Chapter 240 Base New Products, War Killer
The morning of the base is always so bright and golden. Looking at the red sun in the east, the rising sun is also predicting his career. Zhang Yang's heart is full of energy.
Jiao Yu has gone to work. First of all, he needs to make a mold for the casting gun, that is, a mold made of earth, waiting for cast iron water. Fortunately, one of the by-products of the base is the grenade. This grenade needs a mold. This kind of thing is not lacking in the base. In the process of waiting for the mold to dry, Jiao Yu needs Confirm whether the refined iron produced by the base can meet your own needs.
Zhang Yang began to guide Li Youcai and Zhao Jiamin to assemble the steam engine with several workers.
With a steam engine, we can enter a new era called industrialization. Recently, with a steam engine, the manufacture of the turbular tube will be more mature, and there will be enough power to let the warships sail.
This is a medium-sized machine, about half a person's height and about ten feet long. The cylinder and the base are stationary parts, which have been fixed on the ground. In order to prevent its vibration, a few stones are pressed on the base. In assembly, the most important thing is the bite of the piston and the cylinder.
The piston must be tightly integrated with the cylinder, so as to prevent air leakage without being too tight, otherwise it will cause greater resistance in the process of reciprocating movement. This is also the biggest difficulty for these people in building a steam engine. After several failures, Li Youcai decided to use brass to make a piston. First, he grinded the cast cylinder wall to make it extremely smooth, and then gradually polished the slightly larger brass piston to close contact. This piston became the most valuable part of the steam engine.
Other parts are much simpler. The crank linkage mechanism, slide valve distribution mechanism, speed regulating mechanism and flywheel are all cast or made of fine iron, which solves the lubrication problem at the joint.
Seeing Zhang Yang's personal inspection, the craftsmen cheered up. After a morning of assembly, a brand-new machine took shape for the first time.
"Brother, the steam engine has been assembled!" Zhao Jiamin said excitedly.
" OK, ignite, prepare for the experiment!" Zhang Yang said.
Next to the steam engine, a large teapot is ready to start boiling water. On the earthy fire platform, there is a large teapot that is enough for one person to take a bath. The teapot is all sealed, leaving only a steam mouth and a water injection mouth.
When Zhang Yang saw this device, he shook his head. It seemed that he had to say everything by himself. He should use a boiler to burn steam, and only use that big teapot. The efficiency is too low.
It is very simple. The boiler adds many pipes in the middle of the teapot, also known as the flue. The fire burned below passes directly through each tube, which greatly increases the contact area between the flame and the boiler, which improves the efficiency a lot. Now, only the bottom of the teapot can receive heat, which is very inefficient.
Let's try to light the fire first!
Because coal needs to be bought with silver, except for coke for iron, most of the fuel is replaced by wood. One by one, the firewood was thrown into the big earth stove, and the giant teapot began to heat up gradually.
Finally, there was a rhythmic purring sound from the teapot, and the water began to boil!
The white water vapor surged forward quickly in the pipe. Finally, it rushed into the cylinder. It tried hard to push the huge piston, but the piston kept holding on in place.
"It's moving, it's about to move!" Everyone saw that the whole machine kept trembling and could run all the time, but it had been ready to move, but it could not move.
"Increase the firepower!" Zhang Yang shouted that the machine can't move now. It must be that the pressure of steam is not enough.
More firewood was added to the earthen stove. The flame was very strong, and the people standing nearby felt the heat. Finally, the piston of the steam engine began to move, pushing the connecting rod, driving the flywheel, and slowly turning.
"It's moving, it's really turning!" The people next to him immediately rejoiced.
It can make the steam engine move, indicating that the test drive has been successful, but there is still a certain process from practicality.
"Weary money, family people" Zhang Yang waved to them over: "This machine can be turned around, but there are still many things that need to be improved."
"Yes, the eldest brother is right." The two nodded, and the unconcealed joy surged on their faces. Today's success makes them very excited.
"Although the machine can rotate now, the strength is not strong enough. The key is that this teapot that produces water vapor is not good." Zhang Yang began to analyze, "If you want the machine to turn faster and more smoothly, you have to work from this teapot. Our teapot is too backward and we have to use a boiler."
Zhang Yang then began to explain the structure of the boiler: all of them are made of refined iron, the bottom is the furnace, and the upper half is the teapot, but the teapot has to be changed, and there are some flues in it to increase the heating area and improve the utilization rate.
After saying that, the two of them nodded frequently. Looking at the situation, they couldn't wait to start the transformation immediately.
As he spoke, Zhang Yang felt a little hungry in his stomach. Then he looked again: It was Bo Xishan, is it already evening?
Do this job, how time flies!
"Let's do it tomorrow. Go back and have a rest first." Zhang Yang said. They didn't eat, and they didn't eat either. Today, they saved a meal of food.
Many people are still in front of the steam engine and refuse to leave.
Zhang Yang didn't go back either. Before going back, let's take a look at how Jiao Yu's gun was made. Is the mold ready in this day?
The place distributed to Jiao Yu is in the south of the island. In the distance, Zhang Yang saw the mud mold like a mallet, which was sucking the sun full. Jiao Yu checked the progress from time to time.
"Jiao Yu, this mold is made quite fast!" Zhang Yang said.
"Master, I have thought about it carefully. For the sake of safety, I made a slightly thicker one. Wait until the experiment step by step, and then reduce the thickness."
Jiao Yu doesn't have much confidence in the steel that the base can provide, especially the fried steel, can it really be as strong as steelmaking? Even more than copper?
Zhang Yang nodded. The idea of this experiment is correct. If it is thicker, it will be thicker. Anyway, one furnace of his ironmaking furnace is 2,000 catties, and the output is enough.
What affects the progress is the number of blacksmiths. Originally, burning one furnace of iron in ten days could meet the needs. Since the recruitment of enough blacksmiths, it has been shortened to three days.
Zhang Yang looked at the mud mold and knew that the gun Jiao Yu was going to make had the characteristics of this era: the gun body was short and the barrel was thick. Such a gun could not be hit at all. The reason is very simple. The power of gunpowder was not used! Before the high-temperature and high-pressure gas generated by gunpowder combustion fully expanded, the shell was shot out.
What's more, the round projectile is also very unscientific. The ancients thought that the circle was the most perfect shape. A projectile was also a spherical, but the spherical air resistance was still very large.
Zhang Yang just wants Jiao Yu to verify the feasible surname of his fine iron manufacturing gun body and come up with accurate data. The rest are not under consideration for the time being.
"Jiao Yu, have you had lunch?" Zhang Yang asked.
"What? Is it already noon?" Jiao Yu asked.
Another workaholic, it's evening now!
"I knew you didn't eat. Let's go. I'll beat you a wild duck to relieve your appetite." Zhang Yang said, "The meat of the wild duck here is fresh and tender, but it tastes good when roasted."
"Master, I also want to look at the mold for a while. This mold is heated evenly and turns it for a while. Otherwise, it is easy to crack where the sun shines a lot." Jiao Yu said.
"The sun is shining so much that the sun is going down." Zhang Yang said.
Jiao Yu then raised her head. Sure enough, it was already sunset. The shadow of the mud mold was pulled quite long on the ground.
"Let's go, let's go back." Zhang Yang continued.
Then Jiao Yu looked at the mud mold reluctantly, followed Zhang Yang, and walked back.
A hard day is finally over.
Jiao Yu spent his first day in the base. The working atmosphere here was very strong. He quickly integrated into it. He didn't need to think about anything else. Just do research wholeheartedly. Every worker here has a lot of money, has done a lot of work, and rewards. He likes this system more than Zhu Yuanzhang. It's much more comfortable to give him a forced order to work.
Zhang Yang felt that he had to thank Zhu Yuanzhang. If it hadn't been for him, he would have had to wait in the Gaoyou Mansion and always beware of the claws stretched out to him. Now, he can preside over the manufacture of steam engines and artillery in the base. Once these two things are successfully developed, they will become the new equipment after Tianque. At that time, he could leave at ease, let these things be put into trial production on a small scale, and gradually equip the troops.
Steam engine ship, cannons are set up on both sides of the ship, put anywhere, enough to be proud of the heroes. It would be even more powerful if another layer of steel armor was applied to the outside of the ship.
On the fourth day, the mud mold was completely dry and began to prepare for casting.
Only then did Jiao Yu have the opportunity to see the base in the north, the blast furnace standing on the ground, and the strange steel-frying device.
The iron smelters have been familiar with the road, adding materials, lighting, and looking at the furnace temperature. Everything is under control, but Jiao Yu has long been stunned.
Especially when I saw the red steel water coming out of the blast furnace, it was not directly poured into the mold, but first entered a large crucible to stir-fry. The burning jade mouth was wide open: can you stir-fry the fine iron in this way?
Until the red steel water was poured into Jiao Yu's mold, Jiao Yu's mouth did not close. In addition to the cannon mold, he also made ten shell molds and poured steel water together.
What you have to do is to wait for the molten steel to cool down.
Because there are still some things that need to be kept secret for Jiaoyu, the equipment for making the tube has not been put into use. Anyway, there is already a lot of inventory of the tube. The remaining steel is used to make parts for the Tianque, and some basic parts are cast for the steam engine.
"Jiao Yu, after this cannon cools down, can we fire?" Zhang Yang asked.
"Master, now it's cast. It's just a blank. It needs to be carefully polished before it can be used. It will take about four or five days!" Jiao Yu said.
Manual polishing must be extremely slow. Of course, this kind of smooth-sunk gun should be made very smooth inside. You have to check whether there is trachoma or something during casting. If it doesn't work well, it needs to be blown up.
If this artificial polishing method is used for every gun in the future, it's no wonder it's exhausting! Zhang Yang has thought that with a steam engine and power, it can actually be polished by a machine, so that the efficiency will be greatly improved.
Taking advantage of Jiao Yu's grinding gap, Zhang Yang then went to check the improvement of the steam engine.
Li Youcai and Zhao Jiamin are worthy of being skilled craftsmen. Under the guidance of Zhang Yang, the big teapot has been improved into a boiler in the modern sense. The hollow pipes will make the use of heat energy more reasonable. Moreover, Zhao Jiamin actually dug out his mind and made an exhaust valve!
The boiler is sealed and produces a large amount of high-pressure water vapor in it. However, the pressure of the water vapor should not be too high. If it is too large and exceeds the capacity of the boiler, the boiler may explode.
Exhaust valve, also known as pressure relief valve, that is, when the pressure is too high, it can exhaust and release too much pressure.
"Puff, puff..." From afar, Zhang Yang saw that the steam engine was constantly exhausting white smoke. With the streams of white water vapor, the flywheel was rotating rapidly.
"It worked, it worked!" This time, the crowd around cheered. This time is different from last time. Last time it can only run, but this time it can output power to the outside normally, reaching the practical stage.
"Brother, it worked!" Looking at Zhang Yang coming over, Li Youcai and Zhang Yang said.
"Well, this is just the beginning." Zhang Yang said.
Is this the beginning? Hearing Zhang Yang's words, Li Youcai covered his smile and asked, "Brother, what are we going to do next?"
"Next, divide the personnel into two groups. One group will then try out the steam engine. We need many steam engines, and the other group is responsible for the practical words of the steam engine. This steam engine is connected with our centrifugal pipe machine to replace the hydraulic power, so that the yield of the pipe can be improved again, and then develop a blower, with The steam engine provides power, blows wind, and uses it for blast furnace ironmaking. It strives to increase the furnace temperature again, which also saves the physical strength of so many young men.
This is the truth. Although fine iron has been able to be mass-produced, every time a blast furnace steelmaking and stir-frying requires a large amount of labor, especially the big bellows, which must not be stopped. Once the furnace temperature is not reached, it will become a furnace of slag. Each time, they score into several groups and continue to pull the big bellows, as well as stir-frying steel. Now, these physical work can be handed over to the steam engine to complete.
There is no need for Zhang Yang to explain that the meaning of this steam engine has taken root in everyone's heart. With these things, you will save your efforts!
"The most important thing is that we need to install a steam engine on the ship, so we have to continue to improve efficiency and reduce the size of the boiler and steam engine on the basis of the existing steam engine. Our current ship is not big, and the steam engine is too big to be installed." Zhang Yang said.
Steam engine on board? This idea shocked the craftsmen around Zhang Yang. What did they do with a steam engine on the ship?
"Brother, our ship has always used sails. Why do we use a steam engine?" In their opinion, it is enough to use a sail. Why use a steam engine? It's a waste
"Now how long does it take for us to take the waterway from Xinghua to Gaoyou?" Zhang Yang asked.
"This, it will take about a day's waterway. If the wind direction is not good, you have to walk for two or three days." A familiar person said.
"Yes, that is, we are sailing now. We have to ask God, if there is no wind, we have to row a boat. There is no efficiency at all. We put this thing on the boat, even if it is against the wind, it will still be unimped!" Zhang Yang said.
"After this steam engine is loaded on the ship, our army will be more sure of victory. In the future, all our warships will sail with steam engines. The ship will be equipped with cannons, and all the rivers in the south of the Yangtze River will be our world!"
Speaking of which, all people have infinite visions in their eyes: in the Yangtze River, in major lakes, there are warships of their own armies everywhere, what a spectacular scene!
Although they did not go to the battlefield, they also know that the eldest brother is also a prominent figure outside. It is their noble honor to be able to work for the eldest brother. Although it is closed here, the news is not blocked. They have enough confidence in the eldest brother and have been following the eldest brother.
The steam engine has been initially successful, and the key to coming down is the artillery.
For the remaining few days, Zhang Yang has been on Jiao Yu's side. Watching him command several craftsmen to work, polish the inner wall of the barrel and the outside of the iron ball, both of which have to become smooth. The ground iron filings have been piled up on the ground.
Under Zhang Yang's inspection, they worked harder. After five days of hard work, the artillery could finally be tested.
In order to prevent accidents, the place is too small for this island. Zhang Yang can only arrange the experiment on the farthest south bank from the gunpowder bank and the farthest from the living area. Fire cannonballs into the reeds.
For the sake of safety, for the first time, only half of the gunpowder was loaded in the medicine room, stuffed the twist, and put in the iron ball. Jiao Yu asked Zhang Yang for instructions with his eyes.
Zhang Yang nodded.
Jiao Yu did not hesitate to light the twist with a torch, and then, in the sound of the sound, she quickly walked to the bunker dug in advance next to her.
"Boom!" In the deafening sound of cannons, the big iron ball, accompanied by thick smoke, flew out of the muzzle and fell into the water a hundred steps away.
Jiao Yu shook her head: It's too close. I didn't expect that the artillery cast this time was so powerful! However, it also has something to do with the relatively small amount of gunpowder.
And Jiao Yu is more concerned about whether the fine iron is qualified and whether the gunpowder installed has a negative impact on the barrel.
After the gun body cooled down, Jiao Yu carefully cleaned the gun and thoroughly checked it: the gun was intact.
Then he increased the load, and then increased it to three-quarters of the load. This time, he shot 200 steps away.
Increased again, filling the medicine room. This time, it shot at a distance of about 400 steps.
Although the range is not enough, there is no problem with the gun body, which proves that this kind of fine iron can meet the needs of gun building.
"Master, the range is a little short." Jiao Yu said.
"Lift up the muzzle a little more!" Zhang Yang said.
If there is no air resistance, the best angle is 45 degrees, but with air resistance, when the shooting angle of the gun is 30 degrees, the range should be the farthest, and now it is only 20 degrees at most. Can it fire farther?
This can't be blamed for Jiao Yu, because this is the shore, and the terrain is tilted downwards. Jiao Yu has been busy on the cannon, but ignored this small problem.
Dig down the soil at the bottom of the barrel and raised the muzzle. This time, Jiao Yu confidently put in gunpowder and projectiles and ignited the fuse again.
"Boom!" The iron ball went straight two miles away!
(to be continued)