Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 852: Improvements: Cheap adhesive (1/2)

18th August 1671

Driven by the evergreen financial markets of the Bharatiya Empire, the people of the Empire continued to innovate. Money kept flowing into emerging industries and emerging products, making the atmosphere of entrepreneurship and innovation more intense. As if an almighty God had increased the time flow rate of the world, changes could be seen in the lifestyle and living habits of people every passing day.

A few months ago, a company called Sridevi Chemicals made a big invention, attracting the attention of the whole investment industry in the empire. The Sridevi Chemicals Company succeeded in inventing an adhesive focused on sticking paper to paper, which made them gain recognition throughout the empire. If their invention were only a normal adhesive that could be found in the market, it would not have caused so much commotion, because people were already used to using starch as an adhesive for paper, and it was much cheaper than alternatives found in the market. But what Sridevi Chemicals did differently was that they manufactured an adhesive that came in the form of a free-flowing fluid, which was very consistent without any lumps, and most of all, it was made from easily available raw materials, making it incredibly cheap.

Almost as soon as the news about their invention was made public and an invention patent was generated, Sridevi Chemicals overnight received investment offers from several investment firms, ranging from five million Varaha for a complete patent manufacturing buyout to a request for investment into the company with over 30 million Varaha.

Kishore Sridevi, the director of Sridevi Chemicals as well as the inventor of Sridevi Adhesive, immediately took the opportunity and accepted 50 million investment from Hima investment banking and Marco Investment Banking, selling 29% of his company, and proceeded to take a 100 million Varaha loan from five banks in the empire, 20 million in each bank, mortgaging 71% of the company.

An extraordinary meeting in Sridevi Chemicals was conducted, called by Kishore Sridevi himself.

"Immediately contact top construction companies in Cholapuri, Vijayanagara, Chera Nadu, Kakatiya Puri, Ganga Puri, and Satavahana," he ordered his manager of HR as soon as all the money was reflected in the bank accounts of the company.

He stretched the blueprint, causing people to exclaim while looking at the massive design in it. "The company will immediately start building large-scale processing plants across the southern part of the empire. I need our production capabilities to reach at least 10,000 tons per month," he declared, his eyes radiating an intense desire and ambition.

Kishore knew he had hit a jackpot by inventing the adhesive, but he also knew that what he had now was only short-term, because the adhesive he discovered was made from cheap raw materials, meaning it could be replicated relatively easily, given enough time. This is why, despite receiving numerous offers—often at exorbitant prices—to purchase the manufacturing and research patent, offers he had to admit tempted him more than once, he ultimately refused. He never lost sight of his goal, since if he sold the patent, then the advantage of his company would disappear, as companies with large capital could immediately expand the scale to the point of making him unable to live. Which explains why he took the opportunity to give away a part of his company for investment, mortgaged what part is remaining for a large amount of money, and is so eager to increase the scale of his company before other competitors arise.

Kishore stood up from his seat, looking at his managers' faces, eyes filled with determination.

"If we are lucky, another product with a different formula will not appear at least for a few years. But if we are unlucky, it might appear by the end of the year."

"However, I for one don't like to tie my feet to the enigmatic luck, so we cannot rest. It does not matter if we have to employ two or three times the manpower to get the processing plants ready. I want them functioning by the end of next month, and I want the manpower to be ready by then." He brought down his finger onto the table, showing that he would not take excuses for incompetence. "Immediately from this day onwards, start recruiting and training the employees, get them ready to take on the manufacturing tasks. Have I made myself clear?"

His expression was stern as he gave the ultimatum.

The managers sitting around the table all nodded their heads without questioning the director's orders.

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As years passed by, the demand for kerosene in the empire continued to increase. Similarly, the price also began to rocket up, showing no sign of hitting a ceiling. It has gotten to the point where a gram of kerosene can now be worth as much as a gram of copper. People in the empire are now starting to call kerosene black gold.

In order to alleviate the demand, several oil seeps have been discovered near the places that were called, in Vijay's past life, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. In the oil seeps discovered, several of them are of large volume as well, like the one in Kuwait, which was capable of producing over 300 barrels a day, equivalent to the one in Yenangyaung, Toungoo Dynasty. But the advantage of Kuwait and all other newly discovered oil seeps is that they are directly controlled by the Bharatiya Empire, and since there is no one but nomadic Arabic tribes living in the area, the proceeds from the extracted crude oil are not required to be given to the nomads.

Though for those who were willing to stay in the territory newly acquired by the Bharatiya Empire for oil resources they were provided jobs in oil refineries and stable living conditions for them and their families. Unfortunately, the people who were staying behind weren't too many since the distrust between the two societies was very large, admittedly for good reason. Over the years, in order to increase security and safeguard the interests of the Bharatiya Empire, Vajra Garbas (star bases) have been established in Qatar, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi, while one already existed near Qatar, increasing the military presence of the Bharatiya Empire in the Arabian Peninsula, making a lot of nomadic tribes and societies a little nervous.

Regrettably, despite the discovery of several oil seeps, the price of kerosene did not reduce but continued to increase, as the number of millionaires in the empire continued increasing at the rate of several hundred millionaires minted every year. Not to mention, with the invention of multiple petrochemicals and chemical compounds derived from crude oil, it began to be extremely sought after by the chemical and medical industries as well.

It is in order to tackle all these problems that Tenzing Anirban Sharma, the head of the mechanical department in BIT Shillong, Ahom, came up with a proposal to Raya Petroleum.

Rana Bhatia, the director of Raya Petroleum, was highly intrigued as to whether the method and invention of Mr. Tenzing Anirban Sharma would work, so, with the mentality of giving it a try, he agreed to inspect the prototype.

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Looking at everything in front of him, Rana Bhatia was extremely confused. There was an extremely long pipe of about three inches, which was unusually heavy. The pipe was connected to the water tank built at an elevation of 20 feet. What was even more confusing was that he could see objects on top of the water tank.

Unable to understand what was happening, he looked towards Tenzing Anirban Sharma with a doubtful expression.

Tenzing was panting with sweat dripping from his brows as he tried to catch his breath from all the shouting and directing he had been doing for the last few hours.

Noticing the expression of Rana Bhatia, he took a deep breath and calmed down. "Mr. Rana Bhatia, as you know, my idea is to dig deep into the rock layer in order to get more crude oil out."

"However, using traditional methods, we can typically drill only a few hundred meters deep. Once the natural pressure of the oil seep is depleted, the underground pressure stabilises over time, and crude oil stops flowing to the surface, rendering the well unproductive, even though substantial oil may still remain underground. "

"One way to access this deeper oil is simply to drill further down. Doing so, however, requires more advanced equipment, including more powerful suction pumps capable of extracting the crude oil from greater depths."

"The suction pumps are not a problem for us since we have developed stronger Devaraya atmospheric steam engines that are capable of pumping from a very deep mine."

"However, we do not have drilling equipment capable of drilling through the hard rock layer within which the oil is stored."

"That is where my invention comes in. It is designed and manufactured to solve this exact problem."

To Be Continued...

P.S. Thanks, Asurendra_Ravana, for the IceCola

P.S. Thanks, Munna_Kumar_1338, for the IceCola

P.S. Thanks, its_a_joke, for the Inspiration capsule