4th June 1674
The sound of a heavy hamr crashing onto a tal plate was constantly heard in the outhouse of the Shourya Royal Palace. Within the outhouse, a young boy around 14 or 15 years old was constantly moving the tal, as the hamr repeatedly struck it right on its head.
"Your Highness, Her Majesty is calling you for lunch," a maid walked in and inford in a respectful tone.
The boy looked at the maid, then back at the iron plate he was working on. A look of reluctance appeared on his face, but rembering the beatings he had gotten a month ago, he put aside the tal plate, turned off the massive steam engine, and followed the maid.
Around an hour later, the boy, who was none other than Vedant, ca back to the outhouse with an expression of eagerness. Looking at the large clock at the corner of the house, he moved, "Now then, I should get started with the assembly," he said as he rubbed his hands in excitent.
Vedant was almost done shaping the tal like he desired, with only a single Blade left to work with.
Putting on his apron, his gloves, and his glasses, he went to the steam engine, started it up, and once again he stood in front of the hamring machine, and pulled a few levers. Vedant started working on the piece of tal once again as the hamr fell down repeatedly.
The hamring machine was only one of a dozen different machines in the shop that were capable of being powered by the steam engine, either through a belt-driven system or a chain-driven system.
As Vedant worked, tal sparks flew in all directions. The piece of tal in his hands turned red hot from the constant beating, and without missing a beat, he switched from gloves to tongs and continued hamring it into the desired shape.
Finally, he pulled the clutch in the hamring machine, which stopped the hamr from beating, and quickly quenched the tal part in oil after inspecting that it had reached the required shape.
Vedant turned off the steam engine and took out 5 of the best Blades, similar to the one he just produced, out of the pile of several dozen Blades he had been producing for the last few months.
He didn’t know how to shape tal in a uniform manner, and he did not even rember if there was such a machine that could do it for him, so he had to try again and again until he was satisfied with the result, and thankfully, after months of effort, all six Blades of his propeller fit together perfectly.
Vedant put the Blades together where their ends had circular holes with a pipe-like protrusion, the size in descending order, so all the Blades could fit within each other while locking out each other, making for a snug fit.
He ca up with this design after he saw a toy in the market where a solid steel block is cut right at the middle, and the cut piece fits right into the space, almost becoming seamless with the body.
Anyway, after fitting the propeller, he tried to lift it, but he couldn’t; it was too heavy..." Oh well."
Not disappointed, Vedant brought forward a crane-like machine, attached the propeller to its chain, and spun the gears to the side; the pulley chanism on the crane moved as it quickly lifted the propeller off the ground.
Vedant brought the propeller to his shoulder height and proceeded to inspect each and every detail with a keen eye.
As he guessed, he did notice so imperfections in the parts, but he was not discouraged; instead, he was happy because the imperfections were not too big, and they could be corrected easily. He lowered the propeller system right onto the platform of the grinding machine and took the propeller apart, one Blade at a ti.
Vedant quickly removed the belt which drove the hamr machine and connected the chain drive system which drove the grinding machine.
Putting on a larger pair of glasses on top of his already existing glasses, he started the steam engine, which spun the grinding machine at a high speed.
Vedant set the right speed of grinding and got to grinding the individual Blades. Sparks flew on his apron, but he did not flinch, he was already used to them.
His gaze was extrely focused, looking heroic, making sure that the part turned out exactly like he wanted.
In such a way, one blade after another, all six blades were processed at a rapid speed, by evening, everything was completed.
The maid called him for dinner, and he had to put down his work and go back to the palace. He would be enrolling in college in a few days, so he didn’t have too much ti on his hands to complete his ’little project,’ he had to hurry up. Thankfully most of the things were already done.
The next day, Vedant reassembled all the Blades into one another, all the Blades fit like a Lego piece, it was perfect.
Agni quickly attached the Blades onto an axle-like rod, connected to a crankshaft-like system, and he installed the propeller inside the lake right outside the outhouse.
His heart was racing, he reconfigured the steam engine and connected the flywheel of the steam engine to the crankshaft-like chanism of the propeller.
Looking at the finished build, he finally nodded in satisfaction, "It’s a pity that I cannot take out the sun and planet gear system in the steam engine, it is definitely more efficient if a crank system is used instead, but this will do for now...." He does not have enough ti or expertise to co up with a crankshaft alternative to replace the sun and planet gear, flywheel, and beam design in the Kesari engine.
Letting out a deep breath and praying to Lord Ganesha, Vedant finally turned on the steam engine once again, this ti being extra careful, as nearly a year of hard work, going from theoretical designs, project designs, modelling, to the actual thing, was about to co into fruition.
The powerful Kesari engine, capable of outputting 35 horsepower, roared to life with a loud buzz.
Vedant pulled a few levers and transferred the power of the steam engine into the crankshaft in the lowest and the slowest gear.
The crankshaft creaked in pain, but it did turn.
The propeller placed inside the water turned as well, slowly pushing out water from one end of the pond to another.
Vedant didn’t increase the speed; instead, he went forward cautiously and inspected the joint made of the crankshaft.
His crankshaft was not completely straight, since the propeller had to be placed in water, he had no other choice but to tilt the crankshaft by a few degrees.
Finding the right balance was difficult. If he tilted it too much, the power wouldn’t transfer properly—the crankshaft could even snap into pieces. And even if it did manage to run, the propeller, angled downward, would push the thrust downward instead of backwards, wasting energy and reducing speed. So, he had to keep the angle as low as possible.
To achieve that, the crank had to be over 10 tres long. Any shorter, and the power wouldn’t transfer properly; any longer, and the angle would beco too steep.
Thankfully, the crank system was working perfectly. As he walked near the pond, he didn’t notice any issues with the propellers either.
He finally went back to the steam engine and increased the power output, the speed at which water flowed increased geotrically, and the sound of the crankshaft spinning beca more crisp.
Vedant’s heart began to race. He took cover behind a Loha MV1 steel armour plate and, using a stick, operated the steam engine—sending its full power to the crankshaft.
"BZZZ!!"
The loud rumble was imdiately felt under his feet, the sound of water was no longer calm, it was like a tsunami constantly crashing the shore.
Even the other machines in the outhouse began to tremble.
Vedant was holding the line that could disconnect the power from the steam engine anyti, one small change in the sound was enough for him to pull the line, but apart from a few creaks, no other sounds could be heard, making him relieved. He finally beca determined and decided to peek on the other side of the armour, thinking that at least on the other side, there was one more pillar that could act as a protection.
Looking through the gaps of the pillar and the armour, he was shocked to see the water bursting out of the pool as if it were a water fountain gushing out of the ground due to imnse geothermal pressure.
The amount of water that was being moved was astonishing and a little scary, but still, looking at the sight, Vedant was excited. He finally succeeded in inventing sothing that was prominent.
Turning off the steam engine, he inspected the condition of the crankshaft and the propeller. The propeller was all right, but the crankshaft looked worn, and it looked like if it had been used for a few more days, it would eventually snap.
"Maybe I should use steel after all," he thought, but unfortunately, he could not act on his ideas imdiately. Given that he would be attending college, he would have to end his research and showcase the results for his father to see what he has to say.
To Be continued...
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