American: Native Empire - Chapter 105
Chapter 105: The Railroad.
After his meeting with his master,
Delicate Glass began to be invited to various places.
“I knew you would be a great success. His Majesty was very pleased with the steamship, wasn’t he? At least you won’t have to worry about research funding anymore.”
“Are you thirty years old this year? There are only a few people who have achieved such a feat at such a young age. I’m sure you’ll get one of the medals of the year. Ahem, by the way.”
“Are you still unmarried? Do you have any interest in meeting my daughter?”
“Haha…”
From the first gathering he attended, Delicate Glass received an enormous amount of attention.
He had a hard time adjusting to this unfamiliar interest.
And this continued wherever he went.
The scholars of the Imperial University wanted to meet Delicate Glass, who had invented and built the first steamship at a young age.
‘My research must have been really successful.’
He felt the difference in treatment compared to before.
He didn’t mind the situation where people couldn’t praise him enough.
Thanks to that, he felt like a real genius.
But Delicate Glass shook his head and brushed off his prideful feelings.
‘I can’t be satisfied with just this.’
This interest would fade away over time anyway.
Delicate Glass wanted to obtain a huge reputation that would last forever, rather than this fleeting attention.
Like his master, who started a new research after creating the great invention of the steam engine.
His master’s actions were a great lesson for Delicate Glass.
That’s why he joined the research on the sharp teeth after finishing his busy schedule for a few days.
However, on his first day of joining, the researchers’ eyes were not very friendly.
“Oh, you must think our research is very easy since you achieved such a great success at a young age. You said you would help us until your own lab opens.”
“Maybe you can solve all the problems in a short time since you’re a genius.”
“Ha! This guy, I feel sorry for him.”
The researchers’ negative glances and whispers.
The problem was that they spoke loud enough for him to hear.
Delicate Glass frowned.
‘I don’t mean it lightly. I just want to help my master…’
It would have been a lie if he didn’t have any pride, but that wasn’t his essence.
He wanted to convey his feelings, but he didn’t because it sounded like an excuse.
But not everyone was like that.
“Try to understand them. They’re all sensitive because they keep failing and they don’t see any hope for the research. I’ll warn those who badmouthed you earlier, so just do your best.”
“…Thank you for your concern.”
Delicate Glass felt some relief from the senior researcher’s consolation.
It was understandable that they would be frustrated if there was no progress in the research.
The senior researcher kept his word.
When Delicate Glass returned after leaving his seat for a while, he didn’t see any hostile attitudes anymore.
Thanks to that, Delicate Glass was able to check the research results so far with ease.
“Hmm…”
And the more he checked these results, the more he empathized with the researchers’ despair.
‘There’s no answer at this rate…’
Especially recently, there was a new animal called a horse that could pull carts better than llamas, and it was rising as an alternative for land transportation.
The steam locomotive seemed even more useless.
“Do you see how hard it is?”
“…To be honest, yes.”
Delicate Glass nodded at his master’s question.
His master smiled bitterly.
“It would be better to make the steam engine smaller and increase the size of the steam locomotive, but that’s not easy. Miniaturizing the steam engine is not something that can be done by wishful thinking, and increasing the size would damage the paved roads, even if we put rubber on the wheels. What do you think?”
“I think the latter option is more feasible than the former, if we consider the possibilities.”
“Making the steam locomotive bigger, you mean?”
“Yes.”
They both felt that there was no hope with the current small steam locomotive.
But enlarging the steam locomotive was not only difficult because of the damage to the paved roads, but also because of the lack of production technology and the risk of accidents.
The paved roads were always crowded with countless carriages and people.
If a large steam locomotive passed through such a complex place…
‘It would kill many imperial citizens who are walking.’
Especially if it was a steam locomotive that was still hard to control.
“Let’s keep thinking of ways.”
“Yes, master.”
After that, Delicate Glass continued to have many conversations with other researchers, including Sharp Fangs, to find a solution.
Thanks to that, his initial frustration subsided, but as time passed, he became more anxious.
‘There’s not much time left…’
He wondered if he could put his name on the development of the steam locomotive within that time.
Then one day.
Delicate Glass visited the architecture department to get some advice on the paved roads.
But he didn’t get a satisfactory answer from them. He just felt once again how hard it was to enlarge the steam locomotive.
Delicate Glass left the dean’s office without any significant results.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a satisfying answer.”
“It’s okay. I kind of expected this anyway.”
He said that and headed straight for the exit of the architecture department.
At that moment.
“Wow. That building is very tall. But is it okay to build it so high?”
“That one over there?”
“Yes.”
The giant whale who volunteered to guide Delicate Glass smiled as if to reassure him.
“Haha. It’s very sturdy, you know. Do you see that?”
The giant whale pointed to an unfinished part of the structure, and Delicate Glass squinted his eyes.
And he saw it.
The existence of numerous steel bars embedded inside the concrete.
“Recently, a lot of research has been done on the compatibility between concrete and steel bars. We call this method reinforced concrete construction. With this research completed, we will be able to easily build high-rise buildings that were difficult before.”
“Wow. I see.”
“Of course, it’s still far away.”
The giant whale sighed slightly.
It was hard to use reinforced concrete construction unless they could produce large and uniform steel bars in large quantities.
Delicate Glass listened to these detailed explanations and immersed himself in his own thoughts.
‘Hmm. Supporting concrete with steel…’
Steel was indeed an amazing material.
Look.
It was holding up a tall building without collapsing.
That’s why it was.
A completely new idea came to Delicate Glass’s mind.
‘What if I lay those steel bars on the ground instead of paved roads? Then maybe I could enlarge the steam locomotive without breaking them.’
That thought crossed his mind for a moment.
It felt like a random thought at first…
‘Wait.’
He thought for a moment and realized it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Whoosh!
“Why are you doing that? Do you feel unwell somewhere?”
“Sorry, but I need to think for a bit.”
“…?”
Delicate Glass stopped in his tracks and immersed himself in his own world.
‘What if I lay iron rails?’
He vaguely remembered hearing something about it.
He heard that in the mines, they used wooden or iron rails to transport minerals more easily.
Delicate Glass’s mind spun rapidly.
‘Ah! Why didn’t I think of this before? I just need to make the iron rails bigger!’
That seemed to solve the problem of scaling up the steam engine, which had been holding it back.
Of course, making the steam engine bigger would create a tremendous load, and he would need a lot of high-quality steel to support it, but…
‘It’s worth a try.’
At least, it seemed like a way out of the current deadlock.
***
“What? You want to lay iron on the ground?”
“Yes, Master.”
As soon as he arrived at the lab, Delicate Glass hurriedly found Nalkaroon Ippal and told him his idea.
“Huh, what kind of…”
At first, Nalkaroon Ippal was dumbfounded by his words, but after listening to Delicate Glass’s explanation, his expression turned serious.
His opinion sounded plausible enough.
‘Iron rails…’
In the past, when the steam engine was first used to pump water out of the mines, Nalkaroon Ippal had worked in the mines for a while.
And he had seen the rails himself.
At that time, he was so focused on operating the steam engine for its purpose that he didn’t pay much attention to it, but now that he thought about it again, it felt different.
‘Haha. I’m such a fool. How come I didn’t think of this when I’ve seen it myself?’
He realized that the principle was the same whether he moved a cart on the rails with only the power of the steam engine or made a large steam engine that ran on iron rails that fit it perfectly.
He had missed such an easy solution.
He had also failed to solve the most important part when he completed the previous steam engine. His brain couldn’t keep up with it.
But no matter who came up with it, the important thing was that he found a good solution.
“Hahaha. You’re amazing. You’ve only joined the lab for a short time and you came up with such an idea!”
“I’m glad I could help, Master.”
This was how the concept of railway and steam locomotive was first proposed and soon spread among the researchers.
Of course, there were many people who were skeptical about it.
This was because laying iron rails would cost too much.
“It seems impossible to support the weight of a large steam engine with ordinary iron.”
“That’s right. We need solid steel.”
“Plus, we need to make them very precise to prevent derailment. If they’re even slightly off… It could cause a terrible accident.”
“Making the steam engine bigger would also require a lot of steel… Even though the production of steel has increased thanks to the electric furnace, can we really meet this huge demand?”
The researchers were shocked by the amount of steel required when they made a rough estimate.
It was fortunate that they had an electric furnace.
If they didn’t have one, they wouldn’t even be able to imagine such an amount.
As the focus shifted to the astronomical cost, Delicate Glass raised his hand and argued.
“I admit that it will cost a lot at first. But if we make the steam engine run on iron rails, we can solve most of the problems that we had with it.”
“That’s true.”
“Also, once we make them, the efficiency will be different from what we’ve been doing with land transportation.”
Swish!
He unfolded a blueprint that he had brought from his pocket.
“There are many things connected behind the steam engine.”
“You’re right. The steam engine will run on rails anyway. If we attach cargo cars behind it, we can move a lot of things at once, don’t you think?”
“Indeed.”
“It seems possible.”
The researchers acknowledged Delicate Glass’s plan favorably.
“If we can move a lot of things on land with only the power of the steam engine, it will save us a lot of money. The initial cost will be offset over time.”
Delicate Glass clenched his fist and recited with a strong tone.
“Imagine it. A world where railways connect the mainland. If that happens, the world will surely change!”
