Chapter 64 - Chapter 64: Trapezoidal Thread
Somewhere in the Yellow Empire, two men were having a secret meeting.
"There is a growing recognition within the Empire that the recent development of the Kingdom of Cascade is remarkable, but the Foreign Affairs faction still holds the sweet thought that they want to enjoy the benefits through discussion."
"His Majesty is also advanced in age, and he does not wish for anything more during his reign, devoting himself solely to fiddling with garden flowers, and no longer holds the thought that if something is in front of him, he should just take it."
"Expansion and domination around here should be the Empire's national policy, shouldn't it? Yet, with something delicious hanging right in front of them, to show no interest in it..."
The men were the Minister of Industry and the Vice Minister responsible for industrial policy in the Yellow Empire.
They had received reports from spies infiltrated into the Kingdom of Cascade regarding the remarkable development of technology, including steam locomotives, and were being blamed by other factions for what the Empire's Minister of Industry intended to do about the responsibility of falling behind.
While it was possible to see the results of the steam locomotive, if one tried to reproduce it, there were too many technologies the Kingdom of Cascade was keeping secret, making reproduction impossible just by looking from the outside.
However, that was taken only as an excuse, and the positions of the Minister and Vice Minister had become precarious.
So, their thought was to start a war and seize the opponent's technology, but the current Emperor of the Empire was old, so his ambition had vanished, and for the remainder of his reign, he did not intend to make big moves so as not to tarnish his late years.
"The military is the same. One of the Suit Knights who governs the East, the Knight of Sword, was killed, yet to let that pass without saying anything..."
"The East also has the front lines spread out too wide, and it seems they cannot focus solely on the Kingdom of Cascade. However, isn't that precisely what should be criticized as incompetence?"
Those in the class of Empire ministers knew that the Sword Knights Order had sent a Knight to the Kingdom of Pasture. And they were also informed that the Knight had died at the Sword Knights Order garrison located in the eastern part of the Empire.
The Kingdom of Cascade had not announced that they had defeated the Knight, but the Empire had grasped the battle at Adams Land, and analyzed that the Kingdom of Cascade was not announcing it to avoid it becoming a diplomatic issue because the Knight was killed within Empire territory. And that was indeed the case.
The interests of the Empire, which did not want to announce that they had instigated the Kingdom of Pasture, and the Kingdom of Cascade, which wanted to announce that the Empire was involved but could not announce it because the place where the Knight was killed was too bad, coincided, and while it was not made public, those involved knew. That was the current situation.
Therefore, the Sword Knights Order could not hold a public revenge battle, and furthermore, from the maintenance of public order in the eastern part of the Empire and preparation for foreign countries, the peace of the Kingdom of Cascade was being maintained.
So, as the Minister of Industry, he thought he should induce a revenge battle of the Sword Knights Order, place the Kingdom of Cascade under control, and seize its technology.
It was not that the Empire's industrial technology was lagging, but the Kingdom of Cascade, which knew that the answer lay in the knowledge Steve possessed, was developing abnormally, so catching up was a very cruel story, but the factional politics within the Empire did not consider such reasons. Weak factions were thoroughly beaten down; this was the way to make one's own faction larger.
After sighing, the Minister took out a bolt and nut from his pocket.
"Only these seem like they can be imitated."
"If it's screws, processing should be possible even in the Empire, but riding on their specifications is intolerable."
"Vice Minister, I entrust you with the formulation of screw specifications."
"Understood. At least we must make this lead to our profits."
The Vice Minister intended to profit from the screw specifications and enrich his private purse. Everyone had a good sense of smell for this kind of privilege, and the Vice Minister was no exception. If the state sets rules, new privileges are born there. He had risen to the position of Vice Minister with the ability to cash that in for himself. Creating such a mechanism for the man who became Minister due to his family background was a natural job.
While the Minister of Industry of the Yellow Empire was plotting to make a fortune with screw specifications, Steve was trying out various screws with Nick and Cyril.
"Wakasama, mass production of the previous self-tapping screws and bolts and nuts is still not done, and now it's this trapezoidal thread thing?"
"Do you have complaints?"
"No, processing is fun, but as Factory Manager, having multiple varieties of products I haven't experienced before makes me feel various fears."
Nick was thinking about mass production while processing. If defects increase, his work increases. To prevent defects, work increases.
They were in a situation where they made triangular screws and delivered them to the Royal Research Institute to register the specifications, and Steve said he would make trapezoidal screws this time.
Triangular screws are screws we generally see, and trapezoidal screws are screws with a trapezoidal cross-section used in vises, etc. There is a big difference in angle between triangular screws and trapezoidal screws. They have less wear and are suitable for converting screw rotation into linear motion.
As we create new industrial machinery from now on, trapezoidal screws will be an indispensable existence.
Steve and Cyril were also prototyping a vice for the drill press, and they were using trapezoidal screws when fixing products with that vice. This time, it was a prototype to reproduce it using a lathe other than Steve.
If it could be rolled, mass production would be easy, but currently, there is no rolling machine for making screws. Since there is anxiety about strength in casting, it is cutting by lathe.
"Self-tapping screws already have orders from the Industrial Guild, so there will be work for the next few years. Emmanuel is also complaining about adjusting the delivery order."
"That's convenient, so carpenters will want it."
"It's good that tool drivers are selling well too."
Self-tapping screws were mainly used for fixing wood. Unlike nails, they are easy to remove, so demand exploded at once.
When the Royal Research Institute asked the Industrial Guild to think about usage methods, the reputation spread in an instant.
However, the Royal Research Institute did not have mass production know-how, so business negotiations came to Steve, the inventor. And Steve was not ready for mass production either, and was selling things made with magic like clothespins. And tool drivers were also made with magic. The grip part is wooden, so it is produced at the factory, assembled, and then shipped, so there was profit at the factory too.
In the future, he wants to make drivers by forging and let them go from Steve's hands.
"However, Wakasama, you came up with such screws well. I have been working in the workshop all this time, and I never thought there would be something this good."
"I feel that too. Is Lord's idea a realm that ordinary people cannot reach?"
Praised by Nick and Cyril, Steve was at a loss for a response.
Not everything was thought up by Steve, but by past geniuses on Earth, so he was full of the feeling that it was strange to make it his own achievement.
"Maybe the feeling of wanting to improve people's lives. It has become more convenient. Maybe it's like 'if it exists, it's here'."
He tried saying something like a company catchphrase, but Nick and Cyril were impressed, and Steve became even more embarrassed.
"Just like the steam locomotive, if the steamship currently under development is put into practical use, our lives will become even richer."
Cyril is also involved in the steamship currently under development. It is the world's first ship equipped with a steam turbine and screw propeller. It is not yet at a level that can be used for ocean navigation, and is purely a prototype development product as technical accumulation.
"I hope so. Humans tend to use technology for war immediately."
"Wakasama really hates war, doesn't he?"
"Isn't it natural. People don't like killing each other. Moreover, not just soldiers, but common civilians suffer too. It's strange for someone to want to do that."
Steve was always anti-war, and he had no intention of achieving further military merit from here.
However, if we go back in history, almost all technological development has to do with war, and even looking at screw specifications, there was a background that they were made because they were needed in war.
"Well, certainly, it's more fun and good to go on a trip than to go to war on that train. Because the background of laying it is war preparation, I want you not to forget the background of Wakasama coming up with that."
"Absolutely. I thought it was created to make people's lives convenient, but I'm sorry if it ends up taking lives."
Steve was thinking about military conversion, so he had not told the manufacturing method of gunpowder. He did not want to have the anguish like Nobel.
However, gunpowder also existed in this world, it was just not mass-produced. Therefore, it had not yet spread to the Kingdom of Cascade or the Yellow Empire, and combat with swords and magic was common.
Contrary to Steve's thoughts, railway laying has become the military's job. Because rapid railway laying is required even in occupied territories. Therefore, there are many winding rails near military garrisons. Technicians belonging to the military are commanding the laying using slaves.
"Since commercial use of railways started, it seems requests for railway laying are coming from the east and south too."
"Because of the novelty, it seems to be making money. Just, rails are good, but there aren't enough steam locomotives, so there are operation problems."
There were problems with the number of steam locomotives themselves and the shortage of drivers. The number of steam locomotives can be created by Steve with magic, but when driving them, drivers must be trained, and the reality is that training is not keeping up.
"At first, it's okay to have trolleys like our territory."
Archibalt Territory was still operating trolleys. When Christina, Abigail, and Sherry move, dedicated trolleys are used. Also, since it was impossible to operate schedules, the territory is double-tracked.
"Won't the Factory Manager prepare a dedicated trolley?"
"Is it necessary when factories are clustered like this?"
"My subordinate got really fond of it when he rode a trolley with Abigail-sama the other day. He says he wants one."
"If you do it with your own salary, it's fine. I'll report the rail usage to Father."
"Hiring laborers is the problem."
"Why don't you drive it yourself for your wife?"
"Driving that alone is tough."
"Then how about moving it as a couple?"
"I'll be kicked out of the house."
"It seems Nick's couple problem won't be solved, so let's go back to screw processing."
"Yes."
Trolleys don't shake as much as carriages, so for moving only to fixed places, they are better than carriages. Previously, I presented a suspension to prevent carriage shaking to the King, but since high costs are needed to reproduce it, it is not popularizing for now.
And Steve himself mostly uses teleportation for movement, so he doesn't feel like improving the inconvenience of carriages.
"I think you understand, but this trapezoidal screw is a screw for accurately moving forward and backward, so the accuracy required is different from self-tapping screws where it's enough not to come off."
"I didn't intend to cut corners even with self-tapping screws."
Nick, with the pride of a craftsman, does not cut corners no matter what. Hearing Nick's rebuttal, Steve regretted that he had misspoken.
"It's not Nick's feeling, but the selection of cutting oil is the problem. We have to choose which cutting oil to use."
"I know that. I didn't know oil could make such a difference."
Cutting processing itself was new, and there was no know-how about what kind of cutting oil was appropriate. Even Steve had just used what the manufacturer had lined up because his father told him, and he didn't know why he chose it.
The father's generation had few types of cutting oil, and machines were general-purpose, so they hand-fed cutting oil, and they had been doing this for a long time, comparing new and old with manufacturers to see which to use.
Nowadays, high-speed cutting of stainless steel is natural, but there were times when it wasn't natural, and fewer people know that today exists on top of the hardships of that time.
And Steve is experiencing those hardships now.
Handling only NC and neglecting general-purpose has called for hardships here. Steve wants to ask his father from his previous life for teaching again, but regret comes too late.