Inspecting the glass manufacturing plant (1

Phew! 

"Your majesty, expect this glass manufacturing plant to be completed within a week." Osip assured Virtya.

It had been more than a month since the construction of the glass plant started and on each day, Virtya had been visiting this site to help with the construction and seeing if they had made a mistake anywhere so that he could correct them.

Virtya was wearing a black overcoat on top of his black suit and his head was partially covered by a top hat. In his hand, he was holding a chillum from which he was taking a puff of from time to time.

As always, Tanya was beside him but her silence and detached aura made one to ignore her as if she didn't exist at all.

Virtya didn't say a word to Osip. He took a puff and breathed out a ring of smoke. He heaved a sigh and and turned to Tanya. On this day, Alexander didn't accompany Virtya as he had some other errands to attend to.

"Tanya, let's go and see the progress of the constructions." Virtya calmly said to Tanya.

He stretched his hand with the intention of holding her hand but he retracted at the last moment when he saw the serious look on Tanya's face. 

Walking towards one of the combustion chambers, Virtya could see changes almost everywhere.

Hail your majesty! Hail your majesty!

The workers lowered their heads to greet Virtya but he only waved at them with a smile so that they could continue with their work. He didn't want his presence to distract them.

On the three faces of the combustion chamber where it didn't come in contact with the melt tank, Virtya could see many perforations on the surface of these three faces.

Of course, these perforations were occupied by cylinders with the diameter of a half a metre.

The diameter of these cylinders was large enough because they would not be used to aid in creating a thrust force but they would be used to pump hot air into the combustion chamber.

Virtya made sure to use many cylinders to ensure that the coal burned hotter to produce the white flame which would aid in the melting of the raw materials for glass in the melt tank.

The cylinders were made of cast iron and they were not supported by the refractory wall of the combustion chamber but they were supported by reinforced concrete columns which held them firmly in place.

In front of these cylinders outside the combustion chamber, there were other columns that supported a series of crankshafts which were movable because of the availability of bearings that connected the ends of the crankshafts into the concrete columns.

However, each end of these crankshafts had a spur gear which was connected to the rotary mechanism which enabled the motion of the crankshafts.

Virtya installed pistons on the crankshafts and when the crankshafts spun, they would enable the forward and the backward motion of the pistons and as this reciprocating motion repeated itself, it would ensure that the coal inside the combustion chamber burned hotter by forcing hot air to the burning coal.

Of course, as the coal burned, it would expand the air in the combustion chamber which would push the pistons backward, but the crankshaft would push the pistons forward and with the forward push, the hot air would be blown into the burning coal.

The blowing force of the pistons would be so great in that they would enable the hot flames and heat from the burning coal to pass through the ports and into the furnace where they would burn the raw materials for glass.

"This is fine." Virtya uttered. He took another puff and walked to view another combustion chamber.

Tolya Ivanoff was a spy from the kingdom of Litkesh and he had been drawing every minute detail that he came across at the glass plant.

Of course, Tolya was hapful to find himself selected among the people who would be building the glass plant and even if this structure looked awkwardly shaped, Tolya didn't allow himself to be fooled into thinking that this was a simple structure. 

After work, he would go to his resting place and draw down what he had seen and heard while writing some details about his drawing.

Tolya, just like any other native from Litkesh, he was so jealous about the progress of Azuhai kingdom and that was why he was so adamant about knowing every new strange stuff that was put up.

"Will this strange building make glass?" Tolya was a little bit skeptical but he ignored his internal conflict that was telling him that he was drawing stupid things and they would not help his kingdom.

He didn't hesitate to write down every detail and even he wrote down unneeded details like how Virtya struggled to push a loaded wheelbarrow.