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Almost silently, a modern factory "towered" in the city of Wuchang, of course, this is not a real factory, but a mix of primitive and modern workshops. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

It is primitive because there are two traditional old iron furnaces and a group of traditional craftsmen who cast cannons and shells here in the most primitive way, and it is modern because dozens of modern machines have been installed here in the past. It is these second-hand, even man-made machines purchased from Shanghai and Hong Kong that turn the workshop into a factory.

At least, to some extent, this is the preliminary of industry!

Coming to a hand-cranked machine, Zhu Yifeng watched as the workers shook the crank of the machine, the ruler-length lead bars kept getting shorter, and at the same time, the lead shots were shaken out one by one.

"My lord, this is a machine that produces projectiles, which can be used for rifles, shotguns, or shrapnel ......."

In fact, there is no need for Wenk to explain, Zhu Yifeng also knows what this is making, the projectile made here was completely manual - cast with the most primitive bullet tongs, and now it has finally achieved "industrial production".

"These lead bars are cast by the factory itself, the lead and tin are fused according to the ratio of 2:1, and then cast into a two-foot long lead bar, and then extruded by the machine into a projectile, after completing this step, it is poured into a drum mixed with rice bran for polishing, and the last step is the projectile is impregnated with wax......

As an engineer, Wenk is no stranger to the production of projectiles, in fact, whether it is the manufacture of projectiles or the production of muskets, it is not complicated in nature, and it can even be said that it is simpler than the production of many machines, just like this machine, which was actually adapted by him using existing equipment.

"How many projectiles can this machine make per minute? Why use manpower? Wouldn't the yield be higher if you used a steam engine? ”

"65-70 rounds per minute, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, he can produce day and night, of course, if it is driven by a steam engine, the output can be increased at least three times, but the temperature of the corresponding mold will continue to rise, and eventually the projectile cannot be formed, so even in the UK, the production of the projectile is also produced by a similar machine, with a human machine shaking production."

As a layman in weapon production, Zhu Yifeng of course didn't ask anything more, but just glanced at the machine and asked again.

"Is the rifling machine I want ready?"

Rifled machine, this is what Zhu Yifeng cares about, compared to other machines, he is more concerned about the rifled machine, after all, the righteous army is now equipped with nearly 30,000 old-fashioned smoothbore guns, and in the past period of time, he relied on his memory to "design" Mini bullets.

"Yes, Grand Duke! Please come over here. ”

Under the guidance of Wen Ke, Zhu Yifeng came to another room, where four machines were placed in a line, and the four people were constantly rotating the wooden wheel with the help of the crank, and with the rotation of the wooden wheel, the crank rod continued to stretch forward and pull back, and a log stretched and pulled back with the horizontal machine.

"This is the rifling machine?"

With his eyes wide open, Zhu Yifeng looked at the "machine" made of almost all wood, which was too simple!

It's just a few pieces of wood.

"Yes, in fact, hundreds of years ago, in North America, people used a similar Iowa rifling machine to draw rifling, because pushing and pulling is time-consuming and laborious, and later some engineers installed a runner for it, the runner drives the connecting rod, and the ratchet wooden rod is constantly pushed and pulled under the drive of the crank connecting rod, so as to improve the work efficiency, but now, this production method seems to be being replaced by more advanced technology, and there seems to be a more efficient machine in the United States, which can provide a uniform specification of rifling for rifles......"

Franklin reminded him that he had just left the UK at the end of last year, and he knew more about the current technology than Vink and Hanks, and of course he was very aware of the difficulties in the production of smoothbore to rifles.

"In fact, this rifling machine needs to be strictly controlled to be able to provide standardized and uniform rifling, for example, you need to strictly record how many times each rifling is pulled, like now each rifling needs to be pulled 600 knives to form, which means that the rifling of each barrel can be made in 30 minutes at the earliest...... With a new type of rifled machine, it only takes ten minutes to make a qualified barrel. ”

In fact, as early as two years ago, Britain began to engrave several rifling lines on smoothbore rifles, but it was not simple to engrave standardized rifling for muskets, and the workers could not adapt to the new working conditions, nor could they endure the increasingly harsh processing requirements of the supervisors, which led to frequent strikes in military factories, and it was for this reason that the new machines invented in the United States would be published in the machine magazine.

"Not only is the rifling drawn by the American rifling machine extremely standard and uniform rifling, but even every part of the weapon they produce is interchangeable, just like the Americans produce Colt pistols, buy one in London, take it to Asia, and if it is damaged, you can exchange parts with another damaged pistol of the same model......"

Standardization!

Franklin's words immediately reminded Zhu Yifeng of the word, of what he had studied in textbooks, and of Whiteney, who is often called the "father of the American manufacturing system." In 1798, he made a proposal to the U.S. government to produce 10,000 rifles in two years, but the plan was completed 11 years later, and it took 11 years to complete. He designed a set of specialized equipment and processes for the size of the gun parts, which the average worker used to divide the production of different parts. The parts produced by this process have the same dimensions and tolerances, and any part can be used for any rifle of the same model, and they can be assembled into a complete rifle.

It was also from this beginning that the American manufacturing system was laid -- a manufacturing system with standardization as the core, and the only important application of the American manufacturing system abroad was in arms production. It seems that it was also this year that the British government established the Infield Arsenal using American machines, and American equipment was also used in Prussia and France. The development of the U.S. manufacturing system was supported by the government, and in order to pay for the plant and equipment needed to initially establish this new system, government contracts were necessary. However, the United States is unique in that it applies this system to other industries that are not funded by the government. This is due, on the one hand, to a lack of skilled workers, and on the other hand, to the absence of the deep-rooted handicraft traditions of Europe. Colt said in a discussion with British engineers: "The uneducated worker is best suited to the new way of mass production, because he has no traditional baggage." ”

And this is precisely the problem I am facing - the lack of skilled workers!

Franklin's reminder made Zhu Yifeng immediately realize what he had overlooked, as a person with memories beyond this world for more than a hundred years, it was unforgivable to ignore this revolutionary "technological change", but fortunately, it was not too late to prepare.

"Zhilin, do we have anything to do with the United States?"

Turning his face to look at Xi Zhimo, Zhu Yifeng asked with some excitement.

"If there is a connection, see if we can contact the American machine builders to design a military factory for us, introduce American machines and manufacturing methods, make weapons, and of course, in the future, introduce their manufacturing methods to make machinery and equipment......"

Standardization!

Isn't this the heart of the Second Industrial Revolution?

People often only see that the second industrial revolution has brought mankind into the "electric age", but they obviously ignore one point, at the same time that human beings have entered the "electric age", the standardization of industrial manufacturing has paved the way for it, and it can even be said unceremoniously that without the standardization of industrial manufacturing, human beings cannot enter the "electric age". It can be said that standardization lays the foundation for all this.

In fact, the current factories in European countries are still in the "workshop stage", such as the United Kingdom is still an "industrial country" composed of hundreds of thousands of "workshops", and in the following ten years of standardization and subsequent scientific management implementation, made industrial large-scale production possible.

It can be said that now is the eve of the second industrial revolution is about to kick off, as long as we seize the opportunity, first adapt to the "standardization" in the military factories and implement scientific factory management and quality control, and then based on the arsenal, establish a series of modern factory enterprises, these enterprises have adopted standardized and scientific management from the beginning, why not seize the opportunity of the second industrial revolution?

"Governor, this ......"

Xi Zhimo looked at Zhu Yifeng in surprise, he obviously didn't expect that Franklin's words would cause him such a big reaction, is this really important?

"If you need it, when I get back to Shanghai, I'll get in touch with the foreign banks run by the Americans, but, Governor, we've already spent a lot of money to buy machinery from the United States, I'm afraid it's ......."

"Money is not an issue!"

Shaking his head, Zhu Yifeng said.

"I will resume trade with the Taiping Army as soon as possible, if it really doesn't work, I will sell them the thousands of guns in stock first, and besides, don't we already cast cannons now?" Although the quality is not as good as that of foreign guns, it is cheaper, and you can also sell it to them, so you have to do it quickly, and strive to bring the machine and the technician over at the beginning of next year......"

Staring at the barrel of the rifled machine, he asked again.

"With the equipment we have now, can we make smoothbore guns? How many sticks can be made in a day? (To be continued.) )