Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1108

Chapter 1108: Innovations of Manas

The special patent offices, which allowed the sale of controlled technology to capable and applicable companies, like in the cities of Nagpur, Bengaluru, Indraprastha, Mangalore, Varanasi, Kathmandu, Dhaka, Guwahati, Lhasa or any other place across the empire, all became crowded. With business giants from each and every state, be it the tall and imposing Sikhs, the fair Kashmiri Pandits, the black cloth-wearing Bengalis, the Kannadigas, the Tamilians, the Malayalis, the Telugus, the Bhojpuris and even the Tibetans, they were all here.

With the news about various technologies of the steam engine being put on sale, entering the ears of the elites, the situation became like cold water being poured into a pot of boiling oil, exploding with vitality never seen in a decade. The companies who already benefited from seizing the opportunity and getting a stake in the industrial chain surrounding the Pragathi engine, like the Parvati Iron and Steel, were ready to stake it all once again, wanting to get at least one core part manufacturing technology from the Balwaan or Kesari engines, which would bring them one step into the door of a billion varaha company.

Even though the news about the steam engine patents being put on sale was only known to the elites, since the decision taken by the royal family was so large, some newspapers inadvertently dug up the news and made it public, catching the people across the empire who were interested in paying attention to the news related to industry and machines off guard.

While military approved companies in the empire were in a frenzy of acquiring the core technologies related to the fourth generation Balwaan engine and fifth generation Kesari engine, other large scale manufacturers were also in a hurry to acquire the patent for lower important parts, so that they would also get a chance to participate in the industrial chain that is bound to form around the steam engines.

While all this was happening, the spies of various nations were gearing up for a feast; their chance to settle once and for all was here. They did not know what happened for the Devaraya royal family to let go of their technological iron grip around the steam engines, but for them, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Thinking about a guy in their circle stealing the piston ring technology in the last fall and becoming a gentry with several beautiful serfs to serve him, many people’s mouths watered.

Selvan, the director of Bharatiya Internal Pragya, felt a bit depressed. His job had suddenly become much harder, but there was nothing he could do. Even though he personally disagreed with selling the technology to private enterprises, his trust in the emperor was absolute. With no choice but to adapt, he immediately promoted a dozen or so middle-level agents to high-level positions and expanded the team for wider coverage. He also directed more investment into the research and analytical divisions, as well as the newly formed forensic unit.

In such a way, the entire year passed.

4th January 1693.

Imperial capital Bengaluru, Akhand Bharatiya Empire.

Across the city, from Oyambhara Nagari to Nagawara along the north–south line, and from Kodagu to Kangeri along the east–west line, more than 3,800 deep excavations had been carried out. Each pit reached 70 to 100 feet underground, spaced roughly 15 to 20 feet apart. In total, several thousand metric tonnes of earth had been dug up and removed.

Oyambara Nagara, the last satellite town at the border of Bengaluru and Cholapuri, had been chosen as the site where the first pillar would be erected. The mayor, a lady named Janaki Gowda, arrived at the construction site to flag off the work and oversee the blessing ritual before the concrete was poured.

Manas, the chief engineer, stood over the blueprint, surrounded by a group of engineers. All of them wore yellow hard hats and stood beside the first pit.

Noticing the entry of the mayor, the engineers immediately nudged Manas. Realising who had arrived, he stepped forward to greet her.

“Welcome, madam, welcome.”

“Please, this way,” he said, guiding her toward the spot where the Ganesha murti had been placed for the ritual.

In the last four months, he had barely been free. Apart from directing the workers during the excavation, he had also been experimenting with construction designs and materials. He had even built a prototype in a wasteland just to prove his ideas.

His research alone had cost the company over 10 million varaha, but neither he nor the chairman, Peshwa Reddy, had any issue with it. Both of them knew that once they mastered this unique construction method, more orders were bound to come knocking. If the Bengaluru project succeeded, other cities would likely follow, and when that time came, they would easily earn back whatever they were losing now.

After the ritual from the mayor of the town ended, Manas nodded at the cement mix operator.

The mix operator decisively turned the wheel and poured all the concrete that was being mixed into the deep pit. The hole was 100 feet deep so the pouring of the concrete was like filling up a dried-up pond with a spoon, but it did not matter since it was a start.

“Clap!” “Clap!” “Clap!”

The engineers immediately clapped at the start of the work.

After the mayor left, more concrete mixers were brought to the end of the hole, bags of cement powder were poured into the mixer along with sand, fine gravel, volcanic ash of an active volcano from the southeast and water.

With 16 mixers all sitting on the edge of the hole operating simultaneously, the speed of construction visibly increased, with the foundation being filled up one inch at a time.

Manas nodded in satisfaction and reminded his assistant, “Make sure that there is no air in between. Every once in a while, send someone to compress the concrete and make sure that all the gaps between the steel are occupied.”

His assistant, who was also a civil engineer, nodded his head and agreed to complete the task.

Manas then left the construction site and went to the next one. After the ceremony started and after the first bucket of concrete was poured, he had ordered for the foundation to be laid down for 4 pillars simultaneously, which he now went to inspect.

According to his design, each pillar contained thirteen 2-inch vertical high-ductility steel bars, twelve arranged in a circle and one positioned at the core. These vertical bars were then wrapped with continuous high-ductility steel bars in a coiled pattern, each coil one inch thick, encasing all thirteen bars together.

He designed it so that the structure would maintain its strength while remaining flexible enough to shrug off small and moderate earthquakes by absorbing vibrations. Even if severe damage occurred due to a natural disaster, the entire structure would not collapse at once. Instead, it would fail gradually, thanks to the spiral steel bar reinforcement.

Besides, he had implemented a deep-pile foundation, with each pile filled with steel-reinforced concrete. He essentially went all-in on iron and concrete to make the structure as stable as possible, while ensuring it wasn’t so rigid that it would crack under certain stresses.

Visiting the other sites and observing the process of pouring the concrete, he nodded in satisfaction.

A few days later, the foundations were completed and the pillars began to take shape. Around this time, he decided to build the first segment of the box girder. The box girder was something he had developed during his research, essentially the platform on which the metro train would run. At first, just like the pillars, he planned to construct it traditionally with a support base and poured concrete reinforced with steel. But after reading 2012 again, he realised he didn’t need to. He could design the platform in segments and assemble it piece by piece.

Nearly a week passed, and the first four pillars were completed and cured, while eight more were being constructed further down the line.

Manas was in a meeting with his chief engineers and four stationary crane operators, explaining how to fit the box girders onto the pillars. At this moment, an engineer entered with news.

“Sir, the bearing pads you ordered have arrived.”

Manas quickly wrapped up the briefing and hurried off to inspect them, excitement written all over his face.

This was another innovation he had come up with. He needed the platform to withstand earthquakes just like the pillars, and he had to ensure that the vibrations from the trains wouldn’t damage the structure. Although he had never seen a metro train, he had seen locomotives, and he knew exactly what those monsters, weighing hundreds of tonnes, were capable of. That was why he came up with the bearing pads.

Basically, these pads are placed between the pillar and the box girder. Each one is built from stacked layers of thick rubber and 1/8-inch steel plates, compressed together into a single flexible block.

He planned to install four bearing pads on every pillar, giving the entire structure a strong level of earthquake resistance. They also ensured temperature resilience, since concrete expands in heat and contracts in cold, sometimes shifting by several inches. With the pads in place, the bridge could slide slightly instead of cracking under stress. They would let the structure flex just enough for the forces to spread out naturally, keeping the whole system stable and secure.

He was proud of his design, proud enough that he even took the time to write a paper on it during his spare time. He hadn’t published it yet, but he was looking forward to doing so.

What he didn’t know was that his paper would later become the foundation for constructing massive structures, from towering statues to high-rise buildings. His bearing-pad design would eventually be used to reinforce the 100-metre Lord Ram statue, support skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, and stabilise bridges stretching across vast distances. But all of that lay far in the future. For now, he remained unaware that the very paper he had written in his spare time would earn him a Dharma Award in engineering and architecture, making him one of the few to receive the honour in multiple fields.