144 First run of the new engine (1/2)
27th April 1574
”Slowly, slowly!”
Once again, commanding a huge crowd of people that lowered the mark two steam engine to do it carefully, I felt my heart jumping out so strongly, that is almost kicked itself out of my body straight through my throat and mouth.
”Stop the chains!”
With how deformed the entire construct was with all the pipes and cooling tanks stretched into the air, the boiler placed beside the power unit and the weight completely unbalanced, this simple machine had to be placed in a robust supporting construction, that would prevent it from simply falling to the side.
Yet where one could think that just a simple set of supporting poles would be enough to keep the cooling tank in the air, I knew that as soon as the engine would start working, all the vibrations caused by the violent rocking of the thick, cylinder plate, along with its momentum forcibly stopped in one place only to be transferred back to the other end of the machine, could easily turn such a fragile support upside down within first few seconds of operating the engine!
That's why not only the support poles were reinforced with the iron itself, the entire construction looked more like an iron cage, with several nails the size of a cavalry pike stuck deep into the ground to keep the entire thing in place.
”Okay, now just a little bit to the left!”
Since the cage and the steam engine couldn't be pieced together until all the metal poles would be stuck tightly to the ground and covered with a layer of the concrete that finally dried up the stockpile that I did my best to prepare away from everyone's eyes, now we were holding this entire, heavy construction on a set of over twenty heavy metal chains, as I couldn't trust any number of ropes to hold such a monstrosity in the air.
”How is it going up there?”
Shouting out to the craftsmen hanging out from the rods protruding a bit into the air from the entire construction, I anxiously waited for their report while eyeing how the entire thing dangerously swayed on those chains.
Even with about eighty people employed to put it in its final piece right beside the original steam horse, holding the entire thing in the air wasn't that big of a task, but any drastic move caused by the sudden wind or one of the workers losing consciousness would risk the entire thing going down the drain, as we had no tools to cut the iron apart.
If anything were to happen to the engine now, not only all the work we all put in making it would go down the drain, but several red goldens worth of ore would be wasted as well!
”Sir, it's sitting tightly as a whore on her clients cook!”
”Okay boys, it's time to wrap it up! Lower the beast!”
As long as even one of the supporting points was safely locked, the rest should easily fall into its designed place as well.
Yet despite how I assured everyone, there was no sign in relaxation in any of the workers still operating the chains with the utmost care. It seemed that the amount of effort everyone put into creating this beast ended up making them all ultra-careful around it!
CLANG!