Free Web NovelChapter 62: Mobilization of Workers
The workers exchanged looks.
That statement alone was enough to tell them this wasn’t another ordinary forge contract.
Hollen looked around the room.
"You heard him. If Master Ernest says it’s important, then it’s important."
A few of the older smiths chuckled.
At this point, nobody inside the forge questioned Ernest’s strange ideas anymore.
The soap business had cured them of that habit.
Ernest immediately began assigning tasks.
"Johan, Markus, I need the two of you working on the wooden patterns."
The two pattern makers nodded.
Pattern making was the first step of any serious casting project.
No pattern.
No mold.
No casting.
Ernest opened his notebook and flipped to another page.
"The machine frame will be twelve feet long."
Several workers raised their eyebrows.
That was larger than expected.
"It needs to be rigid," Ernest explained. "If the frame bends while we’re cutting, the cylinder won’t be round."
That immediately made sense to the craftsmen.
He pointed to another drawing.
"The frame will use heavy oak beams. Eight inches by eight inches. Iron reinforcement plates here, here, and here."
His finger tapped several locations on the sketch.
The carpenters leaned closer.
One of them scratched his beard.
"That’s going to be heavy."
"Good," Ernest replied.
"I want heavy."
Machine tools weren’t wagons.
They weren’t meant to move.
They were meant to stay perfectly still.
Then he turned toward the blacksmiths.
"The boring shaft will be forged from iron."
One of the smiths frowned.
"One piece?"
"No."
Ernest shook his head.
"Multiple sections joined together."
That made manufacturing much easier.
Forging a single long shaft would be difficult with the forge’s current equipment.
Several shorter sections could be produced separately and joined afterward.
Then came the cutter.
This was one of the most important components.
"The cutting head needs to be adjustable."
The workers looked confused.
Ernest grabbed a piece of charcoal and drew directly on a spare board.
A simple cross-section appeared.
"The cutter sits here."
He pointed.
"And if I move it outward slightly, it cuts a larger diameter."
Understanding slowly spread across the room.
One of the older smiths nodded.
"So one tool can cut different cylinder sizes."
"Exactly."
That immediately saved money.
The forge wouldn’t need separate boring machines for every cylinder diameter.
Then Ernest moved to the next problem.
Power transmission.
"The boring machine will be driven by the factory waterwheel."
Hollen looked surprised.
"The soap factory’s wheel?"
"Yes."
"We already have rotational power available. It would be foolish not to use it."
This was one of the reasons Ernest wanted the boring machine built near the factory rather than the forge.
The waterwheel was already producing power every day.
No additional fuel required.
He quickly sketched a belt drive system.
A large pulley.
A leather belt.
A smaller pulley mounted on the boring shaft.
Several workers stared at the drawing.
One finally spoke.
"Will that actually work?"
"It worked for centuries."
The man blinked.
"Centuries?"
Ernest immediately realized his mistake.
"That’s an expression."
Several workers laughed.
Then came the cylinder supports.
These were just as important as the cutter itself.
The iron casting had to remain perfectly aligned while being machined.
If the cylinder shifted even slightly, the finished bore would be ruined.
"We’ll use adjustable supports."
Another sketch appeared.
Heavy iron brackets.
Wooden blocks.
Clamping bolts.
The more the workers studied the drawings, the more the project stopped looking impossible.
Complicated?
Absolutely.
Expensive?
Definitely.
But impossible?
No.
Every component could be built using existing skills.
That was the key.
Ernest wasn’t introducing magic.
He was introducing organization.
Organization of tools.
Organization of labor.
Organization of manufacturing.
Finally, he placed the notebook down.
"The objective isn’t just to build this machine."
The room grew quiet.
"The objective is to learn how to build precision machines."
That got everyone’s attention.
Even Hollen stopped joking.
Ernest pointed toward the sketch of the steam engine.
"That machine is the destination."
Then he pointed toward the boring machine.
"This one is the road that gets us there."
For several moments nobody spoke.
Then one of the senior smiths grinned.
"Well then, Master Ernest."
He rolled up his sleeves.
"Let’s build the road."
And they did exactly that.
The meeting ended less than fifteen minutes later.
Everyone immediately dispersed to their assigned tasks.
The two pattern makers immediately claimed a corner of the workshop and began examining large oak boards that would eventually become the patterns used for casting iron components.
Nearby, the carpenters started measuring timber for the machine frame.
One of them stretched a measuring cord across the floor.
"Twelve feet exactly?"
"Exactly," Ernest replied.
The carpenter nodded and began marking cut locations with charcoal.
Meanwhile, the blacksmiths gathered around the forge.
The boring shaft would be their responsibility.
Several bars of iron had already been laid out on a workbench.
Hollen picked one up.
"This will become part of the shaft?" freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Yes."
"It doesn’t look impressive."
"It doesn’t need to."
Ernest shrugged.
"The shaft isn’t supposed to impress anyone."
"It’s supposed to stay straight."
That earned several chuckles from the workers.
Machine building was often boring.
At least compared to swords.
Nobody admired a perfectly straight shaft.
Nobody celebrated a precisely machined surface.
But those things determined whether a machine worked.
Or failed.
By noon, the forge was operating at full intensity.
Bellows roared.
Hammers struck glowing iron.
Sparks flew through the air.
The workshop felt alive.
Ernest moved from station to station inspecting progress.
At the carpentry section, the first portions of the frame were already taking shape.
Massive oak beams lay across wooden supports.
Iron straps would later reinforce critical sections.
One of the carpenters wiped sweat from his forehead.
"This thing weighs more than a wagon."
"Good."
The carpenter laughed.
"You keep saying that."
"And I’ll keep saying it."
Ernest pointed at the beams.
"When the cutter starts removing metal, I don’t want the frame flexing."
The carpenter nodded.
He understood.
The frame wasn’t furniture.
It was a foundation.
Every part depended on it remaining stable.
A few minutes later, Ernest moved toward the smiths.
There, several workers were heating iron sections that would eventually become the boring shaft.
The metal glowed orange inside the forge.
Then yellow.
Two men pulled it out.
Immediately, hammers began striking.
Each blow shaped the iron closer to its intended dimensions.
Ernest watched carefully.
One advantage of this world was labor.
A modern workshop used machines.
This workshop used people.
Lots of people.
Labor was slower.
But surprisingly flexible.
One of the senior smiths approached him.
"Master Ernest."
"Yes?"
"We’re going to need better measuring tools."
Ernest smiled.
That was exactly what he wanted to hear.
The man wasn’t thinking like a blacksmith anymore.
He was beginning to think like a machinist.
"I know."
The smith frowned.
"You already knew?"
"Of course."
Ernest opened his notebook.
Then flipped several pages.
Inside were rough sketches.
Calipers.
Straightedges.
Measuring gauges.
Templates.
The smith’s eyes widened.
"You’ve already designed them."
"I started last night."
Precision tools were inevitable.
A precision machine couldn’t be built using guesswork.
The workers gathered around the sketches.
Some looked confused.
Others looked intrigued.
One of the younger smiths pointed at the caliper drawing.
"What does this do?"
"It measures."
"That’s it?"
"Accurately."
The young smith blinked.
Apparently that distinction had never occurred to him before.
Ernest laughed.
"Trust me. Once you start using these, you’ll never want to work without them again."
By late afternoon, the workshop floor looked completely different.
Timber had been cut.
Iron had been forged.
Patterns were taking shape.
Notes covered several tables.
For the first time, the boring machine had moved beyond drawings.
It was becoming real. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Hollen walked over and surveyed the activity.
Workers hurried in every direction.
Materials were being moved.
Measurements were being checked.
Plans were being revised.
The entire forge seemed consumed by a single project.
Ernest just mobilized the entire forge for this project.
