I was engaged in infrastructure construction in the Han Dynasty [Transmigration Book]

Chapter 574 [3 More] 574

Wanting to be light and airtight, Liu Tan once tried to brush ordinary fabrics with tung oil, and then made a scaled-down hot air balloon shape. The hot air balloon model is about one-fifth the size of a real hot air balloon.

But even that is not too small.

After Liu Tan completed the main body of the hot air balloon, he took a look at the size and decisively decided to leave the palace—it would be a bad idea to do this in the palace if it scares people.

In the same way, if you can't be in the palace, you can't actually be in the palace. The distance between the palace and Weiyang Palace is so close. What's the difference between whether he goes out or not?

In the end, he turned around and went to the Shiheyuan that Liu Che gave him—even though he thought the manor was more suitable, but when he thought about it, he would definitely let Liu Che go and have a look. There are many people in the manor. Liu Tan's tossing workshops are still in operation, and the most numerous are probably the paper workshops.

The environment is much worse than that of Shi He Courtyard. Anyway, hot air balloons are not something that requires a large venue, so we can do it in Shi He Courtyard.

It's a pity that the imagination is very good. In fact, after the cloth is oiled and turned into oilcloth, although it is really waterproof, moisture-proof and airtight, the most terrible thing is...it is easier to ignite than before.

Liu Tan originally wanted to give it a try, but in the end... almost ordered Shi Heyuan!

This won’t work, it’s too dangerous, even if it’s improved, it’s hard to say how long it can last, if it flies into the sky, stays in the sky and the balloon catches fire, isn’t that fatal?

Liu Tan thinks that hot air balloons can be used, but he must take a safety measure, such as putting an inflatable cushion underneath, so that if it falls, there will be a cushion at least to prevent it from hitting the ground directly.

The oilcloth cannot be used as the main body of the hot air balloon, but it can be used as a material for the air cushion, so Liu Tan put it aside for later use.

As for the material selection of the balloon, Liu Tan thought for a long time and finally decided to use leather.

Animal skin is soft enough, like sheepskin is also very light and thin. It should be no problem to sew hot air balloons, but at most it needs to be processed.

It's just that even a hot air balloon that is only one-fifth the size uses the sheepskins of a dozen sheep—after all, the sheep are not big, and not all the skins of the whole body can be used.

As for why he didn't use cowhide... Liu Tan was worried that if he used cowhide for his front feet and his back feet, he would be covered by ginseng.

Cattle are not a precious animal in the northern border country, and most people even have the habit of eating beef, but not in the customs, and the northern border country cannot supply beef in the entire Central Plains, at most radiate the surrounding area, or transport it to Chang'an The most tender beef comes, so cattle can't be slaughtered casually, which is basically everyone's deep-rooted idea.

Liu Tan once thought about using pig skin before, but these days there are fewer pigs than sheep. If the sheep skin is peeled off, there is still a place for mutton and the like. Pork can only be sold to civilians, or adult pigs The pork can only be sold to civilians.

Suckling pigs... If you really want to use the skin of suckling pigs, how many suckling pigs do you need?

But in fact, even ordinary people don't like pork very much, because pork has a bad taste and it's not cheap. Pigs need too much food to grow up, and there is no feed these days.

It’s not that Liu Tan never thought about researching how to make pork, but later learned that even if he figured out how to make pork tasteless, not many people would raise pigs, because the conversion efficiency is too low, compared to chicken Duck and pork are bound to be relatively expensive, and ordinary people will still be unable to afford them. Nobles... nobles generally eat suckling pigs.

As a result, he can only use sheepskin to make hot air balloons.

The stacks of sheepskins were transported to Shi Heyuan, and the next thing to study was the sewing technology. The threads were all made of the strongest hemp thread, and the craftsmen sewed them bit by bit according to the shape given by Liu Tan. Because it was all handmade, so This takes a long time.

Liu Tan left these things to the people below to take care of them, and he himself needed to study a very important thing-the power system of the hot air balloon.

The so-called power system is actually the ignition device, because his hot air balloon is the easiest way to use the principle of hot air to lift into the air, so the ignition device and heater must be on the manned part. below.

The fuel Liu Tan chooses is artificial oil, so it is necessary to ensure that the power system has sufficient stability. Don’t come back and fly around and leak oil. There's no other way to die—where to find something to put out a fire in mid-air?

There is no fire extinguisher these days, even if Liu Tan knows what a fire extinguisher is, he can't make it, the craftsmanship does not allow it!

The first is the oil tank for storing artificial oil. The oil tank must be made of metal, but at the same time it must be able to withstand high temperatures, or have poor thermal conductivity, so that the flame burning above cannot affect the oil inside and cause the oil tank to explode.

It is better to say that the combustion part is farther away from the oil tank, but in that case the supply of oil will become a problem.

Liu Tan pondered for a long time and finally divided the oil tank into two, forming a triangle shape with the combustion pool. The bottom one is the combustion pool. Make a simple mechanism, when there is enough oil in it, the place where the oil delivery pipe connects to the combustion pool will be blocked, and as the oil burns little by little, the plug that blocks the oil delivery pipe will rise a little bit, and the oil inside will be blocked. Injected into the fuel pool, the fuel pool will sink again, blocking the oil pipeline.

This mechanism is actually very simple, and he can do it without the Mo family.

It's just that whether it can be done or not needs to be tested.

Seeing him tossing about this stuff for several days without sleep or food, Miao Rui couldn't help but ask with a little distress: "Why didn't His Highness give orders to let Mo's disciples or Gongshu's do it?"

Liu Tan explained: "This is a more important existence than the telescope, and we can't just let people know the principle."

Of course, it is also mainly because the telescope can let Mojiu and Gongshuchuan do it because neither the Mo family nor the Gongshu family have mastered the method of glass smelting, and the most important thing about the telescope is glass smelting.

So even if they know how to make a telescope and know the reason for it, but as long as they don't have the right glass in their hands, it is impossible to make it.

As for the hot air balloon, it sounds much more complicated than the telescope, but in fact, if it is really made, it will cost more materials. Once technology does not become an obstacle, then the duplication of this thing is too easy.

The impact of the hot air balloon should be greater than that of the telescope. How to use this thing will depend on Liu Che's decision.

Of course, there is another small reason that Liu Tan didn't say out loud - he made this hot air balloon to fight against that sorceress with a hundred years, in order to suppress him, so that he wouldn't turn around and mess with his father. It’s okay if it’s just a simple sacrifice, but if you get some messy things for Liu Che to eat, what if you die from eating them?

Therefore, this thing must be kept a certain degree of mystery, at least so that the big witch can not figure out what it is for.

After the heating device is completed, the airbag part has also been sewn, and the hanging basket has already been done.

The next step is to combine the airbag, heating device and hanging basket.

The heating device is placed on the hanging basket. After calculating the distance, Liu Tan directly chose to use eight copper pipes to connect the oil tanks at both ends, four on each side, and then these four pipes were merged into one and placed on both sides of the hanging basket. , while the back of the hanging basket is provided with doors and stairs for up and down.

As for the hot air balloon, it is temporarily connected to the hanging basket with iron ropes-Liu Tan really can't find a light rope, and the most feared thing about this thing is that the rope is not strong.

Fortunately, this is just a miniature hot air balloon. After everything was loaded, Liu Tan asked someone to ignite the heating device directly, and then put the airbag on it.

Because there is not much air in the airbag at the beginning, it can only be propped up with special things.

In Liu Tan's impression, once the heating device of the hot air balloon is ignited, it should be able to take off quickly.

However, the reality is that he sat beside him and waited until he almost fell asleep before the airbag gradually inflated, and he began to lift off the ground very slowly, bit by bit.

When seeing the hot air balloon start to leave the ground, both Miao Rui and Bi Gao couldn't help but hold their breath, staring at the hot air balloon with wide eyes.

At this time, the hot air balloon was still tied to the ground by ropes, and the person in charge of the ropes began to let go of the ropes little by little as the hot air balloon rose after discovering that the hot air balloon was gradually rising into the air.

It's just that when the basket of the hot air balloon was barely above Liu Tan's head, the rising behavior of the hot air balloon stopped, and since then it has remained at that height and never moved again.

Miao Rui and Bi Gao secretly stomped their feet anxiously: "Sheng, why aren't you promoted?"

Liu Tan was very calm, anyway, he was used to it, and it was only a surprise that things could be done smoothly.

He looked at that, although it wasn't weak, it seemed that the flame was not strong enough compared to the airbag, but the problem was that the heating device was already the largest in proportion, and if it was bigger, it might not even be able to rise to the height of a person.

Liu Tan thought about it for a while, and finally remembered that the heating device in later generations... seems to have a blower.