Chapter 193 Tractor
Arthur nodded with satisfaction.
Benz's design was very reasonable. Taking into account the differences between urban and suburban transportation environments, he designed two trucks using gasoline engines and diesel engines, and advanced both to the final experimental stage.
In this way, having two types of trucks can better sell them around the world.
Not only can it comply with various transportation environments in Australia, but it can also be sold externally to obtain a large profit. It is simply perfect.
As for whether selling trucks to foreign countries will increase the strategic transportation capabilities of European and American countries in disguise, Arthur is actually not worried about this.
Of course, this does not mean that these trucks will not increase the transportation capacity of European and American countries. On the contrary, after the powerful countries obtain these trucks, they will definitely greatly improve the country's transportation capacity. This cannot be denied.
But this is actually inevitable. Just like cars, if Benz One is not born, it will be replaced by Ford's Model T.
Even if these two types of trucks are not born now, they will be developed by car companies in other countries in the future, and then they will be accepted and purchased by other countries.
Rather than wasting the potentially huge market for trucks, it is better to directly take advantage of the Benz Automobile Factory, seize it first, and then convert it into huge profits.
Although it may have some impact on the transportation capabilities of European countries before the war, this is something that cannot be avoided.
As long as Australia obtains a large amount of profits from it, it will have enough ability to enable Australia to usher in greater development in all aspects.
Benz also knew that Arthur did not like to talk on paper, so testing of the two wagons began quickly.
This experiment is actually very simple. The main purpose is to check whether the paper data is correct. The data of these two trucks are predictions from previous small-scale tests and designs, and it is inevitable that they will be slightly different from the real situation.
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the specific data of these two trucks. If they are qualified, further production can be prepared. If they are not qualified, specific improvements must be made to the unqualified aspects.
Although blind guessing cannot be made before the test, Arthur still has great trust in the abilities of Benz and Diesel.
The experimental results are as expected. Although there are certain errors compared with the paper data, most of the errors are in a better direction, that is, the data is better.
According to a joint test of a total of ten vehicles of the two vehicles, both vehicles can reach the theoretical maximum cargo capacity, which are 0.8 tons and 1.5 tons respectively.
In fact, such a number is not the ultimate cargo capacity. However, if the cargo carried is too heavy, it is likely to cause damage to the truck's structure and engine.
Without causing damage to the truck, these two figures are the maximum cargo capacity of the two trucks respectively.
Regarding speed, Benz's estimate is actually too conservative.
When loaded with maximum cargo capacity, small trucks and large trucks can reach 44 kilometers per hour and 39 kilometers per hour respectively.
Considering the weight of the cargo they carry, that's pretty good speed.
You know, the most commonly used small cargo vehicles are still horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts.
But this kind of cargo vehicle travels very slowly and is also very dependent on terrain and climate constraints.
But trucks are different. As long as the weather is not extreme, you can drive normally even on rainy days.
Although there are also requirements for roads, trains still need to run on rails. A truck with such excellent performance is already attractive enough.
Of course, it is precisely because of the breakthrough in speed that the maximum driving distance of these two cars has been reduced.
But this is the best problem to solve. The simplest solution is to carry a barrel of gasoline or diesel with the car, and you can add it at any time when the oil is insufficient.
And with the popularity of cars around the world, quite a few cities have built gas stations. Although it is not as convenient as it will be in the future, in most parts of Europe and the United States, it is still no problem to find a gas station within 300 kilometers.
Of course, it is not ruled out that these areas will have the same deserted areas as the central areas of Australia, but who would not carry enough fuel with the car before going to these areas?
After watching the entire test process, Arthur is very satisfied with the two current trucks.
At least for Australia currently, these two trucks have been able to solve quite a few transportation problems.
After all, Australia already has developed highways. Cars can drive on these flat roads with ease, and basically there will be no major problems.
"Mr. Benz, when will these two trucks enter production? I look forward to seeing these two trucks driving on Australian roads. They will be great transportation tools comparable to trains." Arthur asked with a smile. road.
The success of the truck experiment was good news for Arthur. Because Australia has such a large land area, transportation has become a big problem. Before the industrial railway was fully completed and opened to traffic, transportation between the east coast and west coast of Australia would even take more than half a month.
Even if there are roads connecting major cities, too few car ownership is a very troublesome problem.
Judging from the current per capita income in Australia, the vast majority of Australians cannot afford a car, and this status quo will not change in the short term.
Although Australia's per capita income has experienced continuous growth, it still takes more than a decade to save up to buy a car.
The problem is, even if you have enough funds to buy a car after more than ten years, who would be so willing to spend half your life's savings to buy a vehicle?
Although this problem will not be solved after the trucks are put into production, Arthur has already thought of a solution, which is to start a transportation company.
Although it cannot solve civilian problems, at least transportation at the national level can solve part of it, including in the military field.
After the army is equipped with trucks, it can also enable small-scale troops to quickly transport within Australia.
Imagine that the Australian military can reach any area across the country within two days, so do we still need to worry about domestic stability?
"Your Highness, if we make a conservative estimate, it is possible for these two trucks to be put into small-scale production in three months. Of course, if everything is lucky, I believe that it will not be a problem to enter small-scale production in two months." Benz After thinking for a while, he answered.
After passing the test, you still need to go through a relatively complicated link, which is to build a complete truck production line.
However, the previous truck research and development process has already made preparations for large-scale production in the future. Therefore, this process is expected to only take two to three months to complete.
Of course, the small-scale production Arthur mentioned is also a very important factor. If it were to be mass-produced like the Benz One and sold around the world, I'm afraid the preparation time would have to be extended for several more months.
Arthur nodded, not surprised by the timing, and ordered: "Then immediately start action on the production of these two trucks. Across Australia, at least hundreds or thousands of vehicles are needed to meet our transportation needs. When domestic demand is completely met, we will sell it abroad."
Not only the transportation of the army requires a large number of trucks, but also various weapons and equipment and even large artillery and strategic materials can be transported by these trucks.
Coupled with the different demands for these trucks from various departments in Australia, conservative estimates suggest that Australia needs at least hundreds or thousands of trucks at the national level to initially meet all domestic transportation needs.
"In addition, there is a special car that also needs your research." At the end of the conversation, Arthur took out a design drawing and said to Benz and Diesel with a smile.
"A special car?" The two of them took over the design drawings full of doubts and looked at it attentively.
This is truly a special car! Both Benz and Diesel came up with this idea when they saw this design drawing.
Unlike the car in the concept, this is a crawler-type machine. The whole car is even a bit like a locomotive, but it uses a fuel engine instead of a steam engine.
The only thing that can be called a car-like feature of this kind of machine is that it has a driving position like a car and is about the same size as a car.
But is it really a car? What role does he have?
Benz looked at Arthur suspiciously, hoping to hear more explanations.
"I believe you should have heard of this thing. Its real name is a tractor. It can be equipped with agricultural tools to help us carry out better agricultural production." Arthur also knew that such a design could not describe much, so explained.
"Tractor?" Benz and Diesel nodded instinctively.
When it comes to tractors, they still know a little bit about them. Although this kind of machinery has not actually entered production, its research and development cycle has been around for many years.
Both of them had heard of the concept of tractors, and had seen pictures of tractors in newspapers out of curiosity, but—does tractors really look like this?
Seeing that the two of them were still a little confused, Arthur did not explain, but solemnly ordered: "This is a design drawing brought to me by a European expert. It is said that this is the most advanced concept drawing of a tractor at present. Although it is not As important as a car is, it is also an important piece of machinery related to Australia's agricultural production. I hope you can conduct research and put it into production as soon as possible, which will be of vital help to Australia's agricultural production." In fact, Arthur's real
purpose It’s not that they care about agricultural production. Although the available planting area in Australia is not large, it cannot support Australia's vast land area.
Taken together, Australia’s available planting land even ranks among the top ten in the world. Coupled with the sparse population and extremely developed animal husbandry.
It can be said that before Australia has a population of 20 million, there will basically be no shortage of food and meat products.
But this kind of tractor is related to Arthur's important purpose, and it is best not to let more people know about it.
Under this situation, using agriculture to cover up was the best way Arthur could think of.
The third update of 3,200 words, please support! Today I have a total of 9,200 words. I have exceeded the task and I have done what I said. Please support me!
(End of chapter)