After completing this load of fuel transportation, the tractor did not stop, but set off again, spending more than an hour to reach an open-pit iron mine that had been prospected in advance.
A large area here was iron ore, but at this moment, Tom clearly did not have the ability to mine on a large scale.
He couldn't even break up larger pieces of iron ore. At this moment, he could only pick up small pieces of iron ore from the surface and take them away.
But even by specifically picking out small pieces of iron ore from the surface, the cart was still filled up in no time, weighing about ten tons, which, according to the current consumption rate, was enough for the blast furnace to use for over a month.
The tractor rumbled, pulling the ten-ton total mass of iron ore back.
It was fortunate that the gravity on Loshen Star was lower. The total mass of ten tons of iron ore only weighed about 800 kilograms at this moment, allowing it to be pulled by this crude steam tractor.
If it were on Earth, he probably wouldn't be able to pull an inch even if the boiler exploded.
When this trip finally returned, Tom was filled with excitement.
The first step of industrialization was finally about to begin!
Although he had previously used smelting and processing equipment brought from Earth to smelt metals, that was clearly Earth's technology, not technology he had developed himself.
Now, this entire set of smelting equipment, whether it was the generator, the blast furnace, or the transport machinery, was all made by him!
This meant that this set could be replicated, could be expanded in scale, unlike the machinery brought from Earth.
The huge steam generator, with a total installed capacity of 130 kilowatts, began to ignite. The boiler vibrated, humming silently.
The heavy rotor began to spin, and as it continuously cut magnetic field lines, current was continuously generated, then extended along the lines into the adjacent blast furnace.
The first batch of iron ore, totaling 300 kilograms, was gradually heated.
Some gases frozen inside heated up and rose, and once the pressure rose to a certain point, they were discharged from the exhaust port. Once the gases were gone, only minerals remained inside.
Various elements were continuously separated, and then, according to the formula, some other elements were additionally added, such as chromium and nickel. After a series of processes, finally, a continuous stream of long steel plates, only one decimeter wide, 3 centimeters thick, and 50 centimeters long, slid out from the exit.
This size was exactly the size that the multi-functional metal processing equipment could process.
Looking at this first batch of steel produced by himself, Tom felt genuine joy.
After acquiring preliminary steel production capabilities, the previous multi-functional metal smelting equipment stopped smelting steel and instead began to custom-produce minerals that Tom currently could not produce but were indispensable.
For example, nickel ore, chromium ore, etc.
Steel production was temporarily on track, and Tom's energy was once again focused on another aspect.
Metal processing capability.
Currently, Tom's metal processing capability came entirely from that multi-functional processing equipment. But this highly precise, extremely advanced equipment was originally designed for high-precision processing of special metals, and using it to process crude steel was simply too wasteful.
It had more important uses and its productivity could not be wasted on steel. Tom had to acquire his own metal processing capability.
Thus, using it as a mother machine, and using steel from the self-made blast furnace, a large number of parts were again produced and assembled into various metal processing equipment by the Clones.
Cutting, stretching, grinding, bending, stamping, drilling, and other metal processing machines were displayed one by one before Tom.
By the time all seven types of metal processing equipment were manufactured, more than half a year had passed.
The knowledge for manufacturing these metal processing equipment was also not available in the Deep Space knowledge base. But it didn't matter; having the basic principles was enough.
During these past six months, Tom continuously studied, and continuously manipulated the Clones on Loshen Star to experiment and trial-and-error, stumbling and fumbling, and finally managed to build all these machines.
At this moment, Tom already had a total of 27 bodies under his command. In addition, five more Clones were in cultivation and would be born in about four months.
Looking at these seven metal processing equipment, openly displayed and also powered by that large steam generator, Tom was filled with relief.
"Finally, I have my own metal processing capability. From now on, I can process some simpler metal parts that don't require high precision myself."
At this point, Tom finally saw a glimmer of hope for the matter he had been anticipating.
This matter was to build a larger planting base using his own industrial capabilities.
At this stage, the fluorescent lamps, planting racks, special films, etc., from the Shenkong Spaceship were basically all used up.
To build a planting base again, he would have to rely on himself.
At the same time, the number of Clones under his command would soon climb to 32, and in another six months, it would increase to 37.
And 37 Clones was the maximum sustenance limit of the No. 1 planting base. Any more, and it wouldn't be able to support them.
"How far can this small population get? It's completely insufficient.
The food supply problem must be solved once and for all."
Tom secretly made up his mind: "Not to say it's a permanent solution, but at least for the next ten or so years, I won't be troubled by food."
However, to build a planting base, a suitable site was easy to find; there was a cave nearby with an area of over ten thousand square meters, which was completely sufficient.
Planting racks were also easy to make; he now had steel production capabilities.
Cables and power were also easy to solve. Loshen Star also had copper ore, so he could make copper wires himself.
Although insulation was a difficult problem to solve, it could be temporarily managed by using distance isolation at this stage. As for power, he could just build a few more generators.
Only one problem made Tom quite troubled.
Fluorescent lamps.
Growing plants on Loshen Star was impossible without fluorescent lamps. But fluorescent lamps were not like steel parts; they had a certain level of technical content.
"To make fluorescent lamps, one must first master glass tube forming technology, electrode manufacturing technology, ballast and starter manufacturing technology, and also need to use phosphor powder, mercury, and rare gases."
Tom silently calculated: "I understand the basic principles of these things, but mechanized manufacturing is difficult."
After much deliberation, Tom gritted his teeth: "I should be able to handle the glass tubes with machinery. For the others, electrodes, ballasts, and starters, if it really comes down to it, I'll just have to custom-make them by hand for now."