Mysterious: The Innate Sacred Body of Destiny

Chapter 382 Bottle Making and Soft Drinks

The Tingen Inventors Club.

Before even entering, a strong smell of engine oil hit you.

Pushing open the door, you are greeted by a lobby with a mechanical design.

A complex system of pulleys hangs from the ceiling of the hall, and the pipes that should have been hidden in the walls are deliberately exposed and painted in a brass color.

In the center of it, there is a row of glass display cases. The display cases contain all sorts of strange and wonderful mechanical devices.

Judging from the appearance, these are all masterpieces that the club members are very proud of.

"Most of the people here are followers of the God of Steam and Machinery, aren't they?" Lorne murmured.

After revisiting the fortune teller's club, Lorne was surprised to discover that there was also an inventor's club nearby. Since he now claimed to be a semi-engineer, this club naturally piqued his interest.

Adhering to the principle of "since I'm already here," he decided to stop by and give them a visit.

Because it was a weekday, and given the recent economic downturn, there weren't many people in the club, making it seem rather deserted.

Behind the reception desk, a man who looked like a receptionist was engrossed in a pile of blueprints, constantly scribbling with a pencil. He appeared to be a mechanic member who was temporarily working part-time looking after the club.

Lorne didn't bother the "host" who was clearly stuck in a mental block, but instead wandered around the hall on his own.

"Many of the designs look quite strange—"

After walking around for a while, he came to the club's bulletin board.

"Job Seeking: Senior Mechanic, Proficient in Steam Engine Repair and Improvement, ————"

"A new spinning machine project is seeking investment; only £500 required, with high returns —"

"Patent Transfer: A New Type of Peeling Machine"

Patent Transfer: Improved Gas Lamp Valve —

Job postings, joint venture information, and most of all, all sorts of patent transfer announcements.

"Looks like these inventors aren't having an easy time either—they're selling off their hard work for a pittance—" Lorne muttered to himself, looking at the notices that had clearly been up for a long time and were now yellowed with age.

"Unfortunately, most of them lack practical design features."

Just as Lorne was about to leave in disappointment, a brand-new, neatly written notice in the corner suddenly caught his attention.

"Patent Transfer - New Bottle Making Device —"

"A bottle-making device?!"

Lorne's pupils contracted slightly. He immediately stepped forward, peeled off the notice, and began to read it carefully.

"interesting----"

The practicality of glass bottles in this era goes without saying. Whether used for storing wine, beverages, or other items...

Whether it's for storing pharmaceuticals, or for storing various chemical reagents and daily necessities, it's indispensable.

Lorne's own pharmaceutical factory alone needs a lot of small glass vials every day just to package those allicin products.

There are two main methods for manufacturing glass bottles in this day and age.

One method is the most traditional, relying on manual blowing. This method is not only inefficient but also requires highly skilled workers, and it's difficult to standardize the size of the bottles produced. Many workshops and small factories still use this ancient method.

Another method is the semi-automatic bottle-making technology, which has gradually become popular in the last decade. It uses a droplet feeding system combined with molds for blowing, significantly improving efficiency compared to purely manual methods. However, while it eliminates the need for workers to laboriously blow air, it still requires a large amount of manual labor for subsequent processes such as trimming and demolding.

The patent described in the notice that Lorne has is a design structure for a completely new bottle-making machine.

Its biggest innovation is the creative addition of a mechanical weighing system that can replace manual estimation and accurately control the materials used in each bottle, thereby ensuring the standardization of the produced bottles in terms of specifications.

"The most significant innovation, according to the introduction, is this mechanical weight-bearing mechanism—as for the rest—"

If we modify the drip tray to a vacuum suction cup structure, the conveying efficiency will be greatly improved.

"Conventional transmission structures are not suitable for this new machine and are prone to jamming—" With the passive nature of a "machine," Lorne pondered various improvement plans in his mind.

"If all these ideas are added, it can become a truly fully automatic bottle-making machine."

He stood there for a few minutes, then took the notice, walked to the front desk, pointed to the name on the notice, and asked, "Excuse me, is Mr. Wheeler Owens here now?"

Following the address provided by the club, Lorne arrived at a slightly run-down rental house in the suburbs of Tingen.

"Knock knock————"

Lorne knocked politely on the door.

A moment later, the door opened, and a middle-aged man with messy hair, dressed in dark blue work clothes, appeared in the doorway.

His hands were still covered in engine oil, and his eyes showed a hint of wariness and fatigue.

"Who are you looking for?"

Lorne smiled and took out the notice.

"I'm looking for Mr. Wheeler Owens to discuss this patent transfer with him."

Upon hearing this, the gentleman's eyes lit up.

"That's me! Please come in!"

As Lorne walked in, he found that it was strangely similar to his workshop in the factory.

The space was cramped, filled with all sorts of gears, connecting rods, springs, and scrap metal, leaving almost no room to step. Apart from a sacred emblem of steam and machinery, the walls were devoid of any other decoration.

The few pieces of furniture in the room—a table, a chair, and a single bed—were all very old and even somewhat damaged. The table was covered with blueprints and tools, while a few changes of clothes were piled on the bed.

All of this convinced Lorne that the inventor was indeed living a very frugal life.

"Please sit down, please sit down—um, excuse me, the house is a bit messy." Owens awkwardly cleared out a chair and invited Lorne to sit down.

"It's alright, it's normal for an inventor." Lorne didn't seem to mind, and after sitting down, he got straight to the point, "Mr. Owens, I'm very interested in your patent for this new bottle-making machine. I'd like to know, for how much do you intend to sell it?"

Owens rubbed his hands together, a hint of anticipation flashing in his eyes, yet also a touch of hesitation.

"How much are you planning to offer?" he countered.

"Why don't you name your price first?" Lorne said with a smile, passing the buck back to Lorne.

Although most of his previous inventions had no practical use and had never been sold, Owens was very clear that his bottle-making machine was definitely valuable!

So he gritted his teeth.

"Seven hundred and fifty pounds!"

"Six hundred pounds." Lorne slashed the price without batting an eye. "Including ownership of the patent, the design drawings, and without any strings attached."

Owens paused for a moment, then shook his head: "No, six hundred pounds is too little. It took me two whole years of painstaking work to design this!"

"Mr. Owens, I admire your design skills. But as you know, your solution is still far from being ready for actual commercial production."

It still has many areas that need improvement.

This requires a significant investment in testing and debugging. I will bear all the risks and costs involved.

Before the other party could respond, Lorne continued to press, "And you should know that the current economic climate is not good. In the short term, it will be difficult to find another person willing to pay besides me."

Owens remained silent, head bowed, not responding. He knew, of course, how bad the situation was.

Lorne noticed the other party's wavering, so he offered another bargaining chip.

"Do you want to develop your career in Backlund?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can introduce you to a job in Backlund. It's as a senior mechanic in a reputable machine shop. The annual salary is at least £150, and room and board are included."

Owens suddenly looked up, a hint of doubt and surprise flashing in his eyes.

With the recent economic downturn, the situation is even more difficult for self-taught inventors like him. In the past, he could barely make a living by taking on odd jobs improving or repairing machinery, but now even those jobs are hard to come by.

He can barely afford to pay his club membership fees.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have had the heart to sell this promising patent at such a low price.

For him, having a stable job in the capital, Backlund, would be like a windfall!

Backlund—the capital, a bigger stage, a stable income, and continued access to cutting-edge mechanical technology—

"Are you—are you telling the truth?"

"Of course. We can sign a contract, and I can pay you a deposit of two hundred pounds on the spot after it's signed." Lorne nodded affirmatively.

He now owns several machinery factories, so finding a job for the other party wouldn't be a problem.

He even planned to open a bottle-making factory directly after returning to Backlund and bring Owens in as a resident mechanic to improve and debug the bottle-making equipment.

Ultimately, under Lorne's double offensive of "money + job," Owens quickly succumbed.

The two quickly reached an agreement.

After a thorough discussion about the mechanical structure and secretly confirming that there were no major issues,

At Lorne's suggestion, they found a well-known law firm in Tingen and formally signed the patent assignment agreement. Lorne then paid the firm a cash advance of £200 on the spot.

Lorne walked back to the hotel, enjoying the afterglow of the setting sun, and was in a very good mood.

"Go back and write him a letter of recommendation, and tell him to go and report to James Scott —"

"Now that the glass bottle problem is solved, the necessary components will be available soon—"

"For example—soft drinks."

When it comes to glass bottle products, this is the first thing that comes to Lorne's mind.

"Although Roselle had created a similar beverage in the history of this world, it was limited by the technology at the time and could only be considered a royal special supply for Emperor Roselle. It could not be popularized and eventually came to nothing."

"Although there is now soda water available, and many restaurants offer sparkling water drinks, the storage process is not very good."

"But once you have a large supply of inexpensive standard glass bottles, it's a completely different story."

"Besides, I own shares in a steel mill, where there's no shortage of carbon dioxide. With proper treatment and utilization, a soft drink factory can be built very quickly—"

After a long while, he sighed.

"Looks like my 'lucky' progress in accumulating points will have to slow down a bit again."

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