"When you put it in, the mouth of the smoldering box should not only be covered with a pig iron plate, but also the interface should be sealed with soil."

"The sand is ...... covered"

Standing in front of the stove, Shi Yiwen instructed those craftsmen from time to time, and now with knowledge far ahead of the times, he has completely become a mess with these craftsmen, and there is only admiration for his craftsmen.

The so-called furnace is a flame reflex heating furnace, which is specially built for the toughening of iron castings.

The parts of the flintlock machine that have just been made are packed in the hearth of the reverberatory furnace in the box, heated for three or four days, the temperature is gradually increased, and after about 1000 °C, the furnace is tightly closed, and then cooled for three or four days, and those castings become soft and can be cut. This toughening treatment technique is colloquially known as "simmering".

This process is long and seemingly simple, but when it comes to actual operation, there are some details that need to be paid attention to.

"Master Chen, you pay attention to the flame of the furnace, its color and brightness are different, and the temperature is different."

Because some things are not clear in his mouth, Shi Yiwen deliberately used iron tongs to hold small silver pieces and put them in different parts of the furnace, because the melting point of sterling silver is 960 °C, and observe the brightness of the flame when the silver begins to melt.

"Master Chen, you pay attention to this silver, observe when it starts to melt, and then remember the color of the flame, and the temperature will be suitable at this time......

With the help of silver melting, the workers were trained to master the technique of judging the temperature of the furnace by the color of the flame, so as to control the temperature of the toughening process of white pig iron castings. This is what Shi Yiwen saw from a book, the method is very earthy, but it is very effective.

Although this was the first time such a treatment was carried out, a few days later, a batch of flintlock castings that had been toughened by black hearts were finally released.

Compared with others, Ewen is undoubtedly more looking forward to the final result.

"Owner, you see, can grind, this can ......"

When the apprentice combined the small castings and polished them by the cylindrical grinder, Zhang Sixi and Sun Zedong were all dumbfounded.

"This, that's it?"

In the past, it took more than an hour to make the box, but it took a while to say that it was made, and at such a speed, Sun Zedong picked it up in surprise.

"Look, it doesn't seem to be worse than ours."

"No, the iron mouth is hard enough. ……”

"This is pig iron, of course hard, tough on the outside and the inside, this is a good thing."

In the surprise of everyone, Zhang Sixi's mind sank again, looking at the polished smooth and bright box, he suddenly had a feeling in his heart that his craftsmanship was useless.

"East, owner, this, do you still need our craftsmanship?"

Looking up at the owner, Zhang Sixi opened his mouth, but finally didn't say it.

Shi Yiwen, who was originally trying to urge them to conduct the experiment, saw Zhang Sixi's sluggish state, and immediately understood what he was thinking in his heart, so he walked over and comforted him.

"Master Zhang, sometimes, some things can be used in new methods, you have to use new methods, don't think that the new methods will affect your own money, let's think about it from another angle, before, how many parts did we have so many masters in a day, and now it is so cast, let the apprentices use steel files, mills to polish, and then use tapping to attack good wire, you think, how many more things can we play in the remaining time? Doesn't the combination of more things mean that more has been created? Naturally, that's more? You're right? ”

Looking at Zhang Sixi, who had not tasted it yet, Shi Yiwen knew that he might not be able to understand the key for a while, in fact, the craftsmanship of ancient craftsmen was good, but sometimes, they would resist some new technologies, just like the principle of the hydraulic hammer is the same as the water mill, why for thousands of years, it was used to crush ore and process rice grain, but no one used it to strike iron.

To put it bluntly, the blacksmith himself is unwilling, he is afraid of being robbed of his livelihood by a hydraulic hammer, because not every blacksmith lives near the river, and even if he lives by the river, he may not necessarily do it when he thinks of it, because he is afraid that others will learn and he will lose his livelihood.

Sometimes they prefer to exert more effort because strength itself is a livelihood. Just like now, Zhang Sixi is full of resistance to the flint machine that was cast, because he feels that this thing may take away his livelihood.

When the new flintlock machine was put together and tried hundreds of times without chipping, the natural production process changed.

Just as Shi Yiwen was about to leave, Zhang Sixi suddenly asked.

"Owner, I thought about it just now, if you save these jobs and use reeds, screws and other things, you can make several times more, and almost 180 sets of flintlock machines can come out this day, but our factory can only produce 50 barrels a day, and this machine will definitely not work."

Faced with Zhang Sixi's inquiry, Shi Yiwen confessed, he should have figured it out.

"It's easy, just add a few more boring machines, oh yes......"

Looking at the workers present, Shi Yiwen had an idea and said what he had been thinking for a long time.

"If any of you can come up with an improvement method, such as speeding up the production of gun barrels, which can increase by more than one percent, then the factory will use your method to produce each barrel in the future, and I will give you two cents personally."

"Two pennies a piece!"

The workers in the factory opened their eyes in shock, which is equivalent to taking a 10% commission, after all, the labor fee for a gun is also 20 yuan.

"Well, what if it's like the butt of a gun, a flintlock, a bayonet, and all sorts of things?"

"The same, according to the wage, a commission as a reward, and this reward, as long as the factory uses your method, will give you a commission in this proportion within ten years, even if I encounter an accident or something else, the money will also be given to your family and children, and the factory will never be in arrears,"

After saying this, Shi Yiwen turned his head and said to Li Deyun, the factory director next to him.

"Deyun, you write down this rule, go back and post it together with other factory rules, in the future, this is the rule of our factory, whoever invents a new way or new product to speed up production, we will give him the corresponding funds, this ...... It's a patent. ”

Nodding heavily, Shi Yiwen said this long-brewing method, although there are many mechanical books in the library, but it is not necessarily suitable for this kind of primitive and backward workshop, many technical accumulations are born from such a workshop, and now all he needs is to give a proper mechanism, with appropriate stimulation, he believes that as long as the motivation of these skilled craftsmen is aroused, they will definitely give themselves some surprises.

"Is the owner's words serious?"

Facing their questions, Shi Yiwen smiled.

"Look, aren't all the rules written on the wall......