Road To The Crown 131 The Fire Is Lit!

24th April 1574

"Hang the core now. We need the counterweight to be quite a lot heavier than the cylinder itself."

With the miners standing idle and watching the peculiar building with a visible confusion on their faces, I continued to order around my workers who turned out to be almost as enthusiastic about this project as I did.

Even though the official purpose of this machine wasn't properly explained to anyone but the craftsmen, it was inevitable that the rumours would appear even amongst the common folk. But while I was happy that everyone was eager to do their part of the work, seeing how some of them acted quite recklessly as if trying to finish their tasks as soon as possible, I couldn't help but start to get slightly worried.

As for the core of the counterweight, it was nothing else than a several iron disk-bound together by chains and nails, making it easy to attach anything to it whenever we decided the weight of the working arm had to be greater.

But the whole process of launching the steam engine started now with the counterweight, but by connecting the long iron pole to the chain nailed tightly to the side of the balancing beam in a way that made only the last two pieces of the iron chain hang freely and allow for some liberty in the movement.

After making sure that the metal rod was properly connected both to the chain and the cylinder, forcibly pus.h.i.+ng the balancing beam to the 'in house' position meaning that it was lowered over the cylinder rather than at the counterweight side, a group of workers climbed the top of the cylinder, filling the s.p.a.ce between the plate and the walls with thick ropes soaked in oil and finis.h.i.+ng the task by pouring four buckets of water at the very top.

With the ropes isolating the s.p.a.ce below the cylinder plate and the rest of the world above, and water added as the last insurance to make sure there would be no leaks of the gas from the cylinder to the atmosphere nor the air from the atmosphere to the cylinder, we could finally move to the last step.

As the chain was already hanging from the 'out house' side of the balancing beam, all that was left was to hook it with the second iron rod and mounting several pieces of the counterweight looking rather similar to the gym weights with a simplest possible lock in the middle, allowing to simply push them on top of the rod by aligning its small, metal arms with the opening in the weight and then simply turning it around with the metal pipe already protruding right through its centre.

At first, I thought that this would be the hardest step, as we didn't know what was the proper size of the counterweight, but contrary to my belief, as soon as the balancing beam finally started moving to the 'out house' position, we simply waited for it to stabilise before adding two more weights to start with in order to check how much weight could the steam engine lift.

Contrary to the pressure engine that had the capability of moving way more than its own weight, any increase to the size of the counterweight would mean that the burden on the delicate construction of this creation of mine would be even greater, forcing me to risk its isolating rope and water to simply get sucked to the other side of the cylinder if the weight would be too great!

But rather than worrying about the constant uncertainty, I was about to give the signal to load the wood under the belly of the boiler, when I noticed that the miners were already moving aside as if trying to sneak out!

"Hey, where do you think you are going? The best part is about to start!"

Rather than treating them with anger for the fact that they couldn't sit still for a while, I did my best to look like a child, disappointed at its parents for not willing to see the nice house I built in the Minecraft. While I knew that the process of heating the boiler up to the point where it would start producing steam could take a rather long while if they were to miss the moment when the history would be made, not only convincing them to agree to my terms would be easier, but they would never be able to forgive themselves for missing this insanely important moment!

"Sir, with all due respect, the other group is already coming out with the ores. If we don't see something that will crush out entire world-view right now, we will have to sell the ores right away."

Considering how I wanted them to experience something before making their decision, it was only natural that with the lack of any effect after all the time they spent here already, they would start hesitating whether there was any point in lingering around for any longer.

"We will be starting things out right now. Just imagine how long will it take for the water in this boiler to boil properly, and a few minutes later, you will be begging me to repeat the same offer I gave to you already."

From this point on, it would be their own decision whether to stay here or not. I already gave them the chance and all the reasons to stay, and if they decide to go to manage their own business anyway, it would be their loss. The fact that this steam horse was placed right beside their mine would make it easier to improve their workplace first, but with the second mine only about four hundred meters away, transmitting the energy provided by the steam horse could still be done fairly easy!

Right when I turned back to face the steam engine in front of me, I noticed that the belly of the furnace already got filled to its safe brim with the wood, with the older of the two stonemasons approaching me with a burning torch.

"Sir, everything is ready. We splattered some oil on top of the wood to make it start burning a bit easier, so all that's left now, is to start the fire."

After taking one last look at the machine in general and confirming that the two workers were waiting for my orders at the two valves that allowed either the steam to flow into the cylinder or the cold water to be sprinkled, I took a deep breath…

And threw the torch inside!

Yet this heroic and historical move quickly proved to be simply stupid, as the sudden gust of wind caused by the fast movement managed to do its job and extinguished the fire burning on top of the torch, causing me to simply throw another piece of wood inside the furnace!

While I could bet I heard some laughs going off in the distance, another servant quickly lit the next torch and pa.s.sed it to me while trying his best to hide his mocking smile from his face.

Even though he was far better at working hard than at masking his emotions, I was too excited to care, taking the torch from his hand and this time, simply approaching the furnace and placing the burning head of this oversized match to the wood soaked in oil.

And so the fire has started!