Chapter 1055: New missiles, new machine tools, & many new things (3)
" Huh, what is this? "
Jaya Verma was startled when the emperor actually came to his booth for inspection, and he started to sweat profusely.
’Gulp’
Only a few minutes prior, during the orientation ceremony, he was admiring the emperor from a distance like a loyal fan, but now, for reasons he could not comprehend, the emperor was right in front of him, making him feel unreal. Jaya Verma felt like he had to slap himself awake from his dream, but in the end, he did not do it, not because he was sure that he was in reality, but he was worried that his majesty would think that he was being rude, which he could not accept, be it reality or a dream.
Not completely sober, he started to explain what he had developed with a trembling voice.
"I... I call it the V-Verma mechanism, your majesty."
" It can be used to calculate the Massas (months), Tithis (lunar days), Pakshias (lunar month split in half), Nakshatras (constellation), Yogas (angles of the sun and the moon), and finally Karanas (half lunar day). "
Before leaving home, Jaya Verma had trained himself elaborately in front of a mirror in order to give a full presentation in front of merchants from the empire or from Europe, but in front of the emperor, even though he was not completely sure he was in reality, he could only get to the point and stop. He nervously eyed the emperor, fearing he might offend or disappoint him in some way.
Vijay’s eyebrows were raised, and he curiously picked up the bronze platform upon which what can only be described as a miniature version of the solar system and a star map existed.
Looking into the gaps of the machine, he could see miniature gears, extremely small, attached to one another in a complicated fashion.
He entered today’s date, and as he expected, all the details about the day were made visible.
" Brilliant. "
" What are the tolerances on the gears? "
Jaya Verma shook for a split second, hearing the question as he was startled, but he quickly blurted out, " 0.01mm, your majesty. "
Vijay nodded in satisfaction, " Impressive. "
" Are you a mechanical engineer? "
" Yes, your majesty, I’m the 1673 graduate of Bharathiya Institute of Technology, Kota. "
" Oh, they are doing quite well in recent years. "
" Yes, your majesty, BIT Kota ranks 7th in the university ranking throughout the empire. "
" How were you able to come up with this device? Do you have astronomical knowledge as well, or do you have a partner? "
Jaya Verma was embarrassed, " This was not actually my research, your majesty. I simply applied what was already present. "
" What do you mean? " Vijay furrowed his brows, confused.
"The research on the relationship between constellations, time, planets, and satellites was already done over 2,000 years ago, Your Majesty. The newly transcribed and translated documents from Nalanda contain these studies. I also had the chance to visit the First Meridian City, Ujjain, and learned much from its design. I explored various sites like Varanasi and Takshashila, where ancient ruins were found, as well as several excavated observatories in Udaygiri, and studied many books on Vedic astronomy dating back to 1500 BCE and even earlier."
" As for the research on the actual mechanism, although I improved a lot, the inspiration for my work is the Antikythera mechanism of the Greeks. They had invented a similar machine over 1800 years ago, all made with bronze, with 30 gears with tolerances of 0.1 millimetres. " A look of admiration couldn’t help but appear on his face. " I used the same mechanism, but since our calendar system is much more comprehensive and complicated, I had to use more than 50 gears, and I had to reduce the tolerance by a lot. "
Vijay listened intently and couldn’t help but give the man a look of approval. Although what he had done was not a new invention in the truest sense, the depth of his research and his ability to recreate the ancient machine that was extinct, along with its knowledge of manufacturing, were no less than an invention themselves. What surprised Vijay even more was that he had uncovered the true significance of a city like Ujjain, a city designed as the first meridian, the Madhya Rekha of longitudes, equivalent to the Greenwich Meridian of his past life.
It was built around the 4th century BCE, during the reign of Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya, when Avanti was annexed. That was roughly 2,038 years before the present year, a fact that was utterly mind-boggling. To put it into perspective, he was closer in time to his past life in the 21st century than he was to the 4th century BCE.
After placing an order for the Verma mechanism for himself, Vijay left the booth and moved forward.
For some reason, after leaving the booth and walking a distance, he heard a loud slap. He looked around, confused. After not noticing anything out of the ordinary, he shrugged and moved forward.
Unknown to him, Jaya Verma was sweating bullets, realising that he was actually in the emperor’s presence and that an order had truly been placed for his machine. Not only that, the emperor had even written a letter of intent in case he needed investment in the future. His throat went dry, and no words could escape his mouth.
Vijay saw some interesting things as he went through the exhibition, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. The only things that did catch his attention were the Gupta Ram Loom, which had been improved and upgraded to handle the direct input of power from a steam engine, and apart from this, he also saw the upgraded lapidary machine, where before, human power had to be used to spin the grinding wheel and other tools used to polish and cut the gems. Now, direct steam power is used, and it is designed in such a way that one steam engine is capable of powering over a dozen individual lapidary stations.
Moving forward, he finally came across another interesting invention. It looked very much like a telephone of the future. The only difference was that, instead of there being any earpiece and mouthpiece, there was only one piece, a hollow funnel, which could be kept at the ear or spoken into one at a time.
Shilpa Katyayni and Veena Katyayini, the Katyayi Twins, were immediately overwhelmed when the emperor came to their booth, but unlike Jaya Verma, they were already successful in their business, so they quickly calmed down and patiently explained.
" This is what we call the telephone, your majesty. This can be used to speak to someone who is far away instead of screaming. "
" The principle is simple. A person talks at one end, and the sound is converted into vibrations that travel through this tube. " One of the sisters showed off a tube, which was rubber from what vijay could feel. " And these vibrations are once again converted into sound at the other end, which allows the person to hear. "
" Well, it is a simple design, but it is very effective, " Vijay complimented the twins with a look of approval. " But I see you’ve got various types of pipes. What are they for? "
Veena Katyayni, allowing her sister to take a breath, quickly spoke out.
" The range and sound quality of the transmission depend on the material of the tube, your majesty. "
She pointed out the metal tubes and spoke out.
" Tin, copper, and brass, from what we have observed, have the best overall quality of transmission, and the retention of sound is also higher, but this is also costlier. "
Then she took out two different tubes, one of which Vijay had already felt, and the other a slightly coarse and softer material. These two are made of leather and cloth, respectively. They have low quality, but due to being flexible and cheap, they are excellent for the temporary establishment of communications. For example, they can be used to establish communication between two ships at sea if they are at a distance, and in several similar situations. "
The image of two ships sailing in the Pacific Ocean and establishing a connection over this tube briefly appeared in Vijay’s mind, and he realised that what the women said was extremely feasible, and it could be used in several situations as well. Since the situations are special, the sound quality is not a big problem.
" Very good, and this last wooden pipe, I assume it’s cheaper and easier to install? "
" Exactly, your majesty. "
" What about the range? "
" It’s completely dependent on the material of the tube chosen and the way it is installed. If proper isolation is provided for the tube, and the material chosen is of high quality, like tin, copper or brass, the range can go up to 200 metres, but in difficult conditions it can be constrained to as little as 20 metres. "
Vijay thought about it and ordered for a comprehensive system to be installed in all of his castles across the empire, as he thought that it could be an excellent way for the housekeepers to communicate with each other without having to walk a few hundred metres every time an order had to be passed.
Moving forward, there were no other surprises for several hours until eventually he came across a unique invention. It was a synthesiser. Looking at it immediately reminded him of von Kempelen’s speaking machine, the machine that replicated the human vocal system through a mechanical analogue of the lungs, vocal cords, and vocal tract by using air supply, phonation, and articulation with wooden parts.
Although the sound could not accurately mimic the human voice, words were actually recognisable, albeit barely.
Moving forward, he encountered an invention he had never seen before: a radiometer. It was a type of motor powered by light in a vacuum. In his past life, he knew this device inside a glass bulb, where silver foil would spin when struck by light.
In this life, however, electricity was still unknown. The silver foil sat inside a bowl-like structure, carefully vacuumed, and would spin upon contact with light. He wasn’t sure if this baffled many scientists, as he hadn’t yet checked on the advancements at the Nalanda Institute of Fundamental Sciences.
Still, he felt a deep sense of satisfaction. The research was ongoing, innovation had never ceased, and the spirit of pioneering was ever radiant
The next thing he noticed was the Egyptian blue pigment, a unique existence which glows in the dark. This is less of an invention and more of a showcase of the product, but hey, he is in an industrial exhibition. The exhibition of the product is the most common thing in the parliament grounds. The only reason he stopped by at inventions for longer was because they were much more interesting in his eyes.
After moving forward, he was shocked. He saw the Katyayini Sisters once again.
" You sisters have bought two booths? "
The sisters immediately became embarrassed. Shilpa spoke out, " Yes, your majesty. At first, we only wanted to showcase the telephone, but after we knew you were visiting, we couldn’t help but showcase our prototype phonograph. " Veena quickly brought forward the prototype they had developed.
Vijay looked at the phonograph, which was strikingly similar to Edison’s phonograph from the nineteenth century, right in front of him.
The sisters did not notice the emperor’s reaction and continued to explain.
" The concept is simple, your majesty. The sound waves enter through the horn, concentrating air vibrations into a diaphragm we have designed and invented. "
" This diaphragm’s vibrations drive a stylus, which edges corresponding grooves into a rotating wax-coated brass cylinder. "
" The depth and spacing of the grooves encoded on the bracelet is the amplitude and frequency of the original sound. "
" Please observe, your majesty. "
Shilpa looked at Veena and nodded.
Veena, without a moment’s waste, picked up a sitar from under the counter and immediately started playing as Shilpa began to spin the diaphragm in a uniform circular motion.
The sound was melodious and infectious, causing all the attention, which was previously on Vijay, to immediately shift to Veena.
The playing lasted only a few seconds, yet Vijay could clearly see the tiny grooves etched into the brass cylinder.
After a brief pause, Shilpa turned the handle in the opposite direction, keeping the same speed as before. The stylus, which had carved the grooves, now retraced them, causing the diaphragm to vibrate in perfect imitation of the original sound wave. Sure enough, the sound waves travelling through the horn reproduced the exact notes that had been played on the sitar.
Although the sound quality was terrible, like it was a sound coming from a radio immersed under water, it was a huge step forward in audio technologies.
Hearing the melody, It was not only Vijay who was surprised. The people from the other booths and the royal guards, who were guarding Vijay closely, were also extremely shocked. All their eyebrows were raised, and some of their mouths were wide open.
Vijay recovered from the shock and couldn’t help but look at the twins in a new light. He thought that they were talented for inventing the telephone, but he did not expect them to be such prodigies.
" This looks like a mature device. Why hasn’t it been put on the market already? "
It was Veena who spoke out this time, " Because in order for the device to work properly, it requires extremely precise hand movements, your majesty, and we cannot expect all our customers to have such movements, so we are thinking about implementing a power system to the phonograph. "
" Oh, tell me your idea! " Vijay was intrigued.
" We are looking to commission a university to develop a miniaturised steam engine with a power of only a few kilogrammes that can give constant power to run the phonograph. "
Vijay frowned, " But steam engines are inherently noisy. Your horn may pick up the sound of the steam engine as well, defeating the whole purpose of the device. "
Shilpa nodded, " Exactly, your majesty. We thought about it as well. The solution we came up with is to either have the steam engine pump water and store it at the top as a potential energy battery, and when the device needs to run, we simply use the hydraulic pressure imposed by gravity to turn the levers, or simply use the steam engine to tighten up a spring, turn it off, and use the wound-up spring to operate the phonograph. "
" Although we are proficient in sound modulation and sound-related technologies, we are not adept in mechanics. Even for the construction of the phonograph, we had to cooperate with a mechanical student from our university. "
Vijay scratched his chin and felt that although the additions were not worth the trouble, the ideas were feasible, so he decided to support them. " You can contact Bhaskara Chariya. Your idea of miniaturised steam engines is very insightful, and it can be used to power not only your phonograph but many other small devices. As for the mechanics you talked about, you can discuss it with the researchers from the Sriranga Industrial Tools. I’m sure they would be willing to help you out. "
Shilpa and Veena were both overjoyed. " Thank you, your majesty. " They both did a namaskar and couldn’t hold back their smiles.