Now that we could successfully make penicillin, production had to be scaled up. Peter and I spent hours discussing and mapping out a production facility. It was actually more like a campus.
I had to introduce Peter to the concept of bottlenecks in production. He caught on quickly. I made a mental note that he would be an excellent candidate to engineer different manufacturing processes.
The main production building was to be fifty thousand square feet, which was large for this era. The production and packaging of penicillin and storage for finished goods would be here. A lab for quality testing was included.
All the raw ingredients would be produced or processed in separate buildings. Then, there was warehousing for packaging and such items.
We needed a dining hall for the workers. A small exercise facility, a medical facility, and offices for accounting, HR, and management. I even got carried away and added a childcare center since most workers would be women.
Then there was the problem of creating an oral tablet. We had been using the powder in its loose form, but that wouldn't work for most situations.
In tablet-pressing, all ingredients must be dry, powdered, or granular, uniform in particle size, and freely flowing. Mixed particle-sized powders segregate during manufacturing operations due to different densities. This results in tablets with poor drug or content uniformity. Granulation by grinding the components to the same size prevents this. Content uniformity ensures the same dose is delivered with each tablet.
Corn starch was used as the binder to hold the tablet or pill together and provide strength while the pill was being compressed.
We added talc as a slip agent so the different powders wouldn't rub and make dust.
Our pills or tablets were being made in 250mg and 500mg doses. The commonly prescribed dosages. I gave Lady Agnes a list of what dosages and how long the pills should be taken for the major diseases.
The Tablet diameter and its shape are determined by the machine tooling used to produce them. We chose a six mm size for the pills. This required station tooling consisting of a die set plus an upper and a lower punch.
Thickness was determined by the amount of tablet material, placement of the punches, and their alignment with one another during compression.
Once set up, we varied the pressure applied during compression. The shorter the distance between the punches, the greater the pressure applied during compression. By trial and error, we established a setting that would compress a tablet and not fracture in the compression process.
Pills have always been difficult to swallow, and efforts have been made to make them go down easier. The book I had read recommended a simple sugar coating. I think there was a song about that.
The tablets needed to be hard enough so they did not break up in the container yet brittle enough that they disintegrated in the gastric tract. A final touch to the tablets was to impress a 'P' with the die set to indicate penicillin.
While it took three months to develop penicillin, it took another six months to develop a useable pill. During that period, we were able to erect our factory complex. It cost a bundle but would be worth every copper crow.
We could process one ten-pound batch daily. There would be no issue with scaling up to one hundred pounds a day.
We didn't let people suffer in the meantime. As soon as we had penicillin in powdered form, we provided it to Lady Agnes for distribution to the health centers in all the villages in Cornwall.
At first packaging was hand folding the powder in parchment. But when we were in full production of tablets, we used glass vials. They weren't childproof, but since they were only dispensed by hand at the clinics, it wasn't a concern at this time.
Our penicillin had a six-month shelf life. So there would always be a supply on hand if it was stored in a cool, dry place.
The new pills were also distributed to all the health centers in Cornwall. Soon stories were coming back of people on death's door being cured.
Father Timothy relented in his doubt. He concluded if the Lord didn't want it, he would have prevented us from making penicillin. I accepted his change without comment.
An unanticipated side effect was noticed about six months into the introduction of the pill.
There was a higher incidence of sailors with syphilis coming ashore. All sailors were required to undergo a small arm inspection before being allowed to enter Saltash or now Tintagel.
When a sailor was found to have the symptoms, they were given a seven-day course of penicillin. They were held in quarantine until they were pronounced cured. Ships sailed without them, but the newly released sailors would sign on with the next ship that had lost crew for the same reason.
It seemed sailors talked, and the word of our cure was spreading fast. I didn't doubt more than sailors would be showing up at our door. Those people I would charge an arm and a leg.
Our road system, as originally designed, was now complete. That being said, no road system is ever complete, they have to be maintained and new roads added for new ventures.
We also had a working semaphore system connecting all major points in the County. No one was going hungry because of our farming methods. And thanks to our medical and sewage systems, the populace was the healthiest in the world.
We had the most educated people in the world. People from neighboring Wessex and Wales were sneaking over their borders to join our County.
What could be better?
To top it all off Frank Goldman was returning from Rome. He arrived in Armorica with over one hundred armed guards, escorting ten heavily laden wagons. We were to become the repository of the Jewish merchant's wealth.
From Armorica, he had sent messages for us to expect him and arrange transportation of a heavy load of 'merchandise'. Needless to say, Miriam was joyous to have him come home.
She and Eleanor had become fast friends.
Frank arrived with plans for their repository. It reminded me of Fort Knox.
While in the US Army, I was privileged to tour the facility. It looked like your normal friendly state penitentiary. While there, I was told a story. At least, I think it was a story. The most hated job there was mowing the grass. Before starting the riding mower, you had to be certain to turn off the electronic minefield.
Anyway, Frank had the building plans, and I approved the erection of the building. Most of it would be underground, just as the vaults in Fort Knox were.
The vault would have many separate areas. Each reserved for the gold and silver of a specific merchant. As trades were made and fortunes waxed and waned, the coins would be moved to another merchant's fenced-in area. The fencing was iron bars from floor to ceiling so no one could climb over or through the cages.
Messengers would bring word of exchanges to be made, and clerks would enter the changes in a ledger maintained for each merchant.
We knew word would get out and that an army would come knocking.
But It wasn't an army. It was Viking Raiders. They tried to come ashore near Wendon, the shortest route to Owen-nap without attacking a port. They had solid information, so there was a spy amongst us.
Their information did them little good as our soldiers rallied quickly with our road system. Before they could march from Wendon to Owen-nap, we had an overwhelming force fronting them. The Vikings charged our troops, but they couldn't cover the ground between them before they were cut down.
None of the Vikings tried to surrender, and it would have done them no good. I had a standing order. They were all to be killed. There would be no Danegeld from us. My troops marched on the Viking longboats and burned them to the ground while hanging the crew left to tend the ships.
I would have loved to read the message sent by our traitor about the Viking's rapid demise. I doubt we would see them again anytime soon.
Soon after, another joyous event occurred. The birth of my first son, James Douglas Fletcher Owen-nap. Eleanor's labor was quicker and easier this time. She contracted an infection during childbirth, but a course of penicillin stopped it.
Three-year-old Catherine loved her baby brother and wanted to hold him. She had to be watched. She would be stroking his head and singing a mindless lullaby then suddenly decide she wanted to poke his eyes out.
I was told this was standard behavior for children, but I had to wonder if I was raising a psychopath. I was informed that all three-year-olds are psychopaths.
It was our job to teach the children acceptable behavior. This parenting stuff is hard. I'm sure it will be easier when they are teens.
Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about my daughter's homicidal tendencies as a more serious issue came up. Rome was being visited by a plague sent by God for their sins.
From the description, I suspected Pneumonic plague. It is caused by contact with an infected animal, spreading person-to-person through coughing. It attacks the lungs, rapidly multiplying, which triggers an immuno-response. Eventually shutting the lungs down and leaving the person to die of respiratory failure.
The symptoms included fever, sneezing, sore throat, extremely bad breath, violent coughing, chest pains, insomnia, and convulsions.
Many people were in good health when the plague struck but succumbed within ten days after the first symptom of the fever. This fever persisted to such a degree that people could not tolerate clothing. Constantly needing water, they could not hold it down.
It was reported that those who tried to help died so quickly others began abandoning the ill. Looking after their own interests instead.
Those who caught the disease died or recovered within two weeks. From the books I read, the plague was thought to have originated in China and spread westward along the Silk Road. Thankfully in my past day and age, we didn't have to worry about diseases coming out of China.
I hastily called a meeting with all my advisors. The most important attendees were Lady Agnes, Archbishop Luke, and Senior Priest Timothy. Agnes because of how it would affect health care and the religious men because of the belief that the plague was God's will.
I very carefully worded my explanation to the group.
"There is a plague in Rome right now. It is coming from the east along the Silk Road."
Baron Bolventor spoke up.
"I have heard of this Silk Road but know nothing about it. Is it a road covered in silk?"
"It is a trade route in which silk is brought from some country far to the east of us. The silk is mysterious, and we don't know how it is produced. But it is the finest cloth in the world and worth a fortune."
The Archbishop who knew my secret asked.
"Have you ever heard of a way to defend against the disease?"
"It is spread by a person coughing. Even if they don't cough on you, if you touch a surface that has their spit, you can contract it. The only real defense is to not let those people into our County. The only problem is that while we can quarantine ships, we can't quarantine people who sneak across our borders."
Lady Agnes asked, "Will penicillin work?"
"Sadly, no. Things will be bad."