Chapter 373: Father and Son United
"Prepare a few guns; let's head to the shooting range," Joseph instructed Martineau as he picked up the newly completed bulletproof plates, ready for a field test. Just then, Emon interrupted, saying, "Your Highness, the King is here."
Joseph quickly turned around to see Louis XVI walking into the workshop with a proud smile. "Ah, my dear Joseph, I figured you'd be here, working on something interesting. But why didn't you invite me? We're the best partners, after all," the King added with a touch of mock disappointment before continuing, "Oh well, let's see what brilliant invention my genius son has come up with this time…"
When he took the bulletproof plate Joseph handed him, the King frowned slightly. "This is just… a piece of metal?"
"It's not just any piece of metal," Joseph said, leading his father toward the shooting range. "This can stop a bullet."
Louis XVI looked incredulous as he weighed the bulletproof plate in his hand. "This thing weighs no more than three pounds—well, by the new standard, about 1.5 kilograms—and it can stop a bullet?"
As a "tech enthusiast," the King had some knowledge of armor. Even a breastplate weighing over ten kilograms could be penetrated by a bullet if hit at the right angle. And here his son was, proposing that such a thin piece of material could provide protection.
"You'll see," Joseph responded with a confident smile. He then instructed the guards to secure the bulletproof plate to a wooden target, taking a percussion cap gun from Martineau—the latest model produced by the Royal Arsenal, freshly calibrated.
Joseph positioned himself 60 paces away from the target, loaded the gun, and aimed carefully.
"Boom!" The shot missed.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Joseph reloaded and fired again. Another miss.
It wasn't that Joseph was a poor shot; in the era of smoothbore muskets, hitting a target at 60 paces often depended more on luck than skill.
Finally, on his third attempt, the bullet struck the bulletproof plate, causing it to visibly shudder.
Two soldiers quickly ran over to retrieve the target.
Louis XVI eagerly inspected the plate, astonished to see that, while it was dented, the bullet had not penetrated it.
"This is incredible! How is this possible? It's so thin!" the King exclaimed, turning the plate over in his hands.
Joseph wasn't surprised. He had deliberately chosen 60 paces to leave a margin of safety. In theory, the plate should be able to withstand a shot from a Brown Bess musket at 30 paces.
He smiled and took the plate from his father, explaining, "This isn't just a piece of metal. Look closely—there's a ceramic layer behind the iron plate."
"Ceramic? But isn't that too brittle to be useful?"
"It actually disperses the impact of the bullet," Joseph explained, pointing to the edges of the cracked ceramic. "The cracks spread horizontally, dispersing the vertical impact. Behind that is a layer of silk. Silk is incredibly tough and holds the layers together, preventing them from tearing apart under sudden deformation. And finally, there's another iron plate at the back to enhance reliability. See? There's barely a scratch on it."
Louis XVI, eyes wide in amazement, inspected the plate repeatedly, nodding in approval. "The simplest designs often have the most extraordinary results. Joseph, how did you come up with this? It's… it's genius!"
Joseph, of course, had seen this in a documentary, but he modestly made the sign of the cross and said, "I believe it was divine inspiration."
The King immediately followed suit, making the sign of the cross himself. "Praise be to the Almighty!"
Over the past two years, as his son repeatedly received "divine inspirations," Louis XVI had become far more devout.
Joseph then made a statement that further astonished the King: "This bulletproof plate should have more to offer. Let's try it at 50 paces."
They fixed a new plate in place, and Joseph handed the gun to his father.
With a puff of smoke from the barrel, Louis XVI hit the plate dead center on his first try, glancing smugly at his son, who had needed three shots to hit the target.
The soldiers quickly brought back the target, and Joseph eagerly examined the plate. The dent was deeper than before, but it still hadn't been penetrated. The back of the final iron plate showed only a barely noticeable dimple, meaning the wearer would have been unharmed.
Before Joseph could say anything, Louis XVI suggested, "Perhaps we could try at an even closer range."
They continued their tests, finally breaching the plate at a range of 28 paces.
Father and son then spent the rest of the day testing various designs of the bulletproof plates, even spending the night at the Arsenal to continue discussing firearms and machinery until the early hours.
Over the next few days, the pair remained at the Arsenal, conducting a series of tests and improvements on the plates, eventually settling on several designs for mass production.
Joseph looked over the manufacturing documents in his hands and instructed Martineau, "Start with 6,000 units of the standard model, 2,000 of the reinforced model, and 500 of the premium model."
After days of testing, they found that the dual iron plate configuration wasn't necessary to stop the soft lead bullets of the 18th century.
Following his father's suggestion, Joseph decided to use a configuration of iron, cotton, ceramic, and silk, reducing the weight of the bulletproof plate to 1.05 kilograms. This "standard model" could reliably stop musket fire from 40 paces and had the lowest cost, at just 5 livres and 16 sous. If necessary, they could even remove the silk, dropping the price below 4 livres, though the effective range would be reduced to 55 paces.
The "reinforced model" was the original design they tested, with double iron plates, weighing 1.4 kilograms and able to withstand musket fire from 28 paces. This model was intended for cavalry use, costing 6 livres and 10 sous.
The "premium model" used a single iron plate and double layers of silk, weighing the same as the standard model but providing protection at 33 paces. This model was priced at 8 livres and 5 sous, reserved for officers.
Joseph had initially planned to produce over 100,000 units to equip the entire Guard Corps, but the limitations of adhesive production thwarted his ambitions.
Though casein glue had excellent properties, it could only be produced in small quantities and was expensive. Other natural adhesives available at the time were not suitable for this application.
Reflecting on the various phenol-based adhesives of the future, Joseph's desire to promote gas lighting and kickstart the organic chemical industry grew even stronger.
(End of Chapter)
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