Chapter 4 - ???: Why Use Ice Magic? It’s Cool if You Spin a Fan with a Motor
???: Why Use Ice Magic? It’s Cool if You Spin a Fan with a Motor
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 4
The motor!
A vital, foundational component that modern engineering simply cannot do without. If he could just craft this one thing properly, the development of future engineering products would be smooth sailing.
“But mana flows instead of electricity, doesn't it?”
“Shh.”
Right now, it felt like something halfway between magic and engineering.
But as long as it worked, that was enough. Just as people in the modern world didn't perfectly understand the principles of how a plane flies but still used them well.
“Goldie. You know what a pinwheel is, right?”
“Yes. The thing that spins round and round when the wind blows!”
So, he decided to understand mana as electricity that possessed the properties of both DC and AC. It was a bit convenient... like electricity that automatically flowed with the properties best suited for the device.
It wasn't exactly accurate, but if he dug any deeper, he might go mad like a mathematician trying to prove the Riemann Hypothesis.
Archion decided to draw the line at "It works, so I use it." There were too many machines to build to waste time on proofs.
“If you make a fan like this and spin it….”
“Ooh-waaah~! It’s cool! But do you have to spin it by hand every time? Won't your arm hurt?”
“That can be solved just by changing the rotation speed with gears.”
For now, a manual fan was easy to make.
You just had to make the blades in the opposite direction of a windmill and then use belts and gears to adjust the gears, speed, and torque. Then, just spin it.
When he distributed these to the Earldom, the farm managers and millers apparently connected the fans to waterwheels. They used them to create summer shelters for the farmers, sending his popularity through the roof.
“Let’s go with a DC motor.”
The next step was the Direct Current (DC) motor. A motor with a relatively simple structure made of magnets and coils.
He said relatively, but by this world's standards, the difficulty was extreme.
“Young Master, may I curse at you?”
“Go ahead.”
“Young Master, have you lost your mind? To cram this many parts into a casing barely a quarter the size of my palm! Just kill me instead!”
“It’s possible. You won't die. Just try it.”
“Gaaaaah—!!”
He gathered metalworkers and others known for their precision work and put them through hell.
The mages belonging to Enersis who had been dragged in again spread their "Archion-phobia," which also reached the newly joined project researchers.
“See? It works, doesn't it?”
“The fact that it works for you, Young Master, is exactly the—” “He did an ‘Archion’ again. Ho ho!”
“Tsk tsk. Newbie, give up. The Young Master was the same when assembling the improved incandescent bulbs!”
It was a difficult process for them, but for the past-life Archion, who had handled materials in microgram units, it wasn't incredibly hard.
That didn't mean it was easy, though. After all, the technology here was at a medieval level where magic replaced most things.
“You want me to carve... what, uniform grooves on the surface? Young Master, just tell me to cut it instead!”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Like stamping on a flat plate. Shall we make the mold and press first?”
“Pardon?”
Besides, such machine tools would be useful for many things once they were made. Archion nodded with satisfaction in front of the press machine, his nose plugged with tissues.
Of course, behind him, the fainted blacksmiths were sprawled on the floor, leaking (nose)bleed. Anyway.
Important parts of a DC motor included the brush, commutator, and insulated coils. Among them, the brush is a key component that changes the polarity of the coils inside the motor.
“Let’s use graphite.”
“Graphite? You mean the stuff we use to write on posters?”
Graphite conducts electricity, has a layered structure so friction would be low even while touching the coil, and is resistant to heat. And as a byproduct of the mines, it was overflowing in Enersis.
“Now for the commutator….”
Next was the commutator. A rotating part that touches the brush to switch the direction of the magnetic force. He had copper, and there was also high-quality wood that could be used as an insulator.
The insulation was the problem. He had tried several materials, but none properly blocked mana and electricity. Archion was agonizing over this until….
“Huh? Why is this here?”
In the mine warehouse. He found the answer among the byproduct piles.
“Young Master. That’s a mineral that splits into thin plates. Look. Isn't the texture peculiar?”
“It looks exactly like hard vinyl—it's mica.”
Mica, a silicate mineral. It was an insulator, relatively heat-resistant, and easy to process. Since it was used in the heating plates of electrical and heating appliances and even in capacitors, it was the perfect mineral for a commutator.
Now he just had to combine these one by one….
“No. Scrap it.”
“Ugh…!”
“When, exactly when, will we pass!!”
The process of winding the coils, assembling, and fastening each part—could it possibly be smooth? Every day was a cycle of production and scrapping.
“Are you sleeping?”
“Hick! No, sir!”
“You are sleeping… I see… I’ll just work overtime by myself then….”
“Sob, sniff…!”
Moreover, who was their leader, Archion? Archion Enersis. Outside, he was called a genius alchemist, but….
“Good work today, everyone.”
“Gurgle.”
“I’ll see you all tomorrow… no, today. Anyway, see you in the morning. In about 5 hours.”
“Gaaaaah!”
Among the project researchers, he was known as the ‘Devil of Overtime.’ Because he worked late nights like it was as natural as eating.
Of course, they did overtime here too. Limited overtime under the dim light of candles.
“He-heh, is it morning already?”
“It’s still night.”
“Rattle….”
But a research lab with incandescent bulbs—improved ones at that—as lighting? It was so bright it was hard not to work overtime. Which is to say, it was the perfect environment for it.
So they couldn't use the heat as an excuse, he even hired several sturdy commoners to spin manual fans 24 hours a day.
“Good work. Now, there’s a part we need to further improve—”
“Gaaaaah! Aaaaah!!”
“That guy’s running away! Catch him!”
“If you leave, I have to suffer more! Please don't run away!!”
Everyone was ground down by Archion’s "engineer sacrifice." It was early summer.
When Archion made the incandescent bulb, he had produced it through countless hardships and "crunch mode."
However, the "full support" back then was mostly in name only. Manpower and resources were limited, and yet Archion had pulled it off. That was why everyone called him a genius alchemist.
But now….
Click.
Far more manpower and resources than during the incandescent bulb project. On top of that, the full support of Count Delford. Even with the material insights of mages incorporated into the improvement work throughout the process.
Wiiiiiiiiing~!
“Haha.”
Just one and a half months. The motor was completed in a month and fifteen days.
The motor, with parts packed tightly inside a cylindrical cast-iron case, spun rapidly in coordination. Making the bearings had been difficult due to the complex structure and lubricants... but he solved it by making a lubricant from a mixture of petroleum, soap, and finely ground graphite.
Now, if he attached a propeller that fit the motor shaft?
Vrooooom~!
“Whoa.”
The cool electric fan was complete. Since it was midsummer, it was hot, but the motor, sucking up mana from the magic stone, spun the propeller and blew away the sweat in an instant.
“Owat! You finally finished it!”
“Yeah. Here.”
“Ooh-wa-wa-wa~!”
Goldie had visited the workshop just in time. As he turned the motor toward her, her drooping ears and hair fluttered.
“It’s cool~!”
Seeing her with her eyes half-closed and her mouth open, making an “Ah~!” sound, she was nothing but a child. Unnecessarily cute. Archion barely suppressed the urge to pet her.
“Hehehe, all my sweat is gone! Oh, Young Master! The Count said he wants to attach carriage signs for others as well. Is there any room in the production schedule?”
“Again?”
Come to think of it, that ‘Baby on Board’ sign he had attached to his father’s carriage. Archion had made it with the intention of being a "fiery filial son" for his father.
Lo and behold, it was a massive hit. Because of it, nobles were inquiring left and right, wanting to attach them to their own carriages.
“No, why?”
“Because it’s cool!”
How did this happen? It turned out Delford Enersis had taken the carriage all the way to the capital and bragged about it everywhere.
For now, he had granted the request of the Northern Grand Duchy, where his fiancée was... but if he diverted any more, he’d have to start taking the bulbs intended for the streetlights.
“No. Even now, the production of incandescent bulbs is tight. Giving them to other nobles? Reject them all.”
“There were also several people who wanted to sponsor the Young Master’s workshop.”
“Just give me the list of those people separately.”
But research grants were impossible to resist. Enersis’s full support was enormous, but isn't it true that when it comes to a budget, the more the merrier?
While Archion was grinning at the thought of a ballooning research budget, Goldie was turning the fan in her hand this way and that, inspecting it.
“But Young Master. Are you going to sell this to nobles too?”
“We’ll see.”
He had set up another workshop specifically to build a production line for incandescent bulbs... but mass-producing motors was still premature.
Besides, the purpose of his engineering machinery was the improvement of daily life. To make the subtly primitive daily life of this Romance Fantasy world more comfortable.
Still, it would be good to consider commercialization to please Count Delford, so….
“Should we go with a ceiling fan?”
“A ceiling fan?”
“Yeah. A massive fan attached to the ceiling. But we'll have to install materials that can adjust the mana conductivity according to the switch settings so the speed can be controlled….”
The fans found on the ceilings of houses in places like America. What people commonly call a ceiling fan.
“But is it possible with this tiny thing?”
“Of course, because I’ve already made motors in various sizes. We’ll install them in my room, the Lord’s study, and the servants’ lounge.”
“Owat! Really?! You’re installing one in our lounge too?!”
“Of course. Don't you guys get hot?”
“Of course we do!! Wow! Ooh-waah! Yay~!”
Archion was planning to install them in every room of the mansion. Then, even midsummer wouldn't be scary.