Chapter 88

Chapter 88. Blast Furnace.

‘A conveyor belt…’

Kim Kiwoo marveled slightly.

It was amazing that there was a craftsman who had implemented that concept, which only appeared in the early 20th century, in this era, even if only partially.

The founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, who first devised the conveyor belt system.

He was the one who drastically lowered the price of cars, which were very expensive at the time, and popularized them.

The driving force behind this was the division of labor using conveyor belts.

Considering that he could pay five times more wages than other factories and still sell Ford cars in large quantities at a low price, one could see how powerful the division of labor was.

Of course, this system was premature at the time, and it could be said that it was an invention that was too ahead of its time, but once the concept was created, there would be a time when it would come in handy in the future.

***

Around the time when the blower using a steam engine was completed to some extent.

Kim Kiwoo ordered to make the structure that had been firmly embedded in his head until then.

“Can you do it?”

“…I’ll do my best.”

The broad-minded man, who received the blueprint of the huge egg-shaped blast furnace for the first time, showed a slightly embarrassed expression.

It was because the outer vessel of the blast furnace was made of solid steel.

It was very difficult to make such a large structure with steel produced by a crucible.

In addition, the cost was very high.

But since it was Kim Kiwoo’s request, he called the related craftsmen after he returned to Black Sky.

“I’ll get straight to the point. His Majesty wants this structure to be made.”

“Ho!”

“Can I take a look at it?”

“That’s why I brought it.”

As the broad-minded man unfolded the blueprint, all the craftsmen leaned their heads forward.

Immediately after, some of them realized what this structure was.

“Ah! Is this the steelmaking structure that His Majesty told the industrial director?”

“You’re right. You recognized it right away. Yes.”

“Oh!”

“This is…”

As the broad-minded man confirmed, curiosity filled the faces of the craftsmen.

The conversation at that time had been circulated among the craftsmen by the surrounding craftsmen who were already with the industrial director.

It was obvious that it would be a difficult task, but as soon as they realized that it was a structure that produced steel in large quantities, they became motivated.

“Let’s give it a try!”

After that, the craftsmen planned and executed to make the blast furnace.

The mechanism of the blast furnace was roughly like this.

First, they made a large vessel of solid steel.

Then they made a structure that could rotate the vessel like pouring water from a cup.

This was to put in and take out molten iron.

They coated clay inside the vessel to protect the steel vessel.

Finally, they made it possible to blow air into the lower part of the vessel and blow hot air from the blower of the steam engine through here.

This was Henry Bessemer’s Bessemer blast furnace before he arrived.

And it was also the one who would make Wakan Tanka Empire into a steel empire in the future.

The craftsmen who had been working in ironmaking and steelmaking for a long time marveled as they made structures according to their plans.

“If it goes according to plan… It will be easy to turn it into wrought iron.”

“That’s true.”

It was no different from stirring molten pig iron and contacting it with air to de-carbonize pig iron or blowing hot air directly into it.

But they encountered numerous trials and errors until they completed the blast furnace.

“Damn. It’s not fixed properly. If you don’t align the center of gravity properly, there could be a big accident!”

“Sigh… This time it’s a problem with the blower.”

“Tsk. Is this another failure?”

It was hard to tilt the entrance up to horizontal level anyway.

Also, it was difficult to have enough durability to support heavy blast furnace with molten iron in it.

But as time passed and data accumulated, blast furnace became more and more refined and its outline gradually emerged.

“I feel good about this one.”

“That’s right. Didn’t last structure not last until twenty experiments?”

“I hope tomorrow comes soon.”

They had already spent an enormous amount of money on numerous failures, but they were not attached to failure.

They just expected that they would succeed this time and proceeded with experiment with prototype.

They experimented with water instead of molten iron because it was too dangerous for now. They poured water in after tilting blast furnace and blew air in then took water out again.

“There is no problem yet!”

But unlike before, blast furnace did not budge even when thirty times passed.

Then anxious faces of craftsmen gradually brightened up.

“Haha! Is this the real success?”

“I don’t know until we try a little more…”

“Shh! Don’t jinx it by saying negative things.”

The broad-minded man also felt a thrilling excitement inside, but he suppressed it and shouted loudly.

This was just the first hurdle, and there were still mountains to cross.

Of course, since they had already secured the stability of the structure, the probability of having a big problem was low.

“Let’s stop here for today. It’s real from tomorrow, so come with a strong mind.”

“Yes!”

“Haha. I wish tomorrow would come soon.”

The craftsmen showed their emotions and scattered.

And the next day.

Finally, the experiment of de-carbonizing molten pig iron began.

They tilted blast furnace and poured pig iron into it.

And as soon as the proper amount rose, they immediately erected blast furnace.

“Whew… It’s nerve-wracking.”

“There won’t be any big problems.”

“I hope so.”

The craftsmen swallowed their anxiety and activated the preheated steam engine.

Soon after.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a hot wind blew through the blast pipe into the molten iron.

Naturally, as air was injected into the iron, bubbles rose to the surface of the liquid metal.

“Is it going well?”

The craftsmen kept a safe distance and watched, but they could not see inside the furnace, so they could only wait silently for the result.

Time passed by in this state.

About 10 minutes later.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

“Wow!”

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

“No, I don’t think so. The furnace is fine!”

The craftsmen were startled with wide eyes.

A flame shot up from the entrance and a loud noise erupted from inside the furnace.

But there was no crack in the sturdy steel container.

It was an explosion caused by the carbon in the iron and the oxygen in the air combining to form carbon dioxide, which suddenly reacted rapidly.

“Should we stop the experiment?”

“Let’s wait a little longer.”

The craftsmen followed the decision of their leader, who had a broad mind, but they were anxious.

And finally, when the scheduled experiment time was over, he gave a quick order.

“Let’s take out the iron inside!”

“Yes!”

It was something they had done many times while testing the stability of the furnace, but it was a real situation with tremendous heat, so their actions were very careful.

Then,

Screech!

The sound of metal rang loudly,

Splash!

They obtained molten iron from the furnace.

“It hasn’t solidified at all.”

The iron was still molten even though it was not heated.

This was because the temperature of the iron increased by reacting with the air in the hot wind.

The craftsmen put the iron into a mold to solidify it and then began to examine its properties.

“Oh my God!”

“How can this be…”

The result was astonishing.

It was pure iron without any carbon left.

In just over 20 minutes, all the carbon had escaped from such a large amount of pig iron.

This was very shocking news for the craftsmen who had been struggling to produce steel.

“With this iron… we can easily make steel.”

One of the craftsmen muttered, and their leader nodded his head.

That was why they had been doing puddling all this time.

Even if they made wrought iron by decarburizing pig iron, they had to check the carbon content each time and do puddling accordingly because it varied every time.

But if they could always make pure iron with no carbon, it would be a different story.

They could produce steel with the desired carbon content by adding a fixed amount of carbon at the end of the process.

The craftsmen decided quickly after exchanging these conversations.

“Let’s try putting some in.”

They continued to experiment by adding carbon-containing materials.

As the experiment progressed, data accumulated, and soon high-quality steel prototypes began to emerge.

“Hahaha! Now we don’t have to do that annoying puddling anymore!”

“Not only that? From now on, a huge amount of steel will pour out!”

Only then did they enjoy their true success.

***

“Your Majesty, the Minister of Industry is here.”

“Hmm?”

He was working in his office when he suddenly heard that the Minister of Industry had come. Kim Ki-woo tilted his head.

He usually communicated his intentions to Kim Ki-woo through an aide and met him without disturbing Kim Ki-woo’s time.

‘He must have something urgent.’

If it had been someone like the Minister of Public Security or the Minister of Health who visited him out of nowhere, he would have been anxious, but he didn’t think that the Minister of Industry would bring bad news.

Kim Ki-woo organized his thoughts and opened his mouth.

“Let him in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Then, the Minister of Industry rushed in.

“Your Majesty!”

“Haha. What’s going on? Why are you sweating so much? You should think about your age.”

“I apologize. I wanted to deliver this good news to you as soon as possible.”

“You could have told me through an aide… Well, what’s the news?”

Of course, he could have done as Kim Ki-woo said, but he wanted to deliver this news personally.

He didn’t waste any time on words and got straight to the point.

“The furnace, we finally produced high-quality steel from the furnace.”

Snap!

“Is that true?”

“Why would I lie to you? This is all true.”

“Hahaha! Yes. That’s how it should be.”

“Yes, Your Majesty! They say we can produce a huge amount of steel in a short time!”

Then it was certain that the furnace was completed.

Kim Ki-woo shouted out loud.

“Aide!”

Then an aide quickly entered his office.

“You called me, Your Majesty.”

“I’m going to Black Sky right now.”

“Do you mean to go there yourself?”

“Yes. The production of steel is a great innovation for our Wakan Tanka Empire. I have to see it with my own eyes.”

He asked the Minister of Industry, who answered firmly.

He had been doing puddling before the Bessemer process was developed, which divided the history of the world into before and after. The furnace was a technology that changed the world.

Kim Ki-woo wanted to witness that historic scene in person.

“I’ll prepare for it.”

“Good. Prepare as quickly as possible.”

Of course, he needed to prepare for safety as he did on his last family trip, but he managed to leave for Black Sky in just a week.