by Peter Rhodan
There was something happening pretty much everywhere at the iron works. Workmen were adding some sort of flue to where the gases had previously exited from the original coke oven temporarily out of use while the work was done, while next to it the new, larger, coke oven glowed with heat as it did its work. There were now rail lines running here and there throughout the works and specially marked walking paths had been laid out throughout the works to help prevent accidents in the plant where visibility was caused by the incessant smoke and steam.
One of the original two locomotives come huffing past them towing a single large wagon which what looked like a giant earthenware cooking pot on the back. They were not close enough for Arturo to see which of the original locomotives it was but it was a sign of how quickly things were going that one of the original locomotives had already been relegated to working in the iron works rather than out on the main lines.
Ceri was in his work shed and when Arturo and his party arrived he found his friend had been joined by Lewarth from the iron works at Wern and a couple of other fellows who Arturo did not recognise but were clearly on friendly terms with Ceri and his chief foreman. Behind the men stood a new engine, incorporating a new boiler design about which Arturo had been informed the last time he had chatted to Ceri. The boiler was not a great deal bigger than the one used on the original engine they had just seen with it being just a little bigger in diameter and a little longer but it had more tubes inside apparently. The principal difference between the old and new engines was that instead of one big rear driving wheel it had two wheels. They were not that much bigger than the wheel at the front under the cylinders but were joined together by a rod.
Ceri smiled and came forward to greet Arturo with and arm clasp. “Ceri, this is the Lady Morghanna of the Selgovae and her senior advisor Udo. Morghanna this is my friend Ceri, iron master of Dervent.” They nodded to each other and then advanced closer to the engine.
Ceri turned to Arturo. “I took your advice about having two smaller driving wheels connected by a rod. It took us a while to work out how to do it and keep the wheels balanced but we finally got it working. Only I found the weight at the front too much so added the leading wheel after lengthening the frame. Bit of a hash job but between the slightly larger boiler and the higher steam pressure she can pull almost half as much again compared to one of the current engines.”
“Looks impressive. Are you going to standardise on this design then?” Arturo asked.
“For the goods engines, yes. I think for the passenger trains I will still go with a single large driving wheel and put another small carrying wheel at the back under the cab. These latest boilers being bigger and heavier mean they need that bit more support. We are having problems with making the copper tubes long enough to make the boilers any longer. We’ll get that sorted out at some point. Lubrication of the axles and connecting rods is still an issue, especially if the engines start running faster. And these smaller wheels rotate faster even though the engine won’t be driven as fast as the passenger locomotives.”
Arturo smiled. “I see. I really don’t know much about lubrication, I’m sorry. I think better lubricants will need oil or perhaps tar but I’m not sure I’m sorry. I’m afraid you are finding my limitations my friend. Perhaps you can experiment with different distillation methods for the coal tar you are producing. Just an idea but that is what you practical types are for you know, to come up with answers to problems. My job is to just throw ideas at you!”
Ceri laughed. Lewarth had been listening and smiled at this too. Arturo said to him. “And how is your iron works progressing Lewarth”
Lewarth shook his head. “Nothing like this place. But we do all right. We have even built our first little steam engine recently, so this fellow does not have a monopoly anymore.”
“Good.” Arturo replied and after a smile at Ceri said to Lewarth. “I will be down in a month or so when the Romulus commissions. I have a couple of ideas involving steam engines I want to put to you then.”
Lewarth looked surprised. “What, something this fellow does not know about?”
Arturo nodded. “He’s been getting too set up in his own self esteem you know...” At this point Arturo had to dodge a fake blow from Ceri. “See what I mean. Striking the Primarius of the Concillium Romanum. No respect at all you notice Anyway, there are two different projects I want you to work on but I am still fiddling with a few points so I will wait till then before putting both ideas to you.”
Lewarth seemed a bit disappointed at the delay but also happily surprised he was being given first go at two new ideas. Ceri smiled knowingly, well aware of Arturo’s desire to spread the new technology around. Besides he knew full well that Arturo would still favour him, both because he was Arturo’s friend, but also because his was the largest and most advanced works.
Arturo nodded to both of the ironmasters. “Actually, I am glad you are here today Lewarth. I have another idea for the both of you. You have both seen the wood lathes that have been set up powered by small steam engines?”
They both nodded. “I have sold several small engines to local lumber men for just that purpose.“ Ceri offered.
“Good. Well the next step, now that you are getting a handle on rapid rotations and lubrication…“ And Arturo grinned as he pointed at the new locomotive standing nearby. “Is to build a similar lathe but one that is used to shape metal. And in particular Lewarth, to bore a hole through a length of metal thus creating a pipe in effect.”
“Now that is an interesting idea!” Ceri commented, looking far more enthusiastic over this idea than the problems with lubrication. He looked at the steam engine and back to Arturo. “Yes. I can think of a lot of advantages already.”
Lewarth seemed a little slower on the uptake but then nodded, a smile forming on his face and his eyes gleaming in anticipation as he began thinking of numerous uses just as Ceri was. “Why haven’t I thought of this?” Ceri asked in an annoyed voice.
“I don’t know.” Arturo said then continued in a deadpan speaking style. “I’ve been wondering that for some time. Why I thought I better give you a nudge.”
Ceri looked sharply at him then laughed. “Oh, aye, a nudge is it? Well these things always seem obvious after you have shown them to us, but they ain’t so obvious beforehand.”
Lewarth looked at the two of them amused by the byplay. Arturo turned to Morghanna. “I’ve found these iron working chaps a bit slow on the uptake at times.’ He broke off to dodge another mock blow. “Now, now. There are ladies present you know.”
Ceri snorted but then seemed to be struck by a thought. “That ‘ill mean we’ll be able to produce valves and such much faster and to finer tolerances, because the parts will be locked in a lathe and done to fixed distances by the machinery, rather than moulded then ground smooth. Oh yes. This is going to be interesting my friend!” He said and clasped Arturo on the shoulder, a beaming smile on his face.
“So, when is this beast going into operation?” Arturo asked waving vaguely in the direction of the steam engine.
“In a week, but not with the North Britannia. These gentlemen are from a group of landowners down south who have plenty of coal and iron on their lands and have pooled to together to form the Cymryth Mining and Railway Company. This is to be their first engine. These men have been sent to learn how to operate and maintain it before taking it south and putting it to work, first in building their lines from the junction with the North Britannia and then hauling their minerals.”
“I see. I am impressed gentlemen. Are you planning to build more of these, would you call them freight engines?”
Ceri nodded. “Oh yes. The North Britannia has ordered four so far, the first of which we have started on already next door.” He waved at the eastern wall. “And I am already thinking about an improved version although that will have to wait till after we have built the freight engines and two new passenger engines. Plus, a smaller version designed for working in works such as these wi
th cramped clearances and also ones to work in goods yards and such. It will have tanks on the side of the boiler to hold water and a basic coal bunker at the back of the cab so while the range will be short it won’t need a tender and will be able to operate in either direction more easily.”
Arturo nodded. “Ah. Interesting. It is good demand is picking up.” He paused and appeared as if struck by some thought. “Here Ceri, I have another thought for you.” And he waved his hand to draw the iron master to one side. “You too Lewarth.” He added when that worthy made no attempt to follow, simply looking peeved instead. The invitation to join them made the man smile.
“All right. Here is another idea for you. A rolling mill. You have rollers made of metal forming a long bed. At key points one of them is powered, probably by a belt drive, so it rotates continually. On this your hot metal pigs roll and are taken through points where they are flattened, narrowed and so forth but the rollers keep them moving. So, for instance, a lump of steel is first taken through a vertical constriction point formed from two heavy powered rollers, one top and the other bottom. This squeezes the metal down to the right height. You may need a couple more to get down to say the height of a piece of rail line track. Then it gets rolled forward to say where there is a height restricted point with side rollers that narrow it down to the width to a rail, again you may need more than one and then finally another that narrows the centre section and leaves you with a length of finished rail that then gets rolled to another point where the holes for the joint plates are punched through.”
The two men looked at him aghast. He smiled at the looks on their faces. “Not something you can throw up tomorrow but think about it. I’ve only ever seen a representation of such a facility, not the real thing so it will take some experimentation I would think but eventually you will have a facility that can produce rails or beams or other large metal objects pretty much continuously at speed and with consistent precision.” He reached out and put a hand on each man’s shoulder.
“You will probably find that you need to break it up into sections and even perhaps organise it in reverse parallel the lines, so that the first narrowing is on runners in one direction then at the end the iron is moved across to the next going back the other direction and at the end of that it is taken to a third set of runners going back the other way again. This is just a thought. You practical chaps will have to work the details.” He beamed at them. They both looked boggled. He took his hands off their shoulders and took a pace back.
The two men were obviously struggling with the concept. As Arturo expected Ceri saw the light first. “That is an impressive idea. It will take a lot of work, money, land and probably a lot of trial and error to make practical though.”
Arturo nodded. “Yes. And the details are not something I will be able to help with much, but you have the basic concept now, so it gives you something to work towards. I think there will probably need to be a heating station somewhere too to reheat the iron, but again, I’m not sure as I have no practical experience.”
They both nodded and Arturo led them back to the waiting Morghanna. Ceri then had a few words with the waiting men and left them with his foreman to begin learning about their new toy. Leading the party across the works he brought them to a brick building of clearly recent construction. That it was fairly new was obvious from the still not entirely soot coloured tiles on the roof. Inside were a several drop forges, or at least that is what Arturo thought they were at first.
As they approached the one closest to the door they had entered through Arturo realised the forge was a little different. The workman operating it took a piece of flat metal and put it in the forge and then the rounded block dropped and retracted. From the hollow the man pulled out what looked for all the world like a cook pot.
A young fellow pushing a cart was moving from station to station collecting the finished products and after visiting all four stations, disappeared out another doorway. The whole building had large doorways along the sides and the far end which Arturo decided were to allow air blow through helping to cool the place.
New sheets of flattened metal came in through one of the doorways on a flat rail wagon, using a track set into the flagged surface of the floor that Arturo had not realised were there before the wagon arrived. The flooring was the new heavy floor tiles coming out of the ceramic works nearby that had grown substantially as well in recent times. This was the first use of the product on a large scale that Arturo had seen.
Ceri brought them to the work station and they watched the obviously now rather nervous workman feed his machine and produce the pot. At the next station the machine was making round flat bottomed pans and at the third the man was producing metal trays. The noise was loud and continuous which prevented casual conversation and Arturo noticed the workers appeared to have buds of something in their ears. Good man. He thought to himself glancing Ceri’s way. He tapped his ear and nodded at Ceri with a smile. Ceri nodded back with a smile as well.
Once outside Ceri said to Lewarth. “Yet another idea you can pinch old man!” Lewarth appeared to splutter and be about to remonstrate but Ceri forestalled him “Just kidding. The boss here wants all these ideas spread around. The key is having the metal flattened evenly and die cut to a fixed size. I don’t know whether you picked it up or not, but those machines were double acting. First the piece of metal is secured then the heavy block force moulds it to the shape then almost immediately the second block die cuts it.”
Lewarth nodded and seemed mollified by the detailed description. “I thought that was what was happening, but it was so fast plus being too loud to ask in there. Impressive. Very impressive.”
“Thanks. The finished products still need to be cleaned up which is laborious work. Then handles added but we can produce them in quantity and at a cheap cost and already we are selling them like fish sauce.”
The Romans liked this peculiar fish sauce which Arturo found not particularly appealing. Fortunately, the current decline in the fortunes of the Empire meant that it was hard to get and used only by the most Romanised people on special occasions. But the stuff had entered the language, in this case being used to mean something that sells very quickly.
Arturo pointed to his ears. “I saw the ear buds. Very good my friend. Probably won’t prevent hearing loss completely but it will help. Make note of that Lewarth.” The older man nodded so Arturo turned to Morghanna. “Did your people bring many pots and such like with them?”
She shook her head. “Pots and pans were low on the priority.”
He nodded and turned back to Ceri. “I’ll take the next thousand pots you produce my friend. Send me the bill.”
Ceri looked at him keenly for a second, his glance flicked to Morghanna and the back. “Certainly Arturo. And the order is on the house.”
“No, no. I am happy to pay.”
Ceri smiled. “Yes. I know you are. But allow me to do something to repay you in part for all this!” And he waved his arm indicating the now sizable iron works. At least sizable by Roman standards. “I will have them shipped to the goods shed at Lugowalion and you can distribute them to your people from there my Lady.” He offered, bringing Morghanna into the conversation.
She seemed surprised at the generosity but nodded, first to Arturo and then to Ceri. “You are both being most generous for my poor people. I do not know how I will be able to repay you for all this. First taking my people in and now providing us with cooking implements as well as the food to go in them.” She actually seemed a little overwhelmed by everything.
Arturo smiled at her discomfit. “It is nothing Lady Morghanna. And besides, by our actions we place you under an obligation which I hope will lead to better relations between the Empire and the Selgovae, hopefully a friendship where we do not have to worry about being invaded yet again.”
Morghanna smiled at him in a way that indicated she appreciated the straight talking he had done, not trying to make his generosity appear to be anything other than i
t was. “You had already earned my thanks Dux. Once my brother has reclaimed our lands I will try and persuade him to make a permanent peace between our peoples.”
“That would be nice Lady Morghanna.” Arturo replied. Having a firm treaty with the Selgovae combined with the friendly relations with the Votandi, especially with young Corotoc serving in the army would mean he could embark on southern adventures and even continental ones knowing his rear was secure. Especially with the new warships patrolling the Hibernian Sea and hopefully keeping the Scotti at bay.
“May I invite you to dinner at my house Lady Morghanna?” Ceri asked smiling. “I think the Mair and his wife will come and perhaps one or two others. With Arturo here of course and hopefully Oween and his wife Briffet.”
Morghanna glanced Arturo’s way before answering with a smile. “That would be very nice. Thank you Master Ceri.”
The Mair, Vellgern, was accompanied not only by his wife Afric but also their daughter Keelia, the carpenter Mabwhen and his wife Lynette with whom Ceri had become good friends since his arrival in Dervent, as well as Oween and Briffet, their child having been left in charge of Briffet’s maid.
The dinner went well with Morghanna seemingly enjoying herself. Ceri had seated her opposite Arturo for the dinner. Like most everyone he had adopted the table and chairs approach to eating that Arturo had introduced. Arturo found himself watching Morghanna whenever her attention was elsewhere at the table but when he considered all the problems of such a relationship he sighed mentally and tried dismiss his growing attraction to someone who was to him still little more than a schoolgirl and less than half his age.
About three quarters of the way through the evening he realised that Ceri was quite taken with the Mair’s daughter and that she was not averse to his attentions. There was nothing overt, but Arturo knew his friend and his interest in young Keelia was quite obvious once he had realised! It was his own distraction with the lady across the table from him that had caused him to be so slow on the uptake.
