Section 200 shipbuilding

As he was talking, he suddenly saw a fat man in his thirties enter the cafeteria, his majestic figure, knee-length short kù, short-sleeved T-shirt, black sè nylon belt tied around his stomach and pistol holster, and straw hat buttoned on the back of his head all proved that he was an out-and-out patriarch.

The indigenous employees who were eating were no longer surprised by the veterans who came and went in and out of the canteen - a number of veterans could be seen in the shipyard every day, directing work on various sites and workshops.

He poked his head out and looked around, and suddenly found Jiang Ye and the others, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he waved his arm:

"Quick, come a few people, receive the goods!"

Surrounded by a few apprentices, Billy picked his teeth and went to the shipyard's special station, which was actually a special unloading platform. On the tracks, a diesel locomotive was steaming, and several workers climbed up and down to inspect the locomotives - now that all of them had been gasified, there were gas generators and special gas storage bags on the flatbed locomotives, which had been a bit empty.

Of course, there are also many máo diseases in gas generators and gas storage packs that are close to high production. Air leaks are the most common and serious problem. Fortunately, the front of this kind of car is completely violent in the air, and a slight air leak and the like will not kill people.

On the flatbed, a yellow lantern hangs - this indicates that the truck is loaded with extra-long or special specifications. At this time, several huge masts were mounted on the flatbed.

Large sailing ships have high requirements for the supply of mast timber, that is, the mast is required to be straight, and there must be a certain round diameter. It is better to have a separate straight lumber. In Europe, the materials for shipbuilding were mainly supplied from the forests of Eastern Europe, especially Bōlan and Russia, while on the South China coast, it was very difficult to find such suitable timber – a traditional Chinese sailing ship rarely had such tall masts. Even the large timber seized from the village of Baitu was not enough to make such a mast.

There are also very few such large timbers in the timber from Vietnam and Sanya Nòng. Although there are many good hardwoods such as teak and nanmu, there are not many that can meet the needs of masts in terms of height and diameter. Eventually, he decided to abandon the use of the whole mast and adopt the British approach of composite masts.

The so-called composite mast, as the name suggests, is that the mast is connected with multiple pieces of wood, such a mast is not limited by the size of the wood itself, basically any size of sailing mast can be manufactured, of course, this kind of mast in the overall strength can not be compared with the natural whole straight wood mast.

"After the British were cut off from the supply of timber for the mast, they relied on composite masts for quite a long time." "Before we got more suitable timber, we used composite masts. ”

Even if you are making composite masts, try to use the same type of wood. Wu Kuangming took care of the Forestry Department to find all the right timber from the stockpile. In addition, we collect information from traders and inquire about the species of large timber that can be obtained in large quantities over a long period of time. Zuihou came to the conclusion that it was cedar.

Fir is a softwood that is not ideal as a ship timber, but it is by no means unusable. In fact, most of the merchant ships along the South China coast in this time and space have been made of cedar wood widely because of the lack of large timber for other hardwoods. The British also used to use cedar and pine wood in large quantities to make masts and decks. The most haode oak is used as hull, keel and rib.

"Three fir masts, the size is ......," he said, reading the number on the delivery note, "you measure them and get ready to receive them." ”

The timber has undergone a series of pre-treatments, and the next step is to send it to a dedicated fumigation kiln in the shipyard for processing. Hailin, who sent timber, is an expert in wood treatment technology, and he runs to the shipyard here twice in three days, and Zhou Billy is already very familiar with him. I handed him a cigarette.

"This time the fir is really big enough!" He casually greeted him.

"It's not big enough." Hailin took the cigarette and consciously put it on his ear, and it was a rule that no chōu smoke was allowed on the platform. Steam locomotives are also good to say, gas locomotives belong to quite dangerous explosive equipment.

"Of course, it would be nice to have whole wood. Now the mast is a complicated task. ”

"The biggest and most haode are all for the emperor Lao Tzu." Hailin said, "Either the palace is built or the tomb is built, and the second one is also cut into sections for coffins." ”

"If only there was wood from Southeast Asia."

"It depends on when the wise and martial governor makes this great decision." Hailin yīn said angrily, "Let's go, go and see the place where the mast is held." I'd like to see how these different pieces of wood are put together. ”

In the metalworking workshop with a long-span iron truss structure, steam is permeated, and the calcium carbide lamps shine brightly. The loud sound of the two steam forging hammers was repeated one after another, the creaking of the crane, the sound of lifting and lowering, and the sound of the forgings being hammered by the forgers, making the whole workshop look vibrant.

In one corner of the workshop is the work area of the hoop mast. According to the CAD software, the round timber with the best strength has been put on an iron pulley and firmly fixed with each other. According to the requirements on the Jishu document, the workers have nailed iron fasteners into the occlusal part frame to ensure the strength of the occlusal connection.

When Hailin and the others came to the workshop, the workers were installing iron hoops for the composite mast under the command of Lu Youtian. The installation of iron hoops ensures maximum strength of the composite mast. Iron hoops are installed even for the entire straight timber mast.

The parts to be added to the hoop have been marked with an ink pen, and there are different numbers on it - because the diameter of the mast is not exactly the same up and down, so each hoop is customized according to the size of the part, and the diameter of the hoop is slightly higher than the diameter of the mast, so as to ensure that it can be tightly clamped once it is put on.

One by one, the hoops are being heated in the nearby furnace. The heating furnace uses gas as fuel, which not only has a guaranteed calorific value, but also uses it cleanly. The hoop is heated to a red-hot point in the furnace so that it can be just hipped into the mast.

Lu Youtian stared at the industrial thermometer next to the furnace - since he had this thing, the mysterious craftsmanship of the original craftsmen was a fart. In the past, he relied on the fire and the face of the workpiece, the temperature of his skin and the slight sound of the furnace to discern whether the right temperature had been reached, which was the accumulation of his experience over the years, and even if he was willing to teach, it would be difficult for the young apprentice to understand and comprehend for a while. Since the widespread adoption of this large, ugly so-called thermometer by Australians, this secret that can only be understood but not told has become worthless. Australians have compiled a special process manual for each kind of workpiece and process, and special workpieces will be sent with the worksheet. Workers only need to check the process manual to know how much temperature to heat, and then look at the display of the thermometer to achieve a level that is exactly worse than that of his master.

This kind of thing made Lu Youtian very devastated. However, he quickly got used to the new jishu - after all, it was more reliable to rely on the senses of a person without standards. He is also not prone to problems when machining and manufacturing workpieces.

"Take the number one!" He saw that the temperature had risen to the prescribed value, and quickly yelled. His son, Lu Shouyong, a first-class technician in the metalworking workshop. Quickly took out the red-hot iron hoop from the furnace with long-handled iron tongs, and several other workers with iron tongs in hand helped to slowly put the hot iron hoop on the mast, and the iron hoop touched the surface of the mast with wisps of white smoke and a scorching hissing sound. From time to time, flames erupted. When the iron hoop was finally stuck in place, a burst of flames erupted around it. The workers quickly extinguished.

"Look at this thing, it's so exciting!" Hailin said with emotion, "Industry is to make the impossible possible!" ”

Then the workers began to hoop the second and third masts, and the work on the whole hoop mast continued until the next morning. The number of masts needed in shipbuilding jihua is quite large!

"I heard you build boats or use ropes as anchor chains?" Hailin asked Zhou Billy, who was observing the processing, "Weishenme doesn't use iron chains?" ”

"It's about saving iron – and it's about saving production time, and it's a time-consuming thing to make chains by hand," says Billy Chow. In fact, iron chains are much easier to use than anchor cables. ”

"Didn't the navy fish back from the mouth of the Pearl River lock the river chain, and the ready-made weishenme is not needed."

"I've seen it. The process is too rough, and the iron material is not good, probably made in a temporary hurry. It's crispy. This will probably have been silentized by Ji Molten Iron. ”

"It's okay to say that the iron is the copper skin on the bottom of the chartered boat, and Wu De is probably going to scratch his head. Even though it was copper, it had to cover the bottom of a large ship. ”

"This time, a lot of copper cannons were handed over from Guangdong, and at most they were turned into copper skins."

Coating the bottom of all boats with copper skin is not a difficult process in itself. The Planning Institute felt that copper, as a scarce metal in China, had a limited amount of stock in the warehouse. In order to meet the needs of the power and electrical appliance industry in the future, the Planning Institute had to strictly restrict the use of copper in all places. Even the cable telegraph system was wired. Copper is only permitted where it cannot be replaced: some refrigeration equipment, pipelines, telecommunications and electrical equipment, valves, etc.

In order to expand its copper reserves, the Planning Institute used to purchase Japanese copper at high prices in Guangdong. This copper gives them high economic benefits - about 20% of silver can be extracted from it, but the increase in copper reserves is very limited.

Now that copper is needed to cover the bottom of the ship, whether the stock of copper is enough and how much reserve can be left is something that the Planning Institute is eager to know.

Most of the copper stored in the Planning Institute is mainly red copper that has been re-trained by the fire method, but there are also brass and bronze. The latter two are mainly derived from various loot. Copper has an extreme extension of xìng, second only to gold and silver among all metals. The Planning Institute believes that if the copper plate can be made very thin, a small amount of copper may be able to meet the demand.

"You don't need to use copper." Ji Wusheng said at the planning meeting that as long as brass is used, it is fine. According to the information provided by the Great Library, the copper plate on the bottom of the charter ship is generally tin brass. That is, a small amount of tin is added to the brass.

Brass itself is a copper-zinc alloy. Zinc was widely used in ancient China, especially in coinage, where zinc was often used as a filler. Therefore, in the inventory of sè metals in the Planning Institute, the stock of zinc is very considerable. Many are not even deliberately purchased, but are by-products derived from the recycling of copper coins and various household metal objects.

According to Ji Wusheng's suggestion, a kind of brass was made for the bottom of the charter ship, with a roughly 65% copper and 35% zinc. The so-called α brass. This minimizes the consumption of copper while maintaining the basic energy of the copper industry.

"If the zinc content in brass is too high, the brittle content will become high, making it difficult to process under pressure. So 35% zinc is about the same. ”

The ductility of brass itself is also quite good, and the thickness of the brass strip rolled by modern industry can reach 0.02mm. Lingao's industrial system does not have such a powerful equipment, but the people in the mechanical department estimate that with the current processing capacity, rolling to about 0.5mm is not a problem. This is much thinner than the copper skin on the bottom of the chartered ship of the British, who basically used thin copper plates.

"Add 0.5% tin to α brass, and it's tin brass. This alloy has a very good heat resistance, as well as the ability to resist seawater corrosion, the so-called navy brass. ”

Tin was also the most commonly used base metal in ancient China, and there were more stocks in the Planning Institute than zinc. Not to mention that the dosage is insignificant.

The Planning Institute approved the production of tin brass strips. There is a very large rolling mill in Lingao's steel complex, including 2 hot rolling mills, which can easily roll all kinds of steel plates and strips in hot and cold. However, Zhan Wuya decided to create a special rolling mill for production - after all, the continuous production of steel manufacturing in the future is a trend, and it is impossible to temporarily stop and switch to production today because of the need to roll copper strip.

A rolling mill is simply a series of rolls with pressures ranging from xiǎo to large. The most critical of these is the strength and power level of the rolls. These two are not difficult for the manufacturing director, who is already able to mass-produce high-power steam engines and various grades of high, medium and low carbon steel.

The only thing that is not ideal is the transmission gears and chains, which are still of poor quality so far and have a very short working life. In some equipment with harsh working environments, the replacement frequency is very fast, and it can only be said that the problem of having and not having can only be said to be solved. The Metallurgical Department's scrap recycling warehouse is full of gears, bearings and chains waiting to be recycled.

The rolling mill for the production of copper plates was quickly manufactured with the cooperation of a cadre from the Ministry of Machinery Industry. After a brief commissioning, it was put into full-scale production. In order to ensure strength, although a 0.1mm brass strip is rolled in Shiyanxìng production. In the end, it was decided that the copper plate used in the bottom of the ship was still 1 mm thick strip.

Rolls of tin brass strips were transported to the shipyard, where they were cut to a certain size, and then piece-by-piece by workers were hammered into the bottom of the ship with special brass rivets, with copper sheets stacked on top of each other to ensure that they did not fall out of the wooden bottom. The copper-clad area has to cover the waterline of the ship at full load. This method almost completely prevents the destruction of ship maggots, and even the attachment of barnacles and other objects is greatly reduced.

In order to prevent the electrolysis of copper and iron in seawater, the iron frame part of the bottom of the ship is lù out of the bottom of the ship when copper is cladding. It must be covered with a wooden cladding beforehand and then filled with a mixture of human máo hair and tar hún to ensure that there is no electrochemical reaction between the two. Even the rudder hitch had to be switched to brass hitches to avoid electrolysis.

A wooden sailing ship with shipbuilding timber treated with jīng heart and copper on the bottom can be used for 50~70 years under regular maintenance of Lianghaode. Even 100 years is no problem. Although the patriarchs did not want 854 to be in service for so long, everyone expected it to last at least 10 years. Even if it can't be used as a warship, it can be used as a transport ship.

The Ministry of Machinery Industry on the steam engine has enough jishu reserves to mass-produce 12 horsepower, 50 horsepower, 100 horsepower, 200 horsepower and 500 horsepower steam engines - according to the requirements of Wang Luobin's standardization system construction, the steam engine adopts all standardized designs. Universally applicable components are manufactured according to uniform standards and dimensions. And to reduce the tolerance as much as possible - the latter is the goal of the entire Lingao industrial system.

Marine steam engines are very different from ordinary onshore steam engines due to the different layout and propulsion methods of the ships. The Ministry of Mechanical Engineering had to develop two different steam engines to accommodate the paddle wheels - the so-called paddle wheel propulsion and propeller propulsion.

"To be honest, the development of marine steam engines is not a problem." Xiao Gui studied the line diagram of the 854 change, "The question is, what to do with the propeller?" ”

The advantage of the paddle wheel is that it is simple in structure and there are no sealing problems in installation. The 854 is going to use a propeller, which involves the dynamic sealing of the propeller's shaft.

"It's a tough problem to solve, at least I can't think of how to solve it." Xiao Gui said, "There are several ways to move the seal, and I think about it, the only way to do this is to use the packing method, which is packed around the paddle shaft and cannot be burned and has a certain amount of water absorption and expansion. ”

"I remember that this axis of rotation was very particular." "I've heard the old workers of the shipyard blow that the older ships used to use iron pear wood bearings, which are very hard and do not need oil to lubricate, but rely on water to lubricate the shaft against it. It lubricates the bearings and ensures that water cannot enter the cabin through the bushing. I heard him say that the iron pear wood bearing should be kept moist when it is stored, otherwise it will crack and affect the use when it is dry. The price is very expensive. ”

"Iron pear wood? This thing sounds familiar. Looks like we have a reserve of ship. Zhan Wuya thought about it, there was the so-called iron power wood in the ship materials handed over from Baitu Village, I don't know if it was the same thing.