I laughed Becca's Father's words off. "Well, I wanted everyone who uses a spring in the future to remember that it was invented by the Duchy. That will help our overall approval rating, which will be helpful once we start implementing the changes I told you about earlier…"
Becca's Father instantly realized I was talking about the new laws I was going to introduce, but he didn't want to bring it up here in front of all the researchers on the chance that it would anger them, so he quickly brushed past the topic.
"That's fine then. Now should we go start trying to make our first spring?"
I shock my head while being amused by his eagerness. "No, first I want to show you the second blueprint that I brought. This one I am much more certain about and can explain to you better how it is made. It should also be revolutionary in its own way. After we see both, then we can go out to the shop and try to make a few prototypes before we start negotiating on a deal to cooperate."
My words clearly reminded Becca's Father that we still had not reached a deal for cooperation on my blueprints, so the enthusiasm quickly drained from his face.
"Yes, please show us the next blueprint to evaluate."
The other researchers also looked a little scared.
"Haha don't worry guys. I'm not a greedy man, I'm sure we can make a deal so you all can have fun experimenting for many months to come."
One of the researchers smiled and said, "thank you Duke Harrison, this type of experimentation is our passion."
I slowly unraveled the second blueprint. "Then I hope you like this new product I developed."
All of the researchers were excited as they gathered around the blueprint to get a better look. However, once they saw what the blueprint was, their excitement turned into bewilderment. They all returned to their seats at the table, probably with lost faith in me.
One of them finally spoke up, "it's just a piece of steel? What can be revolutionary about that?"
The rest of the researchers nodded in agreement. It seemed like they all thought I was making a joke after bringing one good blueprint. However this blueprint was something I was much more personally attached to than a spring and had many plans for in the future for. Even if to them, it looked just like a random piece of steel.
"This is an I-beam. I have noticed that while the steel industry is large in the Kingdom, all of our building are made of stone, bricks, or wood. I want to create a steel building market."
One of the researchers had a frown on his face, "I have looked into using steel as the main component of a building, but I found that steel was too heavy and expensive. Far too much material was used…"
This researcher would be perfect to help prove my point. "What kind of beams did you use for the building construction? I am assuming solid square beams because they are the easiest to construct with."
"Yes, we made some building frames with solid square beams and columns, but it turned out to be 3 times more expensive than just building a standard residential wooden building, so we scrapped the project."
"That is where the I-beam comes into play. Have you all noticed how different shapes of steel beams have different properties and strengths? For instead, a circle steel beam behaves differently than a square steel beam under the same loads?"
Everyone nodded their heads at the same time, so I continued. "I wanted my researchers to figure out the math behind steel beam design and figure out what would be the optimal shape to make beams in to save material while maintaining the strength. They eventually landed on an I-shaped beam. Believe it or not, an I-shaped beam will have similar strength to an equivalent sized solid square beam while using a fraction of the material."
The I-beam I wanted to introduce was a cornerstone of steel design in my world. It was the reason we could have skyscrapers as well as standard buildings made of steel beams. Some engineers found out long ago that an I-shaped beams was the best combination of constructability, strength, and cost. I wanted to bring this knowledge to the Kingdom, so I could see the steel building industry that I spent so much time in flourish again.
The researchers, on the other hand, had a hard time believing my claims. "With all that material missing in the middle? It can really have that much strength?!"
I had to point something out so they didn't get too carried away. "The trick is that this type of beam has a strong axis and a weak axis. The strong axis can resist bending just as good as its solid square beam counterpart. However, the weak axis is a lot worse at resisting bending.
The good thing is that in building design, the loads will usually come from one direction, so you can usually position the beam so it will take most of the load on its strong axis. I can draw up a sketch of a sample steel building, so you can see how the standard beams and column should be oriented."
One of the researchers seemed quick on the uptake. "I see, it would take careful consideration to make sure you were always putting the loads from the building onto the strong axis of the beam, but if you could do it accurately, you would save a massive amount of material. Enough that making steel building might actually be variable!"
"Another thing I want to point out about building design is that wood, stone, and steel buildings all have different strengths and weaknesses. You said you tested a steel building against a residential wood building, but steel will never be the best option for residential buildings. Steel is better for large multi story buildings or buildings that need big open areas instead of residential building that have a lot of rooms and walls inside."
"I see, we were making a comparison in a category of building we should have ignored in the first place…"
"Yes, it's like comparing apples with oranges."
My dream in the future was to manually design a big multistory steel building for Becca and I to enjoy. I could tell the steel shop exactly what I wanted and they just needed to fabricate the parts and construct it for me. I wasn't sure about the level of wind, snow, and earthquakes in the Duchy, but I could just be overly safe since money was no obstacle.
I also knew some concrete and wood design from college, so maybe I would design a nice comfortable vacation home for us too use when we wanted to get away and relax. Of course, those dreams were something I had to put on the back burner for now because I was far too busy to sit down for weeks and design.
"I can sit down and explain to you all the fundamentals of steel building design with I-beams, but first let's go out to the shop and make an I-beam and a solid square beam and do a test of their strengths to get a comparison. I'm sure some of you are still reluctant to believe my claims of their strength without seeing it with your own eyes."
Becca's Father jumped up from his seat in excitement. "Yes, let's try to make a few springs and I-beams so we can see them both in action!"