Chapter 229: Chapter 225 Catching the Snake
The completed model naturally needs testing, and although it’s just a model, under Perfikot’s masterful skills, it still possesses the functionalities that a real shield machine should have.
Simply put, this model can, like a real shield machine, dig a hole in the ground once the steam engine on it is activated.
However, this thing is just a model; even if it can dig, it can only create a very small hole, akin to a toy.
Perfikot, before actually using it to dig, even had to pre-program it with a reversible mechanism to prevent it from getting stuck underground, forcing them to dig it out.
For a purely mechanical entity like this, programming doesn’t mean installing a difference engine and writing numerical code; rather, it’s about designing an operation mechanism through intricate clockwork and gears, so that it automatically reverses its direction after reaching a certain depth, retracting the entire shield machine model from the ground.
Designing this kind of mechanism isn’t difficult for Perfikot. After all, watchmakers of this era can create intricate systems for automatons to draw just with gears and springs; reversing the direction of a propulsion mechanism is truly quite simple.
Perfikot quickly designed a gear mechanism triggered by a spring, which would automatically disengage the gears once the spring was fully unwound, causing the drive gear set to run in reverse, enabling the whole shield machine model to retreat.
These weren’t issues, but the key was how to enable the shield machine to spiral forward in the soil.
Initially, Perfikot tried installing wheels on both the inner and outer sides of the shield machine, directly using wheels to control direction.
But after a few tries, she discovered a problem: without rubber tires, the friction coefficient of metal wheels was too low to allow the shield machine to back out of the ground.
Although metal wheels can climb slopes, the incline typically isn’t too steep, like trains which don’t usually climb slopes steeper than 2.5%.
For Perfikot, this angle was far too small; she needed a different method for the shield machine’s propulsion mechanism.
Modern shield machines, of course, don’t use such structures; they primarily use hydraulic propulsion devices to move forward and don’t even consider retreating because shield machines are intended to bore through the entire tunnel and exit the underground.
During this process, with the installation of tunnel segments, there’s neither space nor room for the shield machine to retreat.
But Perfikot’s requirements clearly weren’t like that. The shield machine she designed didn’t aim to perforate tunnels unless it drilled through the crust directly.
Thus, she must consider the issue of the shield machine’s retreat, which undoubtedly means the whole structure of the shield machine has to be redesigned.
After all, the shield machine is meant for excavating an underground city. Perfikot couldn’t just build an underground city for one shield machine and leave it down there after reaching sufficient depth.
While theoretically possible to construct a shelter and build a shield machine accordingly, this approach was too costly and extravagant.
Even if it was to allow the underground city to expand in the future, Perfikot still found it wasteful.
"How should I improve it..." Perfikot used the properties of Flying Stone to suspend the shield machine model in mid-air, simulating its movement underground before her.
Modern shield machine movements resemble annelids like earthworms, advancing through contraction and extension, but such a structure isn’t suitable for spiral progression, as annelids rarely spiral in nature.
Speaking of spiral movement... Perfikot suddenly thought of something and shouted to the White Bear Knight standing guard outside the door, "Go get me a snake, a live one!"
At Perfikot’s request, the White Bear Knight standing guard outside the laboratory felt puzzled, but without further question, one of them immediately left to execute Perfikot’s order, even if they didn’t understand it.
However, Perfikot’s order wasn’t easy to carry out.
Even though it’s close to spring in the New Continent colony and most of the snow has begun to melt, it’s still the biting winter in the Northern Territory.
A large amount of snow remains unmelted, and although the pristine white landscape looks beautiful, it also means virtually no animals are wandering about this season.
Animals that hibernate haven’t awakened yet, and those that don’t hibernate have migrated to the warmer southern regions to overwinter, leaving only a few cold-resistant animals still living in this area.
Hoping to catch a snake under such conditions indeed poses challenges for these White Bear Knights.
But this White Bear Knight didn’t think the task was unachievable because during a previous winter of logging in the forest, he encountered hibernating snakes—he’d just treated them as an extra meal, making a savory pot of snake soup.
Now sent to find one, the White Bear Knight followed his earlier experience into the forest, intending to find another still-hibernating snake.
Given the current environmental temperature, these snakes should still be hibernating and shouldn’t pose a danger. The real challenge might be how to find them.
The White Bear Knight trudged through waist-deep snow in the forest, occasionally digging at the base of large trees or tree holes, looking for snakes hidden within hibernation.
The Knight was very cautious, wearing his iron gloves despite the cold, just to prevent being bitten by venomous snakes.
He’d heard from old hunters that snakes are more venomous in winter than usual, though the principle was unclear, caution was always a good idea.
Besides, he really didn’t want to get bitten by a venomous snake, especially since he was alone and had no one to save him if he got poisoned.
As for the cold? That wasn’t much of an issue for White Bear Knights; being beings surpassing mortal limits, Extraordinary ones further enhanced by Perfikot’s alchemical rituals, they could withstand the severe cold with their robust bodies.
Compared to that, snake venom seemed more daunting to him, since they weren’t immune to all poisons.
However, as the Knight diligently searched for the snake Perfikot wanted, he failed to notice something black and gray on the tree slowly moving towards him.
While he busied himself with a sheathed knife, prodding a tree hole to see if there were snakes inside, the shadow on the tree had locked onto the back of his neck exposed from his collar, then suddenly sprang forth like a black arrow aimed at the White Bear Knight.