The three of them quickly arrived at the large courtyard Bergnan had mentioned.
In the courtyard, three small cannons were lined up, standard field models.
Each small cannon was mounted on a wooden gun carriage taller than a man (the wheels were the highest part), and the cannon barrels were dark and shiny, already giving the impression of regular army artillery.
"These are the cannons you've manufactured!" Charles exclaimed in surprise.
Pittsburgh Fortress already had cannons, so he had, of course, seen them before.
However, compared to those straight-barreled cannons, these cannons, with their smaller muzzles and thicker breeches, not only had a slightly larger caliber but also a much more advanced design.
He hadn't expected Bergnan, the self-proclaimed firearms master, who hadn't shown any outstanding performance in firearm design, to suddenly produce such excellent cannons.
"Hehe! This might be the first cannon in history to be loaded from the breech!" The unskilled Bergnan proudly led Charles to one of the cannons.
"Master, look, this is my unique design: a separate shell launching tube!
We equip each cannon with two launching tubes; one is loaded with gunpowder and a projectile, and the other, already loaded, is fired.
Once fired, we swap them.
This continuous process not only speeds up the rate of fire but also truly achieves breech-loading."
Charles smiled and heavily patted the cannon.
The cannon mounted on the carriage was actually a hollow, straight barrel, but the tail of the barrel had a rivetable structure.
Two short, thick breech-ends, capable of holding gunpowder and projectiles, were also placed on the carriage.
This was not a true breech-loading cannon, but merely a muzzle-loading cannon with a separate charge.
In reality, a vertical cross-section is much better than a horizontal one, because a vertical cross-section involves inserting the sub-cannon into the main cannon's barrel, making it impossible to damage the main cannon's barrel.
However, the cast iron rivet structure of the horizontal cross-section offers no guarantee of permanent use without breaking.
"Bergnan, the only advantage of your firing method in land warfare is an increased rate of fire; the advantage of a breech-loading cannon is not very pronounced, and its effective range is actually affected by the sealing.
If used in the navy, there would be some advantage, as it could save the gunner the action of retracting the cannon, making it a very good design.
However, I think this cannon has a drawback: the horizontal cross-section is too short and small.
Do you think it could be changed to a vertical cross-section connection, directly inserting the sub-cannon into the main cannon's barrel?" Charles could only praise Bergnan as much as possible.
"Great! This way, although the barrel processing is more complex, it saves the production of the rivet structure, and actually doesn't increase the workload at all.
It's perfectly feasible!"
"Hmm, if it can be manufactured, then we'll make them that way in the future." Charles nodded.
Unfortunately, the Continental Congress was absolutely the most stingy institution in the world, making it extremely difficult to get them to allocate funds for military purchases.
It would be better to have Pittsburgh buy a few more such cannons for its defense construction.
"Actually… Master, I have an idea.
I wonder if I can test it."
"What idea?
Just bring it up.
Generally speaking, as long as the cost isn't particularly high, you can report directly to Greenspan for military equipment tests.
If Greenspan thinks the project investment is too large, then he can come to me." Charles originally wanted to hand everything over to Bergnan, but thinking of his performance just now, he wasn't confident in entrusting everything to him, so he simply put the trustworthy Greenspan in charge.
"Hehe! It's like this: I want to try making a cannon using steel, combined with a certain amount of wrought iron and cast iron.
You've also seen that these new cannons, because they have an extra barrel at the back, naturally have a thicker joint, making the cannon much heavier overall, without increasing its range.
So, I want to cast a new cannon where the inner wall uses steel, the middle is reinforced with wrought iron, and the outside is tightened with cast iron.
By utilizing their different tensions, we can increase the chamber pressure of the cannon's inner wall, increase the range, and also reduce its weight." Bergnan rambled on and on.
Charles listened for a long time without fully understanding, only guessing that he wanted to cast a cannon made of composite materials.
Upon hearing that steel would be used, he knew that steel prices were currently very high and worried about similar problems to the steel guns, where performance improvement was minimal but manufacturing costs skyrocketed.
"Testing it is fine, but please don't create something like those steel guns, where a slight performance improvement comes at a price that isn't worth it at all." Charles first gave Bergnan a warning.
Fearing that he would lose his pursuit of advanced weapons, he continued to add after Bergnan nodded:
"However, your spirit of bravely experimenting with and manufacturing new types of weapons is excellent.
An outstanding designer should possess qualities like yours.
Work hard, I look forward to your performance."
"Thank you for your praise, Master, then about my contract…" Bergnan looked at Charles expectantly.
"Don't worry, I will reduce your contract slave time by half, but only when you produce a breech-loading rifle or a more superior double-barreled rifle will I consider returning your contract completely."
The cannon was undoubtedly more advanced than ordinary cannons, but it also had some very undesirable drawbacks: it was heavier and relatively larger than ordinary cannons.
Using it on warships might be slightly better, but its sub-cannon loading occupied a large amount of space, manufacturing was very complex, and its range and accuracy were not necessarily better than conventional cannons, so it was difficult to say it was a suitable warship cannon.
The continued development of new cannons and firearms was imperative.
What he saw next made Charles feel a bit exasperated.
He saw a large group of men in a clattering room, attempting to use a steam engine to power a spinning machine.
The research and development of the steam engine was also placed in the crowded steel smelting workshop, partly because there was a relatively large coal storage warehouse here, and also because the steam engine components could be directly cast and easily moved.
Greenspan simply did not realize the importance of the steam engine and could not arrange a separate room for their research.
The investment wasn't large, but it was truly difficult for William, as a maintenance worker, to assemble and design a steam engine.
There were only a few large components and a dozen small ones in total.
But what he had built now, even laymen like Charles and Greenspan, could see that there was a problem with this steam engine, because it moved like an old ox plowing a field, stopping after every step.
What made Charles even more amused was that he was already preparing to apply the steam engine to industry.
"Sir! You're here!" William rushed over to greet him.
Charles waved his hand, signaling him not to come over.
He just looked glumly at the spinning machine driven by a crank.
The Industrial Revolution in England began with the textile industry; since the invention of the spinning jenny, various spinning machines had been created, the most advanced of which were water-powered spinning machines.
The spinning machine in front of Charles was a modified version of a water-powered spinning machine he had bought back from Philadelphia, and the power for spinning naturally came from the old ox-like steam engine built by William.
Unfortunately, this thing was even more difficult than building a steam engine; the spinning machine was modified, but not only was its efficiency low, but it also had to use very thick thread for weaving, otherwise the thread would break as soon as the machine moved.
Even if it didn't break, the resulting cloth was loose and not very dense.
The final finished cloth could only be used as work clothes for the laborers, and it was very difficult for it to be sold normally on the market.
Seeing this old ox-like steam engine and the ridiculous spinning machine, Charles could only smile bitterly and console himself: Fortunately, Pittsburgh was short of women, and the men were already close to finding animals to satisfy their physiological needs, so cloth was naturally even more scarce.
Although the cloth woven by such a machine was of poor quality and high cost, it was durable and had market demand, so there was no need to worry about not selling it.
It was just that those who bought the cloth would probably curse him again.
To William, he only left one sentence:
"Step up the research on a truly usable steam engine, and once it's ready, quickly build paddlewheel ships!"
Although textile machines and steam locomotive engines were also very important, for Charles, the most important was the paddlewheel ship.
It not only related to trade routes with the east but also to another potential trade route to break the British army blockade.