When his line of sight was blocked, Roland coughed twice and then had to look back to those paintings on the desk once more.
Initially, Anna had tried to completely embedded the wheel in the water. However, this way meant it would become difficult to observe the wheel’s position when it came close to the shore, making it easy for it to hit the pier or the dock.
She then put the wheel at the back end of the ship — which was the standard practice, but with this the transmission setting became much more complex, after all, the bulky steam engine was not suitable to be placed at the end of the hull. In that way, the drive shaft and gearbox would end up occupying quite a huge part of the hull.
When Roland saw drawings of her newest concept, he once again couldn’t help himself from exclaiming in admiration for his counterparts keen thinking capability.
The sketch Anna was currently considering came infinitesimally close to the single-axis propeller layout; the steam engine was set at the bottom of the hull and the drive shaft extended out of the hull to below the waterline. To its end, she had connected four square blades, which gave it an appearance that was similar to a windmill.
“I do not know if it can be done this way,” she hesitated. “but, it’s reasonable to say that by keeping the paddle at tilt, it can produce horizontal pushing force. However, by reducing the wheel to our blades, I do not know if it can generate enough power to move the ship.”
“Of course it would be possible, it just needs a slight modification.” Roland took the quill out of Anna’s hand, and draw the propeller’s original design, “Compared to a windmill shape, this shape of the blade is more suitable for rotating within the water. Your train of thought is entirely correct, but the contractual requirement is to transform the ship into a paddler, so we will still keep with the first method — this has nothing to do with technology, it is simply a business strategy.” He paused and then asked,” I’m going to measure the hull, do you want to come with me? ”
Anna blinked her blue eyes, “Uh-huh!”
…
“Nightingale?”
When Anna followed the Prince to the door, she saw that Nightingale was still looking at those blueprints on the table, making it unable for her to not open her mouth.
“Ah, you can go first, I’ll come around immediately.”
While holding the sketches in her hand Nightingale repeatedly compared them, coming to the conclusion:
The merchant fleet followed a branch of the Redwater River on its way north and after passing Silver City entered into the Grand Canal to King’s City.
Theo remembered that he had once read in the “Chronicles of Graycastle” that two hundred years ago, everything around here had been a wasteland. In order to transport the mined silver in the nearby mines back to King’s City, Wimbledon I had summoned stonemasons and nearly ten thousand handymen. After 20 time-consuming years spent digging, they finally opened a direct connection between the silver mines and King’s City. However, during the construction process a new city had also gradually formed itself around the silver mines, which was then later named Silver City by the late king.
But the scene that unfolded itself in front of him was completely different from the view of 200 years ago; this was no longer a wasteland. Instead, both sides had now been covered with lush farmland, that slowly transformed itself into a village. Seeing this scene made Theo think of the Kingdom Avenue which connected Border Town and Longsong Stronghold. When that road was finished, he believed that the surroundings hills would also become more densely populated.
“I heard you that you have previously already lived in King’s City?” Suddenly a woman’s voice sounded from behind him.
When Theo turned his head, he saw that the voice belonged to Margaret, the owner of the caravan, he nodded, “Before I became a palace guard, I have been living in the inner city.”
“How do you feel about returning to your old home?”
“Honestly speaking, not bad,” he said, “if it were not for the order of His Royal Highness, I’d rather stay in Border Town. Although King’s City seems to be such a lively place, it makes people develop a suffocating feeling living there.”
“Is that so?” Margaret smiled, “how much do you know about His Highness Roland?”
“What’s going on?” Hearing this question let his heart slightly shiver with cold.
