The Mechanical Era

"Well sire, I am all ears. However, before you explain the... new process, would you mind explaining to me how steel is made in the first place? I am not that familiar with the topic." Arjun asked Kant. Although Arjun thought that it was unlikely that it could work, he wanted to hear what Kant has to say before making a judgment.

"Oh gladly. Now what you need to know is that steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that's sturdier than either of those two alone. Now steel itself usually had about 0.2 to 2.1 percent of carbon.

Different carbon levels can give different hardnesses and tensile strengths. So it would depend on the nature of the application of the product. For example, a knife would need to have a tough edge and won't break easily, it should have around .75% carbon.

So to make steel, we need to introduce carbon to iron. The way people normally do it is by packing iron into boxes of powdered charcoal and then heating them up to 700°C for about a week..."

"A week?!?" Arjun interrupted, a bit shocked at the information.

"Yes. A week. But I am not finished." Kant replied calmly.

"Oh, I am sorry sire." Arjun apologized.

"Anyways. As it burns, the charcoal's carbon will react with the heat-softened iron, producing a thin layer of steel on the exterior. However, as the steel is produced ONLY on the exterior, they have to fold and flatten the metal on the anvil again, because remember iron needed to be folded as wool, to produce a uniform material.

This process is the reason why steel making is very labor intensive and the material expensive. Besides, hitting metal for hours on end would not be fun. It takes too long and too much work." Kant said.

"I see. Well Sire, how do you expect to decrease the cost?" Arjun asks.

"Simple. We need to first use a blast furnace. Think of an extremely powerful bloomery or forge. Instead of sucking air, the air is forced into the blast furnace through the materials from the bottom up.

Also instead of alternating layers of iron ore and charcoal, we will be layering iron ore with limestone and hotter-burning coke. It will produce more intense combustion that smelts the iron ore.

The iron will react with the stack, forming a new alloy with a melting point down near 1200°C. The high-carbon liquid runs out the bottom and soon cools, which will give us an iron-carbon alloy. However, do not confuse that with steel.

As the process will most certainly put more carbon than intended, exceeding 2.1 percent, we will have to reduce the amount of carbon as the new high-carbon iron alloy, also known as pig iron, will be too brittle to be useful. To reduce the amount of carbon in the iron, we will put the metal through what I call the 'Bessemer Process'."

"The Bessemer Process?"

"Yes. The main idea is to blow air across a molten metal, in our case a molten pig iron. The oxygen in the mixture of air will react with the carbon to form carbon dioxide. This either burns off or bubbles out, leaving a purer iron behind."

"How do we know when to take it out?" Arjun asked.

"We can test it by testing its hardness and strength of it. If it matches the steel we have produced, then it should be recorded as the correct amount of time." Kant replied.

"I see. Is that it sire?"

"Yes. Now the first thing I have to do is to make the blast furnace and a Bessemer Converter. However, considering that the machinery I am talking about could be large, it will take me some time to come up with the blueprints and build a prototype."

"But it is possible right sire?" Arjun asked.

"Yes. It will just take me a long time. Maybe one or two months?"

"To build a prototype?"

"Yes, but that is not the end of it. After the prototype is built, I would have to build a mill for the workers to work and create a whole new supply chain to bring in the materials I need to the mill. That is the hardest part of this whole situation, but it is doable."

"I see. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. Not yet anyway. I will tell you when I do." he said.

"By the way..." Kant said in an attempt to shift the conversation to a different topic "...have you found a temporary office for the Hoverdam Institute for Scientific Research?" Kant asked. Arjun checked his notes once again before delivering an answer.

"Not yet sire. I am in the process, however. There are a few contenders. I will keep their papers for you to review" he replied. Arjun picked out several papers from the stack and placed in on the desktop neatly.

Kant picked up the papers and read them all through. He then picked out one he liked and handed it over to Arjun.

"This will do just fine," Kant said. Arjun took a look and the papers and rolled them up to be taken with him.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. I want the status of the printing presses?"

"About 9 of them have already been made by the artisans, with the rest soon to be finished by the day after tomorrow."

"Where are the 9 printing presses now?"

"They are in storage sire. What do you want to do to them?"

"Transport it to the new office of the institute once it has been fully refurbished."

"Alright sire. Is there anything else?"

"No. That is all. You can leave." Arjun gets up and leaves through the front door, leaving Kant alone once again to his thoughts. He leans back in his chair and continues to think it through. Although it was the road that accepted him, it could lead to a path he might not want to be in.

Then again, the more Kant thought of it, he realized he doesn't have much of a choice. It seemed to be the only way for him, the only road left open for Kant to drive on. Besides, if he can keep some integrity and honor, although it might not fully prevent destruction, he could mitigate it.