Chapter 374 I brought a furniture revolution to Europe
After Joseph finished explaining the trial production of bulletproof inserts, a feeling of exhaustion suddenly spread throughout his body.
Working around the ordnance factory these past few days made him feel like he was back in his previous life when he was working on projects with his mentor. Fortunately, my dad is here to help, so I won't be exhausted.
He watched Louis XVI go to the Petit Trianon - His Majesty the King had been addicted to craftsmanship these days and missed his wife a little - but he did not delay and immediately drove to the Royal Powder Office in Paris, preparing to find Lava Tin discussed the production of casein glue.
Without solving the problem of adhesive mass production, the huge strategic value of bulletproof inserts cannot be realized.
When Joseph's carriage stopped in front of the office building of the Royal Powder Bureau, the entire Powder Bureau immediately became commotion. The management and craftsmen here have some relationship with the military and are very concerned about the victory on the front line. People dropped their work one after another and came to see the legendary hero who created the "Victory of the Southern Netherlands" - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
In the end, Joseph, who was "strongly watched", had to drag Lavoisier to escape from the Gunpowder Bureau and go to his office in the Tuileries Palace to discuss the matter.
At the Gunpowder Bureau, people watched the Crown Prince's carriage go away. After a while, they finally reluctantly went back to work under the roar of the overseers.
On Joseph's carriage, after listening to the Crown Prince's request, Lavoisier frowned slightly and said: "Your Highness, it is not difficult to produce casein glue, but the demand for your bulletproof inserts may not be able to support large-scale production. ”
Joseph was startled when he heard this, and he was also dizzy. Yes, in the pre-industrial era, as long as you were willing to invest and there were no technical obstacles, almost anything could be mass-produced.
But the question is who to sell the manufactured things to? If you can't sell it, you'll have to keep losing money.
Although he is willing to lose money when it comes to manufacturing important military equipment, it is not a problem if it continues like this.
He looked at the "Father of Chemistry" and asked: "Mr. Lavoisier, as far as you know, who needs to use this kind of adhesive?"
"Oh, in the past, only carpenters would use it in small amounts, and cobblers would occasionally use it to glue shoe soles. They usually go to the drugstore to customize a small bottle at the beginning of each year."
"carpenter?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Lavoisier said, "Casein glue was first invented to meet the needs of carpenters. But you know, this invention did not make him any money."
Joseph thought thoughtfully: "Can you tell me in detail under what circumstances a carpenter would use this thing?"
"Any situation where nails cannot be used, Your Highness. Casein glue is very strong when bonded to wood. After it dries, the glued joint is even harder than the wood itself..."
As Lavoisier introduced the properties of casein gum in detail, Joseph's eyes gradually lit up.
If the dry bonding strength of casein glue is so high and its affinity with wood is excellent, can it not be used to make artificial boards?
He knows that ordinary families in later generations rarely have access to pure solid wood furniture, and 90% of the furniture market is made of synthetic boards such as density boards and particleboards.
These artificial boards are made of "waste materials" such as wood slag and sawdust, mixed with adhesives and pressed.
Don't underestimate this kind of "waste recycling" thing - synthetic boards triggered the furniture revolution at the end of the 19th century!
First, synthetic boards are much less expensive than solid wood. This is mainly because the solid wood that can be used for furniture is basically limited to the trunk part of a straight tree, and those branches or trees that are crooked cannot be used.
With synthetic boards, an entire tree can be used to make furniture, because whether it is crooked or finely chopped, it can be crushed and glued into standard square boards. Although there are additional adhesives and processing costs, the overall price is still very low.
Similar to the shipbuilding industry in the 18th century, which was a large consumer of wood, the useless wood thrown away every year was enough to replace new furniture for the entire French people.
If an artificial panel manufacturing plant can be built near the Brittany shipyard, an industrial chain of wood-shipbuilding-synthetic panels-furniture can be formed, and even the cost of shipbuilding can be reduced a lot.
Furthermore, and more importantly, the biggest advantage of synthetic boards over solid wood is not the cost.
This may not be the same as people's usual impression, but the main reason why synthetic boards can trigger a furniture revolution is that it has several incomparable advantages:
The first is that it is easy to process. Synthetic boards are basically boxy and flat on both sides when they leave the factory. A carpenter can easily assemble furniture with just a few saws. The carpenters who use solid wood furniture are still processing the wooden boards.
In this way, the output of furniture will increase several times or even ten times, and the styles will also increase. People buying furniture will have more choices and lower prices, which will naturally lead to a sales boom.
You must know that the most profitable industrial products are never the most sophisticated, but the ones that can meet the basic needs of the largest population. Just like Mercedes-Benz and BMW in later generations, in the end they couldn't compete with Toyota and Volkswagen that catered to ordinary consumers.
Second, the nail-holding performance of synthetic boards is much stronger than that of solid boards. Because the wood of solid wood boards is dense, there will be a force that squeezes nails outward, but synthetic boards made of wood residues do not have this problem.
This leads to the fact that synthetic board furniture is more durable than solid wood boards.
Of course, this can be solved with the Eastern mortise and tenon structure, but at present, European furniture is still mainly based on nails. If you want hundreds of thousands of carpenters to change their usual skills, that is unless God really appears.
Finally, the moth-proof properties of synthetic boards are dozens of times better than those of solid boards. Hmm... Adhesive is something more disgusting than dog feces to moths, not to mention it's poisonous.
Durable, moth-proof, and cheap furniture can easily overturn solid wood furniture and dominate the market.
Thinking of this, Joseph suppressed his excitement and asked Lavoisier: "If I can find a market, for example, more than 500,000 kilograms per month, can you help me build a casein glue factory with such a large production scale?"
"500,000 kilograms?!"
Lavoisier was shocked. At present, the casein glue consumed in the entire Europe may only be tens of thousands of kilograms a year, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sells 500,000 kilograms a month. This is simply incredible!
But when he saw Joseph's serious look, he began to lower his head and think seriously.
For a moment, he shook his head slightly and said: "Your Highness, it is impossible to achieve a monthly output of 500,000 kilograms in a short period of time. If you are willing to invest 1 million livres, I can try to increase the monthly output to 50,000 kilograms."
"One million livres!" Joseph almost cursed. When he started the United Steam Engine Company, his initial investment was only 1 million. How can this "glue factory" with a monthly output of 50,000 kilograms compare to a steam engine?
(End of chapter)