PFC Chapter 93 Craftsmen and Technological Innovation
Chapter 93 Craftsmen and Technological Innovation
Chapter 93 Craftsmen and Technological Innovation
Outside the walls of the Milk House Manor, several simple wooden sheds were temporarily erected next to the original blacksmith shop.
The craftsmen who temporarily joined Roger's team worked and lived in these workshops.
The person temporarily leading this group of craftsmen was a lean, middle-aged man with short, curly hair.
This man is named Tom, thirty-five years old, a skilled carpenter, but also an excellent builder.
Six months ago, he had just finished building a rural church. In the past few months, he and his family had been doing odd jobs around the country.
While in County Ayr, they were impressed by the generous treatment described by the bald "contractor" and brought their family to Milk House Estate.
Tom was an excellent carpenter and part-time builder; he designed and directed the construction of the two saltworks on Holly Island.
Logically speaking, he should be considered an outstanding talent, but he refused to join a guild or live under the roof of a lord or nobleman, and could only wander around begging for a living.
If it weren't for the increasingly cold weather and his wife's growing belly, he probably wouldn't have reluctantly agreed to stay on Arun Island for the winter.
Tom's exceptional skills have been fully demonstrated in the construction of the Campbell Saltworks, and Roger has given this craftsman great attention and exceptional treatment.
In this era, builders were paid far less than blacksmiths, but Roger paid Tom three shillings a week, twice as much as other ordinary craftsmen, and more than the blacksmiths' daily wage of two pence.
If you don't count the land revenue, his salary is even higher than that of the old butler, Marn, Olaf, and others, not to mention the food and shelter provided for his whole family by the Milk House Estate.
Roger wasn't a philanthropist; the more he took, the more he lost.
Tom had to work with his two sons during the day and draw up blueprints and design buildings by candlelight at night.
In addition, as the temporarily appointed foreman, he also had to arrange the craftsmen's work, supervise the laborers' work, and manage all the craftsmen, apprentices, and laborers.
Tom's son from his previous marriage is seventeen years old, and his stepson is thirteen; both are capable assistants.
Meanwhile, his pregnant wife and eight-year-old daughter took care of the craftsmen's daily lives and occasionally had to do odd jobs at the lord's mansion.
There will be no free lunches, breakfasts, or dinners in this era.
The barracks behind the lord's mansion have been completed, and with the arrival of winter, the craftsmen's outdoor work has slowed down.
Tom then led the remaining craftsmen to repair houses, mend mill warehouses, reinforce workshops, and make wooden sword and spear shafts as requested by Sergeant Marne...
Two days ago, Roger found Tom and described to him, with gestures and drawings, a novel gadget called a "water-powered fan-bladed blower".
Tom, despite his extensive experience in carpentry and architectural design, spent the entire morning barely managing to grasp Roger's wildly imaginative ideas.
Then, after another day of repeated discussions with Roger, I came up with some ideas.
At that moment, Tom was showing Roger the design drawings for a water-powered blower.
Tom wove a mat out of tender twigs and reeds, about three feet long (1 meter) and two feet wide (0.6 meters).
(meters), and then a raised border was inlaid around the mat with neat wooden strips, making it look like a tray.
Then he burned some lime, mixed it with water to make a paste, poured it into a tray and smoothed it out. Then he evenly sprinkled a layer of finely ground charcoal powder on the lime, turning it into a "blackboard".
After the mortar in the tray hardened, he used iron needles of varying thicknesses to outline lines on it.
He used a ruler to draw straight lines, a set square to draw right angles, and a compass to draw arcs.
This design drawing medium is cheap and practical. If you are not satisfied with the design, you can simply scrape off a layer with a knife, apply some charcoal powder, and continue to draw.
"...Sir, I've roughly drawn up the structure of the water-powered blower you mentioned. It should be ready to be built in five or six days."
"But if we use this water-powered blower, we'll have to separate the iron smelting and forging, and build the blast furnace far away from the blacksmith's shop, right next to the Monamore River (the stream that flows through the estate)."
"These problems can still be solved, but what exactly is that water-powered forging hammer you mentioned yesterday? Could you personally guide the craftsmen to make one? None of them have ever seen one before, it's really..."
Roger carefully examined the design drawings on the tray. Tom certainly hadn't studied geometry, but the lines he had drawn were truly exquisite.
Although it is only a rough outline at present, Roger can already see a "hydraulic fan blower" in front of him, driven by a water flow wheel, a wooden crankshaft, an iron and wood gear linkage, a vertical fan blade rotation, and a lead hollow tube for air delivery.
In fact, Tom's skill is a fundamental skill that most carpenters, especially builders, must possess.
But as the saying goes, "every profession has its own secrets," and Roger, who knew nothing about drafting and design, couldn't help but exclaim upon seeing such a masterpiece, "A genius! Truly a genius!"
Roger was well aware of the importance of iron smelting and metallurgy to this era.
However, due to his low status, limited strength, and remote location on an isolated island, he had no readily available professional talent. Therefore, he had to take off his shirt and work in the workshop himself, and whenever he had a spare moment, he would go to the workshop to observe the blacksmiths at work.
After three to five days, I actually started to have some ideas.
Metallurgical technology was relatively backward at that time, especially in Scotland, which is located in a cold and harsh region.
Family-run iron smelting and forging industries naturally cannot develop the ability to evolve on their own.
Therefore, at this time there was only bloomery iron, a type of sponge-like solid wrought iron obtained by placing iron ore and charcoal layer by layer in a furnace, igniting and roasting to melt out the slag.
This type of iron has many impurities, low carbon content, and a soft texture, making it completely unsuitable for making weapons and armor.
Therefore, it needs to be heated and forged to squeeze out impurities, and then repeatedly heated and brought into contact with charcoal fire to allow carbon to penetrate and harden it into refined iron.
Iron smelting was not easy in this era, and Roger understood why iron weapons and armor were so expensive that many poor knights could not even afford a complete set of knightly weapons and armor even if they spent all their wealth.
Roger's ultimate dream was to manufacture firearms and cannons, which would be the revolutionary "nuclear weapons".
However, to create something that transcends its time, one must break through the bottleneck of productivity, the most basic of which is to improve metallurgical technology and metal processing capabilities.
Moreover, after careful consideration, Roger believed that manufacturing muskets was definitely unrealistic. Even if he exhausted all his abilities to produce steel and solve the material problem, he would still have to solve the problems of manufacturing precision parts, production support, standardized production processes, and so on.
This is not a matter of whether or not one has a technical advantage; the complex productivity system involved is something Roger could never have imagined.
Therefore, mass production of firearms was merely a pipe dream at this time.
However, compared to the need to produce standardized musket barrels and bolt parts, casting cannons is much more flexible.
Compared to muskets, the number of artillery pieces needed to equip a complete army is actually very small. In addition, the manufacturing process of solid shot is simple—it's just a round lump—so there's no need to even consider the issue of standardized caliber.
Even in the late Renaissance, it was common for every cannon in European armies to have a different caliber and require specialized shells.
Therefore, military experts of that era said that casting a cannon was not much more difficult than casting a church bell.
Of course, this statement is too simplistic.
However, the old saying "a trade is like a mountain" still kept Roger and guns apart for centuries.
"Sir?" Tom prompted Roger to answer his question.
Roger snapped out of his daze. "What did you just say? Oh, you can't explain how to make a water-powered forging hammer."
Roger shook his head. "I only saw it in a book a long time ago. It described an object that could be forged using water power."
"I think if a waterwheel can power a millstone, it can also power a hammer to strike ironware. Think about how you can combine a waterwheel and a forging hammer."
The blacksmiths of this era had already mastered the most basic skills, but a slightly more advanced technique was not something a thug in a suit should be able to master. So, after racking his brains, Roger came up with a small improvement beyond iron smelting technology.
Iron ore can only be smelted by bloomery because the temperature of the earthen furnace is too low to melt iron. Upon closer inspection, the press-type blower used by the craftsmen is not only labor-intensive, but also produces weak and inconsistent airflow.
Roger recalled the popcorn machine he had seen in a small county town. The vendor turned the "grain expander" with his left hand and the crank blower with his right, and the small flames rose very high.
Inspired by this and recalling watermills, Roger proposed the idea of a water-powered blower.
With sufficient and continuous airflow, the furnace temperature should at least rise a bit, right?
Even if the temperature rise is limited, at least it can reach the furnace temperature faster, right?
Even if the speed increase is limited, at least it can free up manpower, right?
In short, it is definitely a worthwhile exploration.
While improving the blower equipment, Roger also proposed using peat as an alternative fuel for iron smelting, based on the unique resources of the Milk House Manor. The feasibility of this idea is still being tested and explored.
The water-powered blower was just Roger's sudden inspiration, but the water-powered forging hammer was something he had been conceiving for a long time.
Back when he was smuggling top-quality red wine in Western Europe, he saw a water-powered forging hammer once in the old estate of a bankrupt tycoon. But at that time, he wasn't interested in that antique object. He only remembered that it was powered by a waterwheel and that the frequency and power of the forging hammer could be adjusted by controlling the water flow.
As for the details~
"Don't ask me about the details, I don't know either. I'm just suggesting this. You are all highly skilled craftsmen, I believe it won't be difficult for you."
Seeing the other man's furrowed brow, Roger raised his voice and said loudly, "Everyone listen up."
The craftsmen surrounding Roger all looked up at him.
"Whoever can build a practical water-powered forging hammer will be rewarded with three pounds sterling immediately." Recalling the reactions of the soldiers when he recently bestowed land and houses upon them, Roger added, "I will also reward them with three acres of farmland and a house."
A three-pound reward was almost two years' wages for an average Scottish craftsman, plus three acres of farmland and a house plot—such a deal was simply too tempting...