Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 794: Civilian use of Petrol By-products (2/2)

The director immediately stood up, "Quickly obtain all the patent rights His Majesty released, contact the patent broker now!"

The beautiful secretary immediately realised the seriousness, so not caring about the cost, she decisively used the nearest Arkha Dristhi communication station to send a message to the nearest patent office where one of their patent agents is located.

That was not all. She personally got on a carriage and set off to the patent office with her boss.

The patent office was only ten kilometres away from their factory, so it didn't take long for them to arrive. But after seeing the queue of patent agents that had formed in front of the patent office, which was only continuing to increase, he could even see a few white merchants arriving at the patent office in a hurry. The boss and the secretary let out a sigh of relief.

"It's a good thing that you used the Arkha Dristhi communication system, dear," the boss praised while his hand silently grabbed the secretary's thin waist.

The secretary said nothing and smiled.

The boss did not mind and looked ahead. Usually, the royal family does not put out any patents for sale. It's only one or two times a year, but when they do, it's a big matter because all the patents sold by the royal family are of extremely practical tools and instruments that are easy to manufacture and have a lot of prospects for sales.

The patents sold by the royal family are very popular as well, since the cost is very low, especially since it is a perpetuity contract where the buyer has permanent usage and research rights on the patent without having to pay any royalties. For this very reason, even if the business is not related to the manufacturing industry, the business owners still purchase the patent rights as a form of increasing the legacy of the business.

The competition among manufacturing companies is also very fierce. The patent rights are easy to obtain, but the thing with patents of the royal family is all of them require the installation of a whole new production line. So whoever can manage to set up a new production line and take advantage of the patent gets the most cake in the market. Many times it comes down to luck, but this time the fat boss was very lucky since he had just sold off his inventory and had a lot of cash surplus in the bank account. He could take this opportunity to immediately set up a new production line and produce the kerosene lamps with all his might.

A few hours later, his patent agent met up with the patent agent of the royal family and completed the negotiations. He quickly signed the document on behalf of his company, stamped the seal and punched his thumb, after which he immediately mobilised the funds to order a new production line for the manufacturing of kerosene lamp containers. But for now, he modified his existing production line of water canteens to produce cylinders for the kerosene lamps.

His company was not the only one who got lucky. Several other companies in different parts of the empire located in different cities like Hampi, Chennai, Bengaluru, Indraprastha, Kolkata, Jamnagar, Indore, Guwahati, Lucknow, Surat and others all began to manufacture kerosene lamps, and a few precision companies even began to manufacture the oil sprayer. What was surprising is Bhupathi, the medical king of the Bharatiya Empire, suddenly got inspiration and started a research project to develop a new container medium for the delivery of medicines through spraying into the nasal holes.

A few days later, the first kerosene lamps began to be lit in houses, illuminating the darkness that humanity had to endure from the beginning of the species.

Kerosene lamps and stoves were immediately the front-page headlines of major newspapers in the empire.

Bharatam Daily: "Light of Progress: First Kerosene Lamps Illuminate Bharatiya Homes!"

The Times of Bharat: "50,000 Lamps Sold in a Single Day, Kerosene the New Gold!"

The Observer: "Kerosene Stove Patent Sparks Industry Frenzy Across Empire!"

Nepal Times: "Kathmandu Households Embrace Kerosene Lamps: A New Era Begins!"

The Balochi: "From Clay to Flame: Pottery Kerosene Stoves Take Off in Balochistan!"

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Kerosene that is only recently being produced on a large scale, is yet to reach the point where it could be supplied to the rural markets of the Bharatiya Empire. But with the introduction of kerosene lamps and stoves, consumption began to start in major cities of the empire, especially cities that are more financially developed like Chennai, Kochi, Mangaluru, Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Paradip, Jamnagar, Indore, Jodhpur, Dhaka, Agartala, Chabahar, and even in Indraprastha.

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With the operation of both the refineries in Jamnagar and Chittagong running in full force, the total output of kerosene on average is 29,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes after refining of the crude oil.

In the inventory that is being shipped off from the refineries, there were still some states that had more advantage in receiving the shipment of kerosene than the other states. At the end of the day, Raya Petroleum is still a private company run for profit after all. Even though Vijay had the intention of making kerosene as widely available as possible, he couldn't ask the company with thousands of employees to run at a loss in order to fulfil his humanitarian needs. So in the end, manager Rana Bhatia chose to ship to the states with the most convenient transportation channels, like the states on the eastern and western coasts, which do not have to go through the hassle of road transportation, as no matter how good the roads are, it is still more convenient for the goods to be shipped on a boat and for it to reach the destination in a couple of hours or overnight.

Additionally, he decided to supply ample amounts of kerosene shipments to the states that are either in close proximity to the refinery or in close proximity to the supply routes of crude oil, since the contracted logistic companies already travelled to the location.

In this way, even some of the unlikely states like Balochistan received ample amounts of kerosene, since it is the main transit station for all crude oil coming in from the Middle East and the Persian Gulf.

However, this strategy of the Raya Petroleum Company led to inland states like Paramara Puri, Pashtun Pradesh, Kashyap Amar, Vaidha, Mourya Nagari, Gupta Nagari, along with the only overseas state, Samudra Nagari, to suffer from the lack of kerosene, sadly there is no solution to this as of now.

An average of 60,000 tonnes of kerosene produced per day might look like a lot, but split across various suppliers into 20 different states, each state gets only 3,000 tonnes of kerosene. And it is once again spread across an average of 50 cities in a state, it's only 60 tonnes of kerosene per city. Given that a family would require three to five litres of kerosene per week, the kerosene supply of 1 day is only enough for 12,000 people to spend for a week or 84,000 for a day, which is only barely enough to fulfil the needs of the upper and upper-middle-class urban population. Knowing this Vijay has already ordered for the promotion of kerosene lamps and stoves to the rural market to be slowed down.

Even though kerosene lamps and stoves could be manufactured at a very low cost for the urban population, the cost of kerosene cannot be reduced.

Like all other conveniences, kerosene is also one that started with catering to the rich and upper middle class. Given its exclusivity, the kerosene lamp soon became a status symbol in the houses of high-net-worth individuals and the higher middle class who were the nouveau riche of the empire. People started to place kerosene lamps in the main hall as a way to show off their wealth and status.

Due to this, it is the premium kerosene lamps and stoves that became popular. There were even a few artisanal lamps that became very popular, made by skilled craftsmen who had made a name for themselves. Vijay even heard people went to auctions to buy those rare lamps, which are no longer conveniences but artistic works and symbols of wealth.

What made him slap his forehead was that even Kavya, who had gone shopping, brought back a similar lamp to be placed outside the palace as a way of lighting up the garden.

Unfortunately, with the prime consumers being high net worth rich elite and higher middle-class people, the low-cost version is barely even used. But Vijay is not disappointed, since with the development of steam technology and with the invention of advanced oil drilling, more oil could be mined and kerosene could be accessible to more people.

However, by that time, who knows—electricity might have been invented, and it might have become a status symbol like what kerosene is now. But Vijay has the feeling that the drilling equipment will be developed before the invention of generators. But who could tell—he had just unearthed an electrical and physics genius for the empire after all.

With so many thoughts in his mind, and remembering how Kavya used the kerosene lamp, Vijay finally got an idea and decided to put the excess 100 tonnes of kerosene per day that the imperial city received due to his face to good use. Vijay called over the minister in charge of Bengaluru Panchayat and ordered him to develop streetlamps to light up the streets of Bengaluru at night.

Following his order, a research project was immediately started at a first-tier private university located on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Kartavya University, started by a local Bengaluru real estate businessman.