In the small canyon ten miles north of the valley wooden castle, loud rumbling noises were heard from time to time.
In a light-transmitting cave on one side of the canyon, several young men wearing heavy cotton military uniforms carefully put some black powder into fist-sized clay pots with wooden spoons under the guidance of a middle-aged alchemist.
These pottery pots are specially made. In addition to having thicker walls than ordinary pottery pots, there are also some protruding thorns on the pot body.
Young guys put the black powder into a clay pot, then press it gently with a wooden stick, insert a special cotton thread into it and leave a section, and then seal the mouth of the pot with unsolidified clay.
The finished clay pots were placed neatly in a wooden frame and transported to another dry and cool place in the cave for storage.
The alchemist walked back and forth in the cave with a thin wooden stick in his hand, instructing the young men to prepare and fill the medicine.
"Little bastard! Touch the iron rod first! Touch the iron rod first!!" The alchemist raised the thin wooden stick in his hand and severely spanked a young guy on the buttocks because the guy did not touch the iron rod stuck on the ground next to him as required.
"If I catch you touching the iron rod from time to time again, I will break your legs." The alchemist is the alchemist who survived the explosion of the wooden castle. Since the last explosion, he has become a stubborn maniac.
After being beaten, the young man quickly put his hand on the iron rod and touched it a few times before he dared to rub his buttocks that had been damaged by the wooden rod.
“Let me tell you, don’t think that just because you are an apprentice from the Government Affairs Academy is a big deal. In front of this kind of thing, you are nothing. This thing is not the charcoal in your fireplace.” The alchemist roared at the young guys in the cave again.
At the innermost side of the cave, in a cave that is also transparent, Jack Medici, a member of the Weapons Research Laboratory, the son of Salter, the former Minister of Commerce and the General Manager of the European Commercial Bank, and a member of the Wells Legion Weapons Research Laboratory, is holding a wooden tray in both hands to show the latest development results to Art, who has personally been involved in the development of gunpowder.
...Legion Commander, after many experiments, we made this granular gunpowder. I just installed an iron bomb myself. The power of the same amount of medicine more than doubled, and the bomb shell made of pig iron was easily blown into countless pieces. "
Matt touched the iron rod stuck in the ground beside him with his hand, then picked out a black particle the size of a wheat grain from the tray, raised it to his eyes and looked at it.
Matt knows the concept of "granular gunpowder", but he only knows it.
In the more than half a year since the successful development of black powder, the New City Weapons Research Laboratory has been testing it day and night.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the power of this black powder that transcends cognition is frightening enough, but after getting over the initial excitement, Art increasingly felt that the "big killer weapon" he had worked hard to develop for several years was really not worthy of the reputation of "astonishing power".
The first is the problem of insufficient deflagration of gunpowder. In order to load enough gunpowder to ensure the explosive power, wooden sticks must be used to compact it. However, this resulted in the gunpowder gap inside the bomb being too small and the powder burning insufficiently, so that much of the powder exploded before it was ignited.
At the same time, powdered gunpowder is extremely susceptible to moisture, especially if it is stored in a dark cave, it will become moist over time, and it may even become impossible to ignite.
In addition, the transportation of powdered gunpowder is also inconvenient, because during the bumpy transportation of powdered gunpowder, sulfur powder, charcoal powder and saltpeter powder with different weights will separate from each other. Among them, the densest saltpeter powder will be at the bottom of the gunpowder barrel, and the lightest charcoal powder will be on the surface of the gunpowder barrel. This will inevitably reduce the power of the gunpowder, or even make it impossible to light!
Last month, the Weapons Research Laboratory transported a batch of black powder to the newly discovered iron ore in the south of the valley for secret experiments. Due to the excessive turbulence during transportation, almost all the raw materials of the gunpowder were separated, so that after arriving at the destination, all the gunpowder had to be poured out and remixed to exert its power.
In normal times, it is just one more process, but on the battlefield, this is a fatal flaw.
The technology of granulated gunpowder solves these problems. First of all, although granulated gunpowder will stratify after bumpy transportation, the largest particles will run to the bottom of the gunpowder barrel, and the smallest particles will run to the surface of the gunpowder barrel, but this will not affect the quality and use of the gunpowder.
Secondly, the moisture absorption of granulated gunpowder is also much less than that of powdered gunpowder, because the ratio of surface area to volume of granular gunpowder is smaller and it absorbs less moisture from the air. During the Age of Discovery, the best granular gunpowder would also use a graphite polisher to polish away the pores on the gunpowder grains to reduce the hygroscopicity of the gunpowder and extend its storage period.
Finally, because granular gunpowder is in the form of granules, even when pressed, they do not fit tightly together and do not form a "whole" like powdered black powder. The gaps left between the gunpowder particles allow oxygen to assist the combustion of the gunpowder (facilitate flame diffusion), make the burning rate more uniform, and improve the efficiency of gunpowder combustion.
These things that were regarded as primary theoretical knowledge by later generations were simply the most mysterious secrets in this era. Arter understood a little bit, but it was enough.
A binder made from the best quality refined wheat flour was sprayed on powdered black gunpowder and shaken and sieved into particles of different sizes. After many tests, it was determined that particles the size of wheat grains were the most suitable.
After determining the particle size, a sieve as fine as a wheat grain is used to select qualified gunpowder.
Placing the pellets of gunpowder back on the tray, Art breathed a sigh of relief, "With it, we really have the confidence to go south to Lombardy."
"Your weapons research laboratory has achieved another military exploit, I will ask the Military Affairs Office to give it to you. Please make a note. But you must remember that everything here is the top secret of the Wells Legion, and everyone must keep it secret. If the secret is discovered, everyone will be severely punished by military law!"
Jack held the tray and stood up for the order.
"Now we are waiting for Groland to forge a qualified weapon~" Art raised his head, looking through the natural window at the blue sky after the heavy snow, with thousands of thoughts flying in his heart... The strength of the steel we can smelt is this. If we can increase the furnace temperature, perhaps the toughness and hardness of the steel can be improved a little more. "
In the workshop area under Wellsburg, the weapons workshop has not been relocated as planned because the new weapons ordered by Art require the use of hydraulic forging hammers, and the hydraulic forging hammer system here is already quite complete.
Since the production of the gun barrel basically failed, the weapons workshop has developed another weapon called the "Fire Gate Cannon" under the personal guidance of Art. This weapon is still made of iron, but its diameter is dozens of times larger than the original "gun barrel".
And the manufacturing technology of this kind of weapon is also immature. Art simply mentioned that it should be cast with wrought iron, fine steel as the core, and clay as the outer mold. As for how to cast it, Art only left one sentence: "Since ‖
This is a big problem for the weapon craftsmen. Although the technology of melting iron and making steel in a blast furnace was explored under Art's guidance a few years ago, the idea of casting iron into a cannon still seems to be far-fetched.
The weapons workshop has cast a six-foot-long portal cannon weighing more than 300 pounds, but the barrel is full of pores and impurities and cannot be destroyed with gunpowder.
So these hundreds of pounds of fine iron were re-melted, turned into more than fifty iron hollow-point bullets, and sent to the mountains.