Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

216  Machine Tools Part : 1

Dakshin Bhartiya Empire, Vijayanagara State, capital city Hampi.

After the canonization event for the nobles concluded, the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire suddenly had a new class of nobility, comprised of the most elite individuals from each industry of society. These nobles helped the emperor in balancing out the power of the government.

Vijay was very excited today because he finally completed the design drawings he had been working on for the past few months. These were the design drawings of machine tools, which are the tools used to build machines. In the future, these tools will also be called industrial mother machines. Vijay had designed a total of six machine tools to be manufactured: turning machines (lathe), drilling machines, milling machines, grinding machines, pressing machines, and rifling machines. Some of these machines had already been invented thousands of years ago, but they were hand-operated simple machines with low work efficiency. What Vijay designed were larger and more efficient versions, significantly increasing output for industrialization with the help of human or hydraulic power.

For the construction of these machine tools, Vijay brought in Heyram and the scientists from the Bharatiya Academy of Military Science, along with Naveen Bhatt, the talented kid who specialized in gears. Vijay invited Naveen because the machine tools he designed involved a lot of gear mechanisms that needed to be implemented. While he sent the letter to Heyram and Naveen, he decided to visit the Raya Machinery Company under the Raya Heavy Industries Group. With the help of Uncle Ravi, he was able to arrange skilled artisans capable enough to construct these machines using their knowledge of materials and mechanics. Additionally, ample supplies of materials were also procured, including wood, wrought iron, cast iron, alloy iron, and some other heavy metals. Existing tools were also arranged, mainly blacksmithing and woodworking tools such as hammers, anvils, saws, chisels, and planes. There were also a few basic metalworking tools like files and hand-operated drills.

"Heyram is at your service, Your Majesty."

"Naveen is at your service, Your Majesty."

Within a few hours of his call, both the chief scientists/technicians he had chosen had arrived.

"Good, both of you are here. Stand up."

Upon hearing Vijay's order, both Hey Ram and Naveen rose from their positions and awaited Vijay's instructions.

Vijay first began explaining the concept of machine tools. Listening intently, both Hey Ram and Naveen were engrossed. They were the type of people who had a lot of love for mechanics and machines, which was evident from the fields they decided to specialize in. For example, Hey Ram specialized in metallurgy, while Naveen specialized in machinery, more precisely gears and their applications.

"Now that you understand what we are going to do, inform your families about your absence throughout this month. This project is crucial for the empire's growth. Hence, you will not be allowed to leave this workshop until the end of the project," Vijay instructed.

Heyram and Naveen looked at each other, surprised by the strictness of Vijay's directive regarding the machine tools project. However, this revelation only made them more determined to stick to the project.

"Right away, your majesty," they replied in unison.

Saying that both of them left the workshop and wrote letters to their families about their absence, comforting them and assuring them not to worry.

After they came back from writing letters to their families, Vijay decided to start the project immediately. He was confident that with these machine tools, the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire would have the foundation and technology comparable to any European country in the present day and age. Although the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire was more advanced than Europe in areas like papermaking and cement production, there were still some industries lagging behind, the prime example being the naval industry.

Danior Boswell had hit a blockade in his thinking as he was unable to design a battleship for the empire, despite Vijay transferring all the knowledge about battleships in this era to Danior. Whenever Danior tried to design a battleship, it ended up becoming unstable or weak in the prototyping stage. Vijay was putting his hopes on the Venetians to help take the naval industry of the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire to the next level.

There were other industries where the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire lagged behind compared to the Western world, but now that Vijay had laid the foundation for industrialization through various reforms and was trying his best to reduce feudalism in the empire, it could finally be started.

Vijay couldn't help but be envious of the Europeans who naturally developed this environment throughout their progression. He felt that people didn't realize how advantageous the Western system was for the Europeans. People always thought that the West was powerful because of their industry, but Vijay felt that was wrong. Industry was just the result they obtained from the system they had built for themselves to progress.

For example, the emergence of patent law in the 15th century and the concept of the rule of law were very clear in European countries. However, after a certain point, European kings and nobles became overpowering and could act with impunity in their respective territories. Despite this, there were, at least in name, laws promulgated to control them, which were highlighted again when the nobles became weakened. On the other hand, there was no such system within the subcontinent.

While Vijay believes that the Bharatiya civilization had all this knowledge at one point, for example, Chanakya had written about the diplomacy of nations and the governing systems of that era, which could still be useful in the 21st century. However, for some reason, it has been forgotten over the past thousand years, leading to a time of darkness for the Bharatiya civilization.

Nevertheless, Vijay is determined to try his very best to elevate the Bharatiya civilization to a higher peak.

Back to the present.

"Alright, now let us start," Vijay said as he began to give orders to the craftsmen.

The first machine that he decided to work on was the turning machine, also called the lathe.

According to his design, the turning machine he is going to construct will be able to perform three functions, namely shaping, creating cylindrical forms of wood such as bowls, tool handles, furniture legs, or decorative spindles, grooving, cutting grooves or channels into wood for functionality or decoration, and lastly, parting, cutting off a section of a larger wooden piece to create individual components.

Vijay first started with the frame as he ordered the craftsmen to construct a sturdy frame from the best wood The Empire could procure, with cross beams for stability.

Next, according to the design vijay provided, Hey Ram worked on reinforcing the headstock and tailstock from wrought iron to hold the workpiece. He also created a bearing system for the smooth rotation of the workpiece.

Vijay then ordered the craftsmen to construct a double crank system, which would allow for a more organic and powerful leg push, translating to rotational force on the lathe. Additionally, Vijay ordered some more craftsmen to handcraft custom springs in order to incorporate them into the treadle mechanism to assist in returning to the starting position.

Naveen ingeniously incorporated a simple gearbox system with multiple gear ratios. According to Naveen's design, there are two gears in this gearbox: the high gear for faster lathe rotation, ideal for delicate work on smaller diameter pieces, and the low gear for slower rotation with increased torque, suitable for heavy-duty operations on larger pieces. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Next, Vijay ordered the craftsmen to make a flywheel. To ensure durability and reliability, a large and heavy flywheel was cast from iron to store the rotational energy. The final step in constructing the turning machine was the tool post. For this, Heyram personally decided to forge a simple tool post from iron to securely hold the cutting tools.

After manufacturing the six main parts of the lathe, the assembly process commenced. It took a total of six days to complete the various parts. First, the cradle mechanism was affixed to the flywheel, followed by the attachment of the headstock and tailstock to the frame, along with the tool post. Finally, the gearbox, cradle mechanism, and flywheel were assembled onto the machine, thus completing the foot-powered turning lathe machine of the Dakshin Bhartiya Empire. The entire assembly process spanned a week to complete this single machine.

"Yes, we did it!"

"Yessss"

The craftsmen loudly celebrated after finishing the machine; Hey Ram and Naveen were no exceptions, as wide smiles adorned their faces.

Vijay was also not an exception, as he too had a smile on his face.

Finally, after testing, the machine was found to be optimal for use in the empire.

Initially, Vijay had intended for the turning machine to be powered by a water wheel, but the demand for the turning machine was too large for it to be limited to areas near water bodies.

Although this lathe machine is powered by legs, its efficiency and productivity are already ahead of European countries by 50 years.

With further testing, Vijay obtained this result:

Power Source: Human foot power with a treadle mechanism.

Workpiece Capacity: Up to 6-8 inches in diameter, 2-3 feet in length (depending on wood type). Uses include turning wooden bowls, tool handles, and furniture legs.

Speed Range: Low (high torque): 50-70 RPM, High (low torque): 100-120 RPM. Used for roughing cuts on large diameters (low speed) or finishing cuts on smaller diameters (high speed).

Material Compatibility: Primarily wood, with limited soft metals possible with specialized cutting tools.

Main Advantages: Relatively simple and affordable, quiet operation, suitable for small-scale woodworking projects.

Limitations: Limited power restricts workpiece size and material types, and requires physical exertion to operate.

Vijay was satisfied with the overall data obtained from the turning machine. While there were still some limitations, Vijay did not mind, as he believed that with the progress of technology in the Empire, these limitations would eventually be overcome.

Satisfied, Vijay halted the celebrating craftsmen and the two generals, saying, "Don't be too hasty to celebrate. We still have five more machines to develop. It's already been a week, and we're running out of time. Let's get to work."

P.S. There was a drone workshop today, it cost 600rs but that fukr did not let us pilot, 2 Star review.