entire area since the mine opened.

For example, the first batch of steam-powered machinery was sent over last year, but the problem is that those machines that were unaware that they were transported from a local mine did not have any targeted cold-proof design at all.

As a result, a series of problems similar to bursts of water pipes, insufficient heating of the boiler, and even cracks in the steel appeared shortly after the start-up. In the end, they had to trouble them to pull the broken machines back.

After all, the entire Briton has no experience in mining in this kind of alpine region, although there are many colonies in this country and there are also coal mines. But those coal mines are more in the tropical or temperate zone, so naturally they lack experience and equipment in this area.

However, for reasons of interest, it was impossible for the shareholders of Briton to purchase the equipment of the Rurik Kingdom, which was good at constructing various projects in the alpine region. As a result, the situation naturally became like this.

“What are those things?” Just when everyone talked about the guys who were sitting in the luxurious office of Briton and doing nothing, Lawrence found something very interesting.

In the direction of Lawrence’s finger, some people were dumping piles of black things into a large pit in a wagon by wagon, as if they were throwing away rubbish.

“Those should be the broken coal that appeared when mining coal mines.” The engineer glanced at it and said.

“Our coal mines mainly use blasting and manual mining methods, so that when a large amount of coal is produced, a large amount of pulverized coal will be produced. However, because pulverized coal is not only unsellable, it is also dangerous—”

The Commonwealth or the Old Continent, because the coal mines are very close to the places of consumption. So these powdered coals will also be used.

For example, the raw materials used to produce gas in gas plants are often these cheap powdered coals, and the steam engines of some small factories also use fuel that is not so easy to use but cheap enough.

But on this desolate island, the above two methods of using powdered coal are meaningless. Because there are too few people, there is no gas generating station that can only be found in modern cities on this island.

For the same reason, the demand for thermal coal in this area is almost zero, and so much powdered coal cannot be consumed at all.

As for shipping these things out is not a good idea. The northern route itself has limited transportation volume, so good anthracite transportation is already the lower limit of profit for this route.

For those cargo ships, they will try their best to ship more valuable cargo in the tonnage, rather than the pulverized coal that is used at most in the mainland.

“What’s worse is that once these powdered coals accumulate too much, they will burn themselves. Therefore, we often screen out the powdered coals and small coal lumps that cannot be sold at the coal mine side, and then select them. Throw it here.”

When the engineer found Lawrence was curious about these things, he took him to the big hole over there and introduced him at the same time. “Some locals will take advantage of the snow on one side to drag some sleds back to burn them. Otherwise, these things are thrown here.”

“Seriously, these things are some fuel at any rate. It is a waste to throw them away in this cold place.” Lawrence sighed quietly as he watched the three or four people below who used shovel to load loose coal into the sledge partition.

Because there are very few coal mines on the island of New Sauer, most of the fuel on the island now needs to be imported, so after seeing this waste of fuel, it will naturally feel a pity in my heart.

“It’s a bit wasteful, but there is no alternative.” The coal mine engineer also said helplessly.

“In fact, the demand for these fuels in this area is not large because of the relatively low temperature, but it is not very small. But the problem is that the bulk coal is not easy to transport, and it is difficult for the locals to accept it if the freight is added. .”

“I read the report before, and it seems that you have done something in this regard to minimize the waste of raw materials.” Viscount Surrey looked at the engineer and said

. “The report says that you seem to have made some breakthroughs in this area—”

“We can now make this kind of artificial coal.” The engineer nodded and said, and then led them to a building not far from the pit with gray smoke from the chimney. In a small two-story building.

“This is our collective kitchen. It is obviously inappropriate for workers to cook by themselves and it is difficult to ensure food safety.”

The engineer pointed to the burning boiler furnace inside and said. “The new products we have developed before are put here as fuel for these boilers.”

“Isn’t you burning coal in your furnace? There is no difference from the past except that it is more uniform than ordinary coal.” After a glance through the furnace door that was opened because it was being loaded, Viscount Surrey looked a little bit Asked puzzled.

Because in his eyes, those hearths are all the size of walnuts, turning into red-red lumps because of burning. It does not seem to be much different from the raw coal that was directly burned in the past.

“No, my Viscount, these things are not raw coal after being broken.” The engineer shook his head and said.

Then he took a piece of fuel from the pile of fuel next to him and walked out of the room, and then through the sunlight, like Lawrence, they showed what the new type of fuel he was talking about was.

“This is indeed not raw coal.” With the sunlight outside, they discovered that the walnut-sized fuel in the engineer’s hand was actually a spherical shape that was obviously not naturally formed.

After careful observation, they found that the black sphere has a black and bright appearance, but the surface is not very smooth.

After weighing it in his hand at the same time, Lawrence realized that the density of this thing was lower than that of coal mines, so it shouldn’t be the raw coal that was carved into the way it is now.

“This is a coal mine that we made artificially with coal powder.” After Lawrence and the others had all experienced these briquettes up close, the engineer seemed quite proud to say.

“This kind of artificial coal can be formed after a part of coal powder and cinder are glued together with mud and dried. Although it is not qualified for steam coal, it is still capable of daily fuel.”

“But I think this thing should have some kind of unpleasant smell after it is burned.” Looking at these briquettes, Lawrence immediately searched for something related to this thing in his memory, and then asked.

“And if I’m not wrong, your boiler may need to be shut down for a day or two for cleaning.”

“Have you used this kind of thing?” the engineer asked with his eyes wide open when Lawrence said this.

“Why do you ask?” Lawrence asked, looking at the engineer.

“Because the two places you just mentioned are the biggest flaws of this kind of artificial coal.” The engineer said, raising the briquettes in his hands.

“On the one hand, the smell on this thing will be contaminated with everything heated by it. For example, if you eat the food and soup carefully now, you can taste a very bad coal smell.”

“On the other hand, this kind of artificial coal mine will produce a lot of ashes after it is burned, instead of mostly large pieces of residue like the raw coal is burned.”

“In this way, not only will all kinds of broken coal particles fly everywhere, making everything dirty, but it will also easily form a thick layer of carbon ash in the boiler. So every few days it is necessary to use it. Spend a lot of time and energy on cleaning up.”