Firearms in a Fantasy World

Chapter 191: Ambition of Steel 3

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

At half past one in the afternoon, Guy Burns arrived at the Lord's mansion. After a brief wait in the reception lounge, the chief secretary came to escort him to meet the master of the house.

Upon entering the Lord's office, he was first surprised by its simplicity. It didn't look like the daily workplace of an earl-level nobleman.

Then he saw the local Lord Paul Grayman, who appeared much younger than expected, looking around fifteen years old, just as rumored—the person who had originally designed the harvester.

At this moment, the young Earl was standing not far from the door, seemingly awaiting him.

Burns was about to perform the customary etiquette for visiting a high-ranking noble when he was interrupted by the Earl's voice.

"Welcome, Mr. Burns."

Paul spoke first, taking a step forward to shake hands with him, then lightly shaking up and down.

Was this the custom of the Northwest? It seemed quite straightforward. Burns felt the strength in his handshake and instinctively exerted a slight force in return.

"Hello, Earl Grayman. It's truly an honor to meet you. Since seeing that harvester, I've been hoping for this chance to meet you. Oh! It's such a genius creation."

Straightforward from the very first sentence—truly a person dedicated to technology.

"Haha! To earn recognition from an expert like you is also my honor. Please, have a seat!"

"Oh no, you are far too modest."

Once both host and guest were seated, Paul first praised his contributions in spring development and then stated the purpose of bringing him here—to oversee the development of a hydraulic bellows system for the new ironworks he was about to establish.

"A bellows system? Your Lordship intends to replace manual labor with hydraulics to drive the bellows?"

"Exactly, and the traditional bellows cannot meet my requirements. I need a more efficient bellows system."

Burns knew that the bellows widely used for metal smelting were made of animal skins, with pipes on both ends and a piston-operated intake port. When air was pushed in, the operator pulled up the skin bag, then stepped on it to pump the wind into the furnace.

"How much wind power does the Lord require?"

Paul spread out a paper on the table showing the design of a small iron smelter. Although small in size, it was much larger than the current furnaces.

"In my ironworks, I will use a new type of furnace, similar to the one depicted here, and will use a new type of fuel—coke. However, this coke is not as easily combustible as charcoal, so I need a greater wind force to aid combustion. Therefore, I have designed a new bellows system—a piston-type bellows. Of course, this is just a preliminary design, and I need you to continue optimizing and refining it."

A wooden piston-type bellows was brought into the office by a servant, and the two began discussing it.

This bellows had a handle on top. When Burns pulled the handle outward, wind blew out from the outlet. When he pushed the handle back to its original position, wind continued to blow out from the outlet.

TL Note: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co61494/chinese-bellows-from-tien-tsin-bellows

He marveled, "Your Lordship, may I dismantle it and take a closer look?"

"Of course, feel free to study it."

Thus, this bellows was thoroughly disassembled, and Burns quickly understood its internal structure.

Inside the bellows was a piston plate, with a rectangular wind pipe on one side of the box. The front and rear openings were both connected inside the box, with a wind outlet pointing outward.

Inside the wind outlet was a single-page double-seated valve, which could connect half of the wind outlet to the square tube and block the airflow between the other half of the wind outlet and the square tube. Driven by airflow, the two parts of the square tube alternated with the wind outlet.

When the piston plate moves back and forth, it can compress air continuously to achieve continuous air blowing.

"A simple yet ingenious design. Unlike bag-type bellows, it can continuously supply air without interruption," Burns commented, after studying the internal structure of the bellows for some time. He then proposed his suggestion, "I think we can change the square-shaped casing into a cylindrical one, which can withstand higher air pressure."

Paul nodded, "As I mentioned, this is just a preliminary design. Feel free to boldly experiment with improvements. Besides changing it to cylindrical, perhaps you can also try making it out of metal. After all, things made of wood are not as reliable as those made of metal."

"Well, I'll give it a try. Indeed, as long as we can design a reasonable hydraulic drive system, this bellows can continuously blow air into the furnace."

Curiously, he asked, "What kind of fuel prompted the creation of such a bellows?"

Paul placed a dark stone on the table, "Coke."

"Isn't that the coal commonly used in the Northwest? It seems quite easy to burn."

"No, this is something obtained after further processing coal. The sulfur in coal would prevent the iron from being usable. And coke cannot fully combust under normal conditions, so I need this new bellows and a power system that can continuously drive it."

"Leave it to me, Your Lordship! I will not disappoint your expectations!"

"Good luck to you!"

"Well then, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

It seemed Mr. Burns was eager to begin his new work.

However, Paul didn't let him go, "No rush, Mr. Burns. I'm interested in your past experiences. Would you be willing to chat with me?"

Burns felt a moment of nervousness. Could Earl Grayman be referring to his past imprisonment?

His face flushed red, extending to his neck.

"Your Lordship, if you're referring to my time in prison, it was purely a case of slander and fabrication by malicious individuals. All the accusations were baseless."

It was a lifelong shame that haunted him.

"Don't worry, I'm completely unconcerned about that matter."

Paul smiled, gesturing for him to calm down. He already knew from Hansel's account why Burns had been imprisoned; his story was quite widely circulated in the capital.

"I heard from Sir Abbott that you seem to have not very good relations in the capital, especially among your peers?"

"Well... I admit we have different ideologies, and we don't see eye to eye."

He didn't directly mention his imprisonment in connection with his peers, as he lacked direct evidence.

"So, based on what kind of ideology are you willing to teach mechanical knowledge to the lower classes for free, even at the risk of being ostracized and suppressed by your peers?"

This was what Paul had wanted to ask from the start. Perhaps he could find a like-minded person in this world.

(End of the Chapter)

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