The Mechanical Era

After taking all the items Kant needed from the cupboard, being the hourglass, the clipboard with paper and a pencil, he ordered the craftsman to follow him across the wooden plank floor back to the testing room where the steam engine was present.

Though some have already seen the new engine already, when they helped to rebuild it, the others were dying of curiosity. When they arrived at the testing room, they were marveled at what they saw.

A rather large steam engine, with 4 vertical pistons connected to a crankshaft. This crankshaft appear to turn a small flywheel which turn the larger flywheel using a leather belt. The piston cylinders all seem to be connected together from small tubes attached, while the intake and exhausts are connected via pipes.

The pistons themselves were all visibly different in size. From the left side, near the boiler was a the smallest of them all. There was a marking on the cylinder '5', which implied that was the diameter of the piston. The others also had markings of '7', '9' and '11' on them.

Next to the steam engine, on it's left side near the boiler, was a bunch of buckets of charcoal, all weighed to be 1kg stacked on top of each other into several small pyramids. Near the boiler was a large metal bottle closed with a lid. The metal bottle contained plenty of spare water to use, if they run out that is. On the opposite end was a wooden table, used to keep anything down.

The craftsman all marvel at the new prototype while Kant got things ready. He placed the clipboard on the wooden table next to the engine. With pencil in hand, he started writing down a few equations to help calculate the total HP of the engine. After he finished, he got the craftsmen's attention.

"Attention everyone." he said. They all turned to face Kant. The ones who were behind the engine walked to the side to face him.

"This is the multi-compound steam engine. As you can see, it featured four pistons all in various sizes, from smallest to largest. Though I originally planned for a 2 piston engine, I decided it would be the best if I skip to using 4 piston.

As there is not much difficulty in adding 2 more piston, I decided it would be best to save us our time." Kant said.

"Now before we start the first test remember, we are trying to achieve a horsepower of 6 or 7 with this machine. So keep that in mind.

First, we will start by seeing if this machine functions properly. Then we can move on to the other tests." he said. A few craftsman gathered some buckets of charcoal and threw it inside the furnace. Kant, after taking out his box of matches lit a fuse and threw it inside the boiler. The water was already inside.

The small flame grew in size as the charcoal started to burn along with the bubbling of the water inside. The thermometer started to read higher temperatures indicated that it was getting hotter. Soon, there was little movement shown by the first piston, then the second, then the third and finally the forth.

As it went along, the flywheel started to move faster and faster, until it stagnated once again. There was less of a reaction from the craftsmen compared to before, but they all still cheered at their success nonetheless.

"The machine seems to be a success. We can move on to the next series of tests." Kant said.

...

A few hours pass since the first test. The window, a sort of small view to the outside world showed that the sun was starting to set on the city, giving it's usual orange color.

As the flywheel slowed down once more, and all the charcoal used up, Kant wrote down the final results on the table present in the clipboard. He ordered the craftsmen to wait for him in the lab while he calculates the final results.

He calculated the total horsepower by calculating the horsepower given by each piston. However, as all the pistons were connected to the crankshaft, he counted RPM on the crankshaft instead of flywheel.

However, the numbers he was presented with were more like estimates than actual figures, considering he doesn't have any proper tools to get precise numbers. After taking into account any potential human errors, he started to calculate the total horsepower given by the machine.

After he finished calculating the figures, he double checks to make sure he didn't make any mistakes before going back to the lab. As soon as he walked in, the gossiping craftsmen all turned silent. Kant walks behind the desk and coughs twice.

"Now before I unveil the results, I would like to thank everyone here for coming over to help me build and improve this wonderful and revolutionary invention. I humbly thank all of you." he said.

"Now, of with the results. Like I said before, we are looking for a horsepower of 6 or 7. According to my calculations, the new steam engine reached a total horsepower of 17, which is over 143% of what we wanted." he said with a smile.

The craftsmen all did a small celebration on their chairs, glad that they had managed to surpass their goal.

"Now before I dismiss you all, do you all have any questions?" Kant asks. One of them held out his hand.

"Yes?"

"Will we be back here again?" he asked.

"Yes, of course. There are many more things I intend to build. Inventions where I would need your help." Kant replied. Satisfied with the answer, he sat back down.

"Anyone else?" Kant asked. Nobody appears to be raising their hands, indicating Kant that there were no more questions to ask."

"Well, as the testing of the steam engine is over, I herby dismiss you all."

...

As the sun starts to set on the city, 2 men stood alone on the port, waiting for a ship to arrive. The two men wore similar outfits, being a black coat with white breeches and black leather boots. One of them, the one with a handsome face, looked onward into the river with a monocular.

The two men have been waiting since 4PM. Waiting for a large ship holding a long time friend and business partner on board.

"Do you see any ships coming?" Oswald asks his friend.

"Yes, I do."

"Is it ours?"

"I am not sure... oh wait! Yes. Yes it is! I see the flag. It's definitely ours!" he replied. The ship soon sail near the port. After a small row boat helps it dock, a bridge is moved onto the deck to allow it's passengers to come down.

"Jac! Oswald! How is it going?" a voice told from above. A man slender and tall spoke out on top of the staircase. He soon comes down and meets up with the two.

He had medium long blond hair, which had an oily texture, was combed back with the assist of some hair oil. His hazel brown eyes and button nose were on his oval face, and on the right side of his nose, there was a little scar present.

The man wore a large white coat, with 6 yellow buttons covering his undershirt. He wore black pants along with black leather shoes to go along with it.

"Oswald. I received you letter and came as soon as I can. What is that talk about a new business opportunity?" the man asks.

"Well Allister, my dear friend. You are going to love this." he replied as he held out a piece of beige paper in his hand. Allister took the paper from Oswald and started reading.

"An auction?" he asked.

"Exactly, and we need your help. I will fill you in on the details once we get home." Oswald replied.