Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

While William IV was receiving King William I of Prussia, an event of epoch-making significance for the Dutch military was taking place in Port Adelaide, where the headquarters of the Dutch Far East Group is located in the southern part of the Australian continent in the Far East.

The atmosphere inside the R\u0026D department of Far East Group in Adelaide is very tense.

Everyone stayed outside the research room, waiting for the final results.

Outside this small door, gathered official heavyweights who hold a decisive position in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Accompanied by Maybach, chairman of the Far East Group, the second largest conglomerate in the Netherlands (after the Dutch East India Company), the Governor of South Australia and former Prime Minister Jan. Jacob Rocusson, the Dutch Minister of Arms Louis Bell, and the Minister of Industry Wei Wei Tom Cote, Transportation Secretary John and other big figures gathered here to wait for the arrival of the "good news".

Ross August Otto was from the Netherlands who was personally excavated from the French Empire by His Majesty William IV when he was in trouble.

In 1861, he immigrated to the Far East of the Netherlands and Australia and was recruited to the Far East Group to become a senior engineer. In 1863, Ross August Otto used Rosa's principles to create the world's first reciprocating piston, horizontal bar, and horizontal machine, with a 3.2 kilowatt (that is, 4.4 horsepower in later generations, using gas as fuel, using flame ignition, 156.7 rpm, compression ratio of 2.66, thermal efficiency of 14%, stable speed, both power and thermal efficiency are currently the highest in the world) four-stroke internal combustion engine.

For this reason, the Dutch scientific community was shocked. With the success of the four-stroke internal combustion engine, the Dutch industry continued to move one step ahead of the British. The Otto internal combustion engine was vigorously promoted by the Dutch government, and its performance was also improved. By 1865, the single-machine power Reaching 15 kilowatts (20 horsepower), in 1866, Otto increased it to 1.5 million kilowatts. Due to the increase in compression ratio, the thermal efficiency also increased.

With these achievements, Ross August Otto was nominated and successfully appointed as an academician of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences.

Perhaps in order to compete, Edison, who joined the Dutch East India Company and founded the subsidiary General Electric Company, successfully developed a two-stroke gas engine in 1866 and exhibited it at the 1867 World's Fair in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which caused a sensation around the world.

Edison, who was only 20 years old and returned to the Netherlands from overseas (from the Millennium returnees who were poor in the Netherlands), was also praised by the European scientific community as a leader of the young generation of European scientific circles.

Edison became the youngest academician in the history of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in 1868.

Ross August Otto, who was born in 1832, was naturally not willing to be compared with Edison.

So Otto set his sights on the emerging new fuel oil.

With the development of oil, gasoline and diesel, which are easier to transport than coal gas, have attracted the attention of many people in Europe. They have also attracted the attention of the scientific community with the theme of scientific creation. In order to suppress Edison, Otto prepared to develop new areas to open up battlefields, and in 1867 he focused on the gasoline engine.

Therefore, after being reminded by someone specially arranged by William IV, he successfully won over Gottlieb Dailem and Karl Benz who were dissatisfied with the Kingdom of Prussia's annexation of their homeland, the Grand Duchy of Württemberg (their homelands were both Württemberg). Grand Duchy, don't forget, William IV) the two immigrated to the Netherlands and became Dutch citizens. That year they became engineers in the R\u0026D Department of the Dutch Far East Group.

The reason why this time it attracted the attention of so many powerful figures in the Dutch military regime was because Ross August Otto and his two assistants, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Dailem, wanted to create a miracle and develop A desktop upright gasoline engine.

It is characterized by lightness and high speed. Compared with other internal combustion engines at this time, the speed does not exceed 200 rpm and 1 minute. According to the data submitted by Otto to the Far East Group of the Netherlands and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, if it succeeds this time, the newly invented gasoline engine will be The jump reaches 800 revolutions per minute, which is particularly suitable for the requirements of transportation machinery.

But that was after the first one was completed in 1867, and now there is an upgraded version.

According to the future vision popularized by William IV to many people here,

If the development of Otto and his colleagues is successful, the gasoline engine will be used as the operating machine to power many vehicles in the future. William IV even mentioned that a mechanically operated vehicle that is no longer a horse-drawn carriage but called a car will become popular. The birth of this gasoline engine would promote the development of automobiles that William IV was trying to promote.

This has doubled the pressure on many people here, which is why ministers from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Transport are here.

The dual-use means of transportation also had a spillover effect on the military. The Minister of Arms was also arranged by William IV to come to South Australia.

"According to what our Majesty said, if this gasoline engine is successfully developed, it will be the key for our Netherlands to completely surpass the United Kingdom and become the world's leading industrial power. His Majesty said that cars that are very unfamiliar to us will be brought to the future. The most important scientific project of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences in five years. At the same time, according to His Majesty’s guidance, gasoline engines will be put on ships to power small boats in the future. After the gasoline engines are improved and their performance is improved, they can even be used on warships and transport ships to replace coal"

The Governor of South Australia and former Prime Minister Jan. Jacob Rocusen paused for a moment, looking at Industry Minister Wem Cote, Transport Minister John, and Chairman of the Dutch Far East Group Maybach, and finally turned to Dutch Arms Minister Louis Bell. .

I saw him saying: "Your Majesty attaches great importance to this research and development, which is why everyone here is here. At present, our Kingdom of the Netherlands has been suppressed by the United Kingdom in the international arena. If the gasoline engine can be manufactured this time, I hope that the military will Only then can we make good use of it to complete the Netherlands' shortcomings against the British army."

The Minister of Arms is in charge of departments such as the Dutch Military Research Institute and the Arms Manufacturing Bureau. All orders placed by the military to private arms companies fall within his jurisdiction.

To say that the person in the Netherlands who is most familiar with the details of military progress, he is still above William IV. This is why William IV assigned him to the Far East to follow the development of this vertical, lightweight gasoline engine.

"Currently, in the Dutch military, except for our Dutch submarines, which use a low-power gasoline engine and a diesel engine hybrid, no other countries' weapons use gasoline-related methods."

Arms Secretary Louis Bell spoke slowly but forcefully, worthy of his military background.

"If the efficiency of this improved version of the gasoline engine can be greatly improved, then the range of the submarine will be greatly improved. The combat radius is 500 nautical miles. If the gasoline engine can be doubled and the range can be quietly and safely submerged, then the Dutch mainland port can The threat to the British mainland will be a powerful check and balance for us to stop the British powerful navy in the future. If these gasoline engine submarines with double the safe submersible range are deployed in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, the security index of the Dutch overseas territories will be greatly enhanced. By then, Even if the British have more surface warships than we do, they will have more scruples about us and will not threaten us at will."

May 20, 1869, is a memorable day in the world's industrial world.

Ross August Otto and his assistants Gottlieb Dailem and Carl Benz successfully improved the efficiency of gasoline engines.

William IV, who was far away in the Netherlands in Europe, was naturally very happy when he received the good news from Adelaide on the Australian mainland.

William IV then ordered the Dutch Far East Group to provide more funds to support Otto.

At the suggestion of William IV, Otto used funds from the Dutch Far East Group to invest in shares, and Otto established a subsidiary, Otto Transport Company.

At the same time, Otto hired Dalem and Karl Benz, engineers with extraordinary talent and rich management experience, to become the company's chief engineers. Otto was determined to apply the engine he invented to transportation.

To this end, Alto divided the research and development funds into two, with Karl Benz and Dailem each receiving half.

Dailem received R\u0026D funds and began working on engine applications, developing an advanced ignition system that allowed the engine to run at 700-900 rpm, and also painstakingly created a lighter engine.

Dailem attached an Otto engine to a Dutch bicycle and thus created the world's first motorcycle. With the support of Otto, Dailem is preparing to build his ground-breaking motorcycle before the end of the year. Transportation, four-wheeled vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel engines.

But Karl Benz did not let Dailem take the lead. He took the lead. After Dailem had just completed the transformation of his bicycle into a motorcycle, he also built his first car - a three-wheeler. A wheel car, a car completely different from a motorcycle.

Benz's cars, like Daimler's, also use the engine power of their boss Otto, because Otto's engine can only rotate at 700-900 rpm in 1 minute, so the speed is too slow, and they don't care that their cars generate too much energy. value, so the two began asking for funds to improve their cars.

Facing the two demands, Otto finally chose to support them because he understood that this was exactly the route designated by William IV.

At the same time, the Dutch Navy also tried to use the world's most advanced technologies such as Otto engines and gasoline engines, and began to prepare for use in the navy.

On May 25, 1869, William IV personally signed the new army service, and Dutch Minister of War Petter de Jong personally went to the Far East to implement it. It was officially launched in Alice Springs, a central city in the heart of the Australian continent. Here , the Dutch Motorcycle Division and the Tricycle Brigade were established (the ones with machine guns on the vehicles that everyone is familiar with).

Obviously, like submarines, this will become the secret weapon for the Netherlands to win in war conflicts when its domestic and European powers are strong in the future. This is also the fifth and sixth types of the Netherlands after submarines, bicycle armies, semi-automatic rifles, and airships (under development). A secret weapons force on the battlefield of the future.

You can imagine how shocked London will be when the British naval battleships that are slightly better than the Dutch enter the Dutch territory in the future and suddenly find that torpedoes fired at them hit their invading fleet, and what the world's naval pattern will be like. Upheaval.

Think about it again, what will happen to the world's number one Prussian Army in the future, when Bismarck and Moltke rely on the tactics of rapidly transporting troops by train to face the Dutch Bicycle Corps? What about facing the further motorcycle army? On top of that, if tricycles fired by machine guns are added to the mix and they drive around randomly on the European plains, can Prussia withstand it?

At this point, William IV finally felt that the Kingdom of the Netherlands under his leadership had matured.