"Jimmy, start the engine now."
Jimmy was James Terry's nickname. For the past few months, we had truly put in a lot of effort together to complete Otto's internal combustion engine. The cylinders and pistons were all made by carving brass, and carving this brass was no easy task from the start.
Although brass is a much softer metal than iron, making cylinders and pistons by carving brass with a foot-powered lathe, rather than one connected by a belt to an electric motor or even an engine, was incredibly arduous work.
I didn't know if electric motor-driven lathes had been invented yet, but there was no way to procure one right now. Even if I tried to make one myself, it seemed like developing an internal combustion engine would be faster than making a motor-powered lathe.
As for mechanical lathes right now, there were lathes driven by steam engines connected with belts, but they were massive and produced tremendous noise and smoke, so they weren't objects to be operated in such an upscale residential area.
Ultimately, the only way to run the lathe was for Jimmy to pedal it with his feet. Although Jimmy had a limp, it was because his legs were different lengths, and fortunately, it wasn't to the extent that he couldn't do the pedaling work. So, while it was tiring and time-consuming, it wasn't completely impossible.
Instead, starting next month, I immediately paid Jimmy the $40 monthly salary I had promised to raise after a year as a bonus.
$40 wasn't even half of my daily wage, but since it was the average monthly salary at the time, it wasn't bad pay for 18-year-old Jimmy, and he indeed looked very happy when receiving his salary.
Anyway, hearing my words, Jimmy spun the flywheel connected to the engine vigorously. The flywheel is a device attached next to the crankshaft that preserves the crankshaft's energy to make it move smoothly. In the 21st century, or even by the mid-20th century, it becomes much smaller than now, but currently, it's a massive piece of equipment as big as a decent wheel. Instead, without a separate starter, just spinning the large flywheel starts the engine.
As always, it didn't start right away, but it started on the second try.
At this rate, if I increase the cylinders, a one-shot start might be possible.
Starting isn't the end. It's a success only if it runs for a long time while turned on. Until now, even if it started, there were problems with the carburetor or spark plugs, so it would often turn off before long.
But this time was different. Even after one minute, two minutes passed, the engine didn't turn off and kept running, and even after 10 minutes, 20 minutes passed, the engine kept running.
Jimmy said,
"Congratulations, Henry. It seems you've finally found the proper design."
"I guess the carburetor design was indeed the problem."
"It seems that was indeed the issue. Since gasoline wasn't being vaporized and supplied properly, the engine kept dying."
When Jimmy first worked with me, he knew nothing about the structure of an engine, but after months of wrestling with engines alongside me, he now accurately understood the gasoline internal combustion engine.
"Now that the structural design seems proper, shall we connect a belt and try running the lathe like this?"
"That would be good too. It will be weaker than one properly cast from steel, but it should still be better than pedaling. However, since it's made of brass, we can't use it for long, so we have to be prepared for that."
"I'm already well aware of that. But although brass is weaker than steel, it's a quite tough metal, so it won't be entirely useless."
As the sound of the engine running continued without interruption, people inside the house also came out to watch my first engine.
Dorothy asked,
"Is this that engine thing?"
"Yes, specifically it's Otto's internal combustion engine. It might not look like much right now, but in the future, this will drive out steam engines."
Mom also said,
"You worked so hard, and finally, you made something that runs properly. Are you making that automobile thing with this?"
"It's impossible with this one yet. This is made of brass so it can't withstand strong force. It has to be made of steel."
While I was talking with Mom, Jimmy connected the engine and the lathe with a belt. As Jimmy changed gears, the idling lathe began to spin rapidly.
The employees, including Jimmy's uncle, the gardener, crowded around the engine and lathe.
"So now you don't have to pedal with your feet?"
"Yes, now we don't need to pedal and can run it with the machine."
One maid said,
"Oh my, you and Young Master Henry made this?"
"No, I just carved as asked, and Young Master Henry did all the design."
Mom looked at that and said,
"The lathe really spins fast just as you said. Are you really going to cut steel with that lathe? That will be very hard."
"No. Of course, cutting steel with a lathe like that is too difficult and costly. So we have to produce it by casting."
"You're not planning to build a foundry at home, are you?"
"Unless I build a separate factory later, that's not happening. There are places that specialize in this."
As the machine ran, Jimmy inserted a chunk of brass and started cutting. Certainly, although it wasn't immensely powerful yet, using the machine meant the brass was cut away at a speed incomparable to before without foot pedaling. However, carving brass like that heated up the lathe bit, so we couldn't carve continuously. If the bit got too hot, we stopped operation to let it cool down before resuming work.
Seeing that, another problem came to mind.
Come to think of it, not everything can be solved by casting, and there are items that must be cut with a lathe, so I need to make high-speed steel too.
At this time, all tool bits for work were made of carbon steel. Because of this, when cutting metal like now, the bit would get too hot, forcing work to stop until the bit cooled down completely. If not, the high heat would ruin the bit and work couldn't be done.
So, to increase work efficiency, high-speed steel that doesn't get ruined even when heated to hundreds of degrees was absolutely necessary, but high-speed steel hadn't been developed yet.
But to make high-speed steel, an electric furnace is essential. Is it possible to manufacture high-speed steel with an electric furnace right now?
Fortunately, the ratio for high-speed steel was recorded in the knowledge warehouse in my head. But knowing the ratio doesn't mean it gets made immediately; otherwise, I would have already made a car.
Anyway, I had to postpone the high-speed steel or electric furnace issues for next time and entrust the casting work first.
On the way home after finishing work that day, I asked Dad.
"Dad, isn't there a good foundry nearby?"
"Why, is the engine properly made?"
"Yes, I confirmed it running properly today, but to make a proper item, I indeed have to entrust it to a foundry."
"Still, you're not asking to build casting facilities at home."
"I know that having it at home is useless without technicians."
"Really, who do you take after to be this smart? Alright, I'll find you a good foundry."
Following the warm conversation between father and son, Dad took me and Jimmy to a good foundry the very next day.
I guessed Dad would take us to the north of Manhattan where there were many factories, but the carriage headed towards the harbor south of Wall Street.
"Oh, are there factories here too?"
"There's a harbor here, so there are many factories repairing ships and making parts. So naturally, there are foundries too."
Hearing Dad's words, it made sense. If there is a harbor, it was only natural to have factories repairing ships and making parts.
The carriage stopped in front of a building covered in black grime, and as Dad entered, a booming voice was heard.
"Look who it is. John, what wind blew you here?"
"My son said he needs something made."
The person who welcomed Dad wasn't tall but had broad shoulders and a bushy beard covering his face.
"Aha, so this kid is that rumored Duke. They say your bragging about your son is severe these days, is this kid that genius son?"
"Whether he's a genius or not is for you, Bill, to experience and find out. Just take the order from my son first."
I explained in detail to this person called Bill about the product I was ordering. Bill listened to my explanation, examined my order details meticulously, and discussed a few technical issues with me.
"Hey John, is he really seven years old? Asians look young, but maybe you brought a twenty-seven-year-old by mistake?"
Hearing the praise for me, Dad shrugged his shoulders with a beaming smile.
Bill said to me,
"I understand what you're ordering, but ordering just one like this makes the price expensive. If you plan to make several, it's better to order them together."
In the end, I ordered enough parts to make 20 engines. I had to order not only large parts like cylinders, cylinder heads, pistons, and connecting rods but even bolts and nuts. Normally, even large companies don't make small parts themselves but order from specialized manufacturing factories, but in this era, such factories were lackluster. At first, we visited factories to inquire, but since they absolutely couldn't produce the items we wanted, we had no choice but to make them separately by casting.
I really didn't know I'd be making bolts and nuts by casting.
A few days after returning from placing the order, Jimmy and I were able to make twenty 1-cylinder, 5-horsepower engines.
Except for the fuel tank, the brass pipes to flow the fuel, and the spark plugs, everything was made by us directly.
Tang! Tang! Tang! Tang!
Ringing out the distinctive banging sound of a 1-cylinder engine, our No. 1 engine ran well, and some of them were connected to various fabrication machines like the newly purchased lathe, drilling machine, and boring machine, demonstrating their power.
Dad looked at my No. 1 engine and said,
"At this level, you could just make and sell this engine alone without necessarily making a car. It would be effective enough attached to small spinning machines or weaving machines. Besides, not necessarily textile machines, it could be attached to fabrication machines like yours. How about it, don't you have thoughts of commercializing this separately?"
"Of course, this has enough commercial value as a standalone product. But it won't sell in massive quantities like the automobile I intend to make now."
"You think the future of the automobile is very vast."
"Yes, just look at carriages right now. Are there more carriages in the world? Or more textile machines?"
"Do you mean automobiles can replace all carriages?"
"Yes, currently carriages have stables to keep horses and need people to take care of horses. A horse weakens if a person doesn't take care of it for just a day, and dies immediately if not taken care of for a few days. But an automobile doesn't matter even if left alone for a few days."
"But automobiles are expensive and break down often. The car prices I looked into were mostly several hundred dollars, and breakdowns were frequent. In comparison, for a carriage, the cheapest buggy can be bought for $30, no, a wagon similar to a car level can be bought for $20. And a buggy-like carriage only needs one horse. Besides, horses are smart animals, so they often find the way themselves without a person steering. In contrast, a car must be driven by a person until the end. To me, it seems difficult for automobiles to replace carriages."
"If you make many, the price goes down, and if you make many, the quality improves so they don't break down. Furthermore, a carriage alone is cheap, but if you include the horse, the situation changes. Horses always have to eat and get sick often."
I took a sheet of paper from my bosom and showed it to Dad.
"Here, I've organized a comparison of the operating costs of an automobile and a carriage, so please take a look."
"Let's see. Purchase cost of one horse, harness, and carriage $800, horse maintenance for 5 years $600, horse shoeing cost $100, carriage maintenance cost $100, harness maintenance cost $30 at $6 per year, assuming painting the carriage 4 times total cost $60, total $1,690. In comparison, automobile purchase cost $600, calculating running 25 miles a day gasoline price $100, tire cost $100, repair cost $50, painting cost $60, total $910. Hmm, according to your calculation, it takes almost half the price."