Looking at the demonstration device for the generator and motor he had personally built, Mr. Gramme couldn't help but shed tears. As an expl
Looking at the demonstration device for the generator and motor he had personally built, Mr. Gramme couldn't help but shed tears. As an explorer in the industry, Mr. Gramme had dedicated his life to experiments in electricity, constantly striving for breakthroughs in his research. Results were now in hand, but they had come about because of a few words from Carlo, which filled Mr. Gramme with profound emotion.
"Your Majesty, you are the true hero of industry. If electricity is fortunate enough to be adopted by countries around the world, you will play a crucial role in the progress of humanity and the development of the world," Mr. Gramme said to Carlo, his voice tinged with emotion.
"No, this is not my credit." Carlo shook his head, attributing the success to Gramme and the electricity researchers.
"This is the result of your efforts. I just provided an idea. Without your long-term research in this field and the creation of generators that could be used for experiments, my idea would have remained just an idea. Mr. Gramme, all the researchers who participated in this experiment, you are the heroes of human progress. To celebrate these new achievements in electricity, I will prepare a celebration banquet for you, and each of you will receive a check from the Royal Bank. Gentlemen, please continue to work hard. I will not forget your contributions, Spain will not forget your contributions!"
Carlo's speech won the favor of everyone in the laboratory. The numbers on the check represented real money, and even these experimenters, whose salaries had already increased significantly, were reluctant to refuse. Moreover, they had no reason to refuse. Carlo had already attributed all the credit to them, transforming them into heroes of Spain. Carlo continued to use this method of winning hearts, understanding that these researchers had come all the way from France to Spain, and he would not treat those willing to embrace Spanish nationality poorly.
After encouraging the researchers at the Electricity Laboratory, Carlo, quite satisfied, walked out and headed to the adjacent engine research laboratory to check on their progress. Since he was already inspecting the experimental area, he decided to visit both laboratories and see how Benz and his team were faring.
The engine laboratory was much quieter compared to the Electricity Laboratory, with a total staff of less than one-sixth of the other lab's headcount. However, Benz, Daimler, and Maybach, who worked there, were all famous figures in later generations, and Carlo's expectations for the engine laboratory were nearly as high as for the Electricity Laboratory. After all, engines had a wide range of uses.
In addition to common transportation tools like airplanes and automobiles, they could also be applied to agricultural machinery such as tractors and military weapons like fighter jets and tanks. If engine research progressed well, it would be of immense help to both civilian and military fields in the future.
While Carlo didn't expect the three to develop any particularly powerful engines immediately, he'd be satisfied if they could maintain a certain lead in engine research compared to other countries, or at least stay within the top three. Anyway, more talents would emerge in the field of engines in the future, and it wouldn't be too late to win them over one by one then. Current engines, like electricity, were still in their infancy. Even renowned engine developers like Diesel were only in their teens now.
Walking directly into the engine laboratory, Benz, Daimler, and Maybach quickly noticed Carlo. "Your Majesty!" They all saluted, surprise evident on their faces.
"The Electricity Laboratory has made some progress, so I came to see your research as well," Carlo said with a smile.
Hearing this, Benz and the others immediately felt a sense of urgency. Both the Electricity and engine laboratories had been established at the same time, and they had arrived in Spain only a few days after Gramme's team. Yet, within these few days, the Electricity Laboratory had already achieved results – results impressive enough to sway Carlo. Meanwhile, their engine laboratory was still immersed in intense research and design, clearly lagging far behind.
"Your Majesty, our four-stroke engine is currently in the design and experimental phase. We expect to have related prototypes entering experiments within two years, and a more complete four-stroke engine will begin testing within five years," Benz quickly reported on the engine laboratory's progress.
"Four-stroke engine?" Carlo inquired.
"Yes, a four-stroke engine will consist of four piston strokes: intake stroke, compression stroke, power stroke, and exhaust stroke. In our conception, if such a four-stroke engine can be realized, the thermal efficiency will increase from 11% for atmospheric engines to over 13%, and it can effectively reduce the mass and volume of the engine. If such an engine can be realized, perhaps we can explore related vehicle improvements based on this engine," Daimler continued to elaborate.
Speaking of four-stroke engines, this was research that Daimler and Maybach had already started in Germany. The so-called thermal efficiency was easy to understand: it could be seen as the ratio of the engine's output power to the input fuel. Current common atmospheric engines have a thermal efficiency of only 11%, meaning about 89% of the fuel is wasted, an exaggeratedly inefficient situation.
Additionally, the volume of atmospheric engines wasn't very suitable for installation on carriages for vehicle modification. If atmospheric engines were used, the resulting vehicles would be too large and unwieldy, making them less efficient than traditional carriages. This was why many factories were exploring engine improvements. As the heart of a vehicle, an engine's advanced level was directly related to the vehicle's overall sophistication. A problematic engine was like a person with heart disease – fatal to the vehicle.
Carlo nodded, but was somewhat dissatisfied with the engine research laboratory's progress. Prototypes entering experiments in two years, and complete experimental products for testing in five years – didn't this mean it would take at least five years or more for the four-stroke engine to be perfected and put into use?
"Is this time too long? Can we shorten the time a bit and see the finished four-stroke engine earlier?" Carlo frowned, expressing his dissatisfaction.
"Your Majesty, it's not that we don't want to shorten the time. It's just that the laboratory is severely understaffed. Most of the design and testing need to be done by us personally, wasting at least half of the entire development cycle. If there were enough personnel available, I am confident that I could let Your Majesty see the finished four-stroke engine within three years, and it would be a tested product with stability and applicability," Daimler said, somewhat helplessly.
If they were back in their previous German companies, though still R&D leaders, they would at least have had sufficient personnel. Unlike now in Spain, while their personal treatment was excellent, they had too few people under their command. The dozen or so individuals Carlo had managed to assemble knew too little about engines and needed time to learn and grow. During this period, the research on the four-stroke engine was almost entirely carried out by Benz and the other two personally. It was already difficult for three people to develop a complete four-stroke engine, let alone compress the time cost.
Carlo nodded. He was aware of the current shortage of personnel in the engine laboratory. "As for personnel, I will find a way to solve it. At least within two years, the number of personnel in the engine laboratory will increase to over 100, and I will also invite technical experts in the field of engines from all over Europe to ensure that our four-stroke engine can be launched earlier," Carlo reassured them.
Although the field of engines was currently in its initial stage, this didn't mean there were few related talents worldwide. Without mentioning anything else, it was entirely possible to attract over a hundred related talents through very generous immigration conditions, though their quality would likely not be as high as Benz and the other two. However, the current engine laboratory didn't really need highly capable people; those with average to above-average skills who could assist were sufficient.
Benz and the other two had already been tested by history. They might not be the absolute top talents in the automotive and engine fields, but they were definitely above excellent. Moreover, the four-stroke engine was originally their research. Now that they were in Spain, with Carlo's greater support, they were expected to develop the four-stroke engine earlier than in the original timeline and build experimental vehicles based on the developed engine.
Hearing Carlo promise to increase the number of researchers in the engine laboratory to over a hundred within two years, Benz and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Some experiments were indeed impossible with so few people. With collective wisdom, the feasibility of the experiments would also greatly increase.
Thinking of this, Carlo couldn't help but feel a headache. It now seemed that current Spain was too far behind Italy. Although Italy's overall level wasn't great, Northern Italy's industry and economy were quite good, and the original Sardinia also attached great importance to the cultivation of talent.
While Italy might not have the rich talent reserves of Britain, France, and Germany, it had enough average to above-average talents. In this regard, Spain had fallen too far behind. Spain not only lacked top talent but also lacked backbone talent in its laboratories. It was one thing that there weren't many physics and chemistry majors in Spanish universities, but most of them were just for show, making it difficult to cultivate sufficiently excellent physics and chemistry talents.
After leaving the experimental area, Carlo went straight to the Royal Family's headquarters. To improve Spain's talent shortage, Carlo decided to build a university specifically for cultivating physics and chemistry talents.
Carlo had already decided on the name for the university: Royal Institute of Physical Chemistry. The name itself clearly indicated the university's focus. To emphasize the importance of this specialized university, Carlo decided that the excellent physics and chemistry talents Spain would attract in the future would teach there, striving to cultivate more potential new stars in physics and chemistry for Spain.
After informing Laurent of this idea, Laurent strongly agreed and provided his reasons: "I think it is very necessary to build such a university, Your Majesty. With the word 'Royal' in the name, the excellent graduates trained by this university will also understand who they should work for and serve."
"Do we have enough funds? If we are to build such a university, when is the earliest we can start enrolling students?" Carlo nodded, further solidifying his idea of building a university. However, it takes a long time for a university to go from scratch.
The construction of school facilities, especially laboratories for experiments, the purchase of textbooks, and the introduction of some well-known university teachers and professors were all crucial. Without good teachers, it would be difficult for such a university to cultivate sufficiently excellent graduates. To attract those sufficiently excellent physicists and chemists worldwide, funds were indispensable, and even some additional conditions had to be promised.
"It should be no problem." Laurent nodded; he was aware of the Royal Family's current funds. "If we are to build a university from scratch, it will probably take at least three years before it can open and enroll students. But if we renovate a suitable building and only build the relevant laboratories, we should be able to shorten the time somewhat.
However, to build a university that can continuously cultivate talents, investing a certain amount of time is essential. I estimate that the construction time of the university will be at least 2 to 3 years, and the total funds we need to invest will be at least 10 million peseta, starting," Laurent replied.
Carlo nodded, not surprised by this huge sum. In fact, building the university structure itself didn't cost much. The biggest costs were building laboratories, purchasing textbooks, and experimental equipment. The largest expense was attracting university teachers and professors and ensuring their willingness to cultivate enough excellent talent for Spain. However, as the college developed and gained a certain international reputation, it would attract more applicants.
Even if it couldn't maintain a balance of payments, having a university that could continuously cultivate excellent talents was profoundly important. It wasn't that Carlo didn't trust the existing universities in Spain; the problem was that their majors were not very useful for Spain's current needs.
Several universities were famous for literature and the arts. What did current Spain need so many people engaged in literature and the arts for? In the current universities, physics and chemistry were the top priorities, and medical care was also very important. Next were those in Education, who could cultivate more excellent teachers, who in turn would cultivate more students for Spain to apply to universities.
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