War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Franz's favorite was the Bessemer method, which was later known as the converter method. Of course, he does not intend to repeat the detours Bessemer has taken, such as the issue of acid-base properties.

The acidic converter method cannot remove sulfur and phosphorus, which results in huge waste and reduced quality. The alkaline converter method uses a converter with an alkaline lining to process high-phosphorus pig iron and dumps slag to remove sulfur (this process is slightly complicated and I will not write it in detail).

Why didn't Franz adopt the more efficient Martin method in later generations? Because the initial investment of the Martin method is too high, the cycle is long, the reaction time is slow, there are fewer types of steel that can be manufactured, the energy consumption is serious, the inherent shortcomings cannot be overcome, and the upper limit is too low.

Converter steelmaking is obviously more flexible, which is suitable for a country like Austria where steel companies are very dispersed. After Austria adopts the alkaline converter method, steel production can be increased by 8-10 times.

However, given the current market situation of short supply, the price of steel will not drop too much. Franz can take the opportunity to earn high profits, expand production capacity, and occupy the market earlier than other powers.

In fact, the Bessemer method has been completed a long time ago, but there are still many flaws, and the timing is not right.

Plattner Carl Friedrich, who was responsible for research on converter steelmaking, was a talented metallurgist from Saxony, and the other was Redten Bacher, an Austrian born in Steyr, who had As a cleaner at the Vienna Institute of Engineering, I attended for two months, and then went to Switzerland to become a famous engineering expert and one of the founders of mechanical engineering.

In fact, Franz originally planned to invite Krupp and Siemens, but the former's business was prosperous and popular, and he refused to accept Austria's invitation and committed a "traitorous act."

The latter was because he stole a donkey and pulled out a peg, and he watched others fight. As a result, they ran away and he was imprisoned. It was obviously a duel between two officers, but in the end it was two soldiers who ended up in prison, one of whom was Siemens.

In fact, it was not difficult for Franz to fish him out, but Siemens was a prisoner who attracted much attention, because even in prison, he was still researching science and technology, and his inventions were even valued by the Prussian military.

Finally, through the operation of some Junker nobles, he was pardoned by an amnesty order personally signed by King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

If Franz comes up with this at this time, it will definitely become big news. In order to avoid capitalizing on the enemy, it is reasonable for the Prussian military to directly kill this great inventor in human history.

The level of Plattner and Bacher is not inferior to these two geniuses who have left their names in history, but there are some problems with the direction of their research.

The top-blown converter technology that became unparalleled more than a hundred years later was one of the products of the combination of their inventions.

The two were experts in metallurgical engineering, and with the cooperation of a group of professionals, they quickly developed the Bessemer Method.

As for the issue of alkaline furnace lining, although the two of them didn't understand what Franz was going to do, it didn't stop them from working. The new alkaline refractory bricks are made by mixing dolomite and tar which are clinker fired at high temperatures.

After several experiments, they discovered the brilliance of this alkaline furnace lining, and could not help but begin to admire this genius who had grown up in the palace.

When Franz came to the factory where they were experimenting again, the two had already picked up their notes and benches.

"Archduke Franz, the experiment has been completed. This brand-new technology will cause an industrial revolution. The existing blowers may not be able to meet your needs, so we have invented a brand-new blower."

Franz looked at this so-called new blower. In fact, the technological content was not high. It just added a few blades to the original blower, and the power became a steam engine. The only design that was beyond this era was the air duct.

We have to admire human wisdom. Historically, this kind of industrial blower was not invented by Americans until 1867.

The invention of this high-efficiency fan can further increase steel production. Of course, the air blown in at this time still contains 78% useless nitrogen, which is still a huge waste.

However, industrial oxygen concentrators require the help of electricity, and electricity at this time is still a scarce resource.

"It's a great invention, but the efficiency of the steam engine is too low. The Navy has a steam turbine technology that can increase the efficiency of your invention by 500%."

"500%?! Oh my god! But what's the use of blowing in so much air? It's mainly nitrogen and it can't burn."

"Then why don't you try removing the nitrogen and injecting pure oxygen directly?" Franz said. After all, he knows the direction of historical development. The top-blown converter method is still the most widely used steelmaking method today. .

Moreover, the Austrians after World War II also used the inventions of these two men.

"Pure oxygen? How much water do we need to electrolyze?" Platner immediately thought of electrolyzing water to create oxygen.

"That's such a waste of electricity." Bacher said. Obviously, the price of electricity at that time was painfully expensive.

"When the steam turbine arrives, maybe you can find the answer from it."

Franz's words made the two professors more interested in the mysterious steam turbine.

In fact, modern American aircraft carriers use steam turbines to drive power generation, which does not reduce their own thermal efficiency and helps reduce fuel consumption. It is a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

In fact, Franz thought too much. Electricity at this time was still in its infancy. Not to mention the two of them who were engaged in metallurgical machinery, even electric power experts couldn't do it.

"Is that machine really as magical as you said?" The two of them couldn't help asking, full of doubts and expectations.

"Let's wait and see." Franz did not give a clear reply, because he knew that these engineering people believed in what they saw, and even if you told them about smallpox, these people would not believe it.

"Now this technology is close to maturity and can be put into production. Our country will definitely be able to achieve self-sufficiency in steel. No, we can eat the entire German steel market." The two professors gave their own judgment.

"No, I don't plan to promote this technology yet. It will only be used in the royal factory. This technology needs to continue to be improved."

In fact, Franz just wants to make a wave of technological dividends first. Selling patent rights is indeed a good idea, but if you can't resist it, there will always be rogue countries who have solutions.

For example, in history, after Bessemer registered a patent in the United States, an American immediately jumped out and said that he invented this method.

In order to invent Bessemer's steel-making method, this American conducted secret research alone, and it was not until the Bessemer method became popular in Europe that he jumped out.

The mysterious American inventor who called Bessemer a thief and a liar immediately received support from the U.S. government, which canceled Bessemer's patent and awarded it to this mysterious man.

Soon the mysterious man had to sub-license the patent rights to the US government due to bankruptcy. So far, the US government not only obtained Bessemer's patent without spending a penny, but also collected a layer of money from US steel companies every year. wool.