African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 27: Chapter 23: Hindering the Progress of an Era

Berlin Energy Power Company.

Ernst returned to Berlin. After all, the military academy can continue to operate without him. The textbooks have been checked and edited by him, and as long as the teachers follow the textbooks, no major problems will occur.

But he had to personally visit the Berlin Energy Power Company. Ernst received the news that a major breakthrough had been made with the four-stroke engine, and the first prototype had been produced.

Now, it was waiting in the laboratory for Ernst’s inspection. This slightly bulky and coarse piece of machinery before him was the world’s first four-stroke engine.

”Start it up and let me see,” Ernst commanded his subordinates to begin the operation.

After the staff filled it with gasoline, they took a crank from the workbench. Taking a deep breath, they steadied their stance, and with some effort started cranking. As the flywheel turned, the speed increased.

”Chug along, chug along...”

”Rumble, rumble...”

A massive plume of black smoke spewed out of the chimney, as the piston’s reciprocating motion set the large flywheel in motion along with the shafts and gears.

The entire room was filled with tremendous noise, but to Ernst, it was music to his ears.

Leno and his young assistant Benz also showed satisfied smiles. This was definitely a monumental innovation in mechanical power that would be recorded in history books in the future.

After leaving the laboratory, Ernst conversed with the technicians, ”I am very pleased with your success. This is a historic and monumental innovation. This month’s bonus will be doubled, and once we go into mass production, all staff will share 20% of the technical shares based on their contributions.”

Ernst, thinking he was being quite generous, continued, ”I am impressed by this prototype, but it is still too bulky. You need to enhance it, maximizing your ability to refine component precision, reduce size, and adapt it for use in small machinery.”

This was in preparation for capturing the automobile market. Currently, steam engines and internal combustion engines were mostly used for factory machines and large vessels, so the size requirements were not as stringent.

”No problem, boss,”

Leno replied with full confidence. Ever since Ernst found him, providing sufficient funds and facilities, many previously unattainable ideas had been realized.

Moreover, that young man Benz was also quite impressive. Although he had just graduated, he had remarkable abilities and often brought a different perspective to complement Leno’s shortcomings, with excellent hands-on skills.

Additionally, most of the other people in the company were well-educated and could understand and implement Leno’s ideas effectively.

Although Leno, as the general manager of Berlin Power Company, was more interested in research, with personnel from Heixinggen Bank assisting with specific company affairs, Leno could devote more time to research and development.

With these factors in place, Leno was confident in accelerating the work progress.

”As for the product’s launch, don’t rush. I plan to take specific actions around ’70,” Ernst continued.

”Boss, isn’t that a bit late? I think with some more refinements, this engine could already capture the market,” Leno asked skeptically.

Of course, Ernst knew that the earlier the production, the sooner the profit. However, the impact of the four-stroke engine on history was immense. Historically, it wasn’t until 1876 that Otto came up with the first four-stroke engine, and now it was only 1865.

As a time traveler, Ernst’s greatest advantage was his understanding of certain historical developments. If history changed too much, his advantage would dissipate.

The four-stroke engine directly affected many industries led by automobiles. What if introducing it prematurely distorted history beyond recognition? Although Ernst had already altered history, it seemed that the historical process had not significantly changed due to him, so Ernst naturally wanted to maintain history on its original path.

Speaking of this four-stroke engine, although Ernst planned to unveil it five years later, it was still 6 years ahead of history.

Therefore, Ernst wanted to be more cautious. If history indeed changed, it would be better if it happened later. However, Ernst naturally kept these thoughts to himself and said,

”Mr. Leno, this is actually the company’s strategy. Our team, after surveying the market, found that although the four-stroke engine improved efficiency, the current market’s steam and two-stroke engines are fully sufficient.”

Ernst continued, ”I am very optimistic about the future of the four-stroke engine, so I want to maximize the benefits and lay out the related industries, and I don’t want this great invention to be released prematurely.”

To reassure his employees, Ernst continued, ”You don’t need to worry. We already hold the patents, so no one can take the market from us. We’re just temporarily delaying this machine’s market release to better strategize for the future.”

Leno and others roughly ”understood” Ernst’s approach, to cast a long line to catch bigger fish, but still cautiously asked, ”Boss, what if someone else invents the four-stroke engine?”

Ernst said, ”Don’t worry, even if someone else develops it, our product will be more refined and advanced, plus with the patent as our insurance, there is no competition for us in the market.”

To completely reassure everyone, Ernst, feigning seriousness, said, ”Actually, our main reason for postponing the launch of the four-stroke engine is to develop a product that can more greatly change the world. I have always had the idea of using a much smaller, more powerful engine to change the way people travel.”

Ernst continued, ”And the advent of the four-stroke engine is such an opportunity. In the future, we can install this type of engine on carriages, since the power source is gasoline, so we might as well call it an ’automobile’! Just imagine, if the automobile were to appear, it would surely be another epoch-making invention.”

”Of course, these words are just between us. Today’s discussion will be signed under a confidentiality agreement since it relates to the future strategic development of the company, and you must keep it strictly confidential,” Ernst emphasized.

...

On July 13, 1865, the world’s first four-stroke engine was invented. These facts were revealed in future documents declassified by the Heixinggen consortium, leading some to say that Ernst hindered the progress of the era.

If the four-stroke engine had appeared on the market early, it could have surely changed the era, and the technological explosion of the Second Industrial Revolution would have been more intense.

Moreover, some unscrupulous media in later generations used headlines like this: ”Shocking! This man is the biggest mastermind who prevented humanity from reaching Mars, entering the interstellar era prematurely...”

Of course, those were all later tales, and Ernst couldn’t hear those people’s fierce criticism.