Chapter 238 Victory Port Shipyard (3)

The fabrics purchased by the Guangdong Office and "Furuifeng" from the mainland are definitely qualified for use as ordinary clothes, but when used as canvas, the strength is far from the requirements of the Ministry of Shipping. The trial production

The sail is slightly larger and can easily be torn in strong winds. Although it has encountered relatively big troubles in the material of the sail, the Ministry of Shipping believes that there is not no solution. A person involved in the production of the sail has a surname

Wang's local tailor came up with a very good idea, using tougher multiple fabrics to make reinforcement ribs. After sewing a large number of reinforcement ribs on a larger sail, the strength of the sail was significantly improved.

Although the overall strength has not yet reached the technical requirements of the Ministry of Shipping, it can at least be used as a spare sail, and the weight of the sail has not increased significantly. Tailor Wang is also fortunate to make a contribution with this small contribution.

, obtained an early promotion to the labor level.

The Executive Committee has sent the latest instructions to the Guangdong Office, asking them to try to customize a large number of tougher and thicker fabrics from the Songjiang Prefecture area, which is rich in cotton, and to see if they can hook up with the Spanish or Portuguese.

They got some Indian canvas from the foreign devils. The Executive Committee has now included canvas in the list of strategic materials. In the absence of its own textile industry, even if it means spending more money and taking more detours, it must

Find a canvas trading channel with stable supply as soon as possible.

The sail design based on hydrodynamics is the most obvious difference in appearance between the new sailboat developed by the Ministry of Shipping and the existing ships. However, this most technical improvement is relatively easy to copy. Even

Those natives who do not understand what the "Bernoulli effect" is, will quickly imitate it out of practical considerations after knowing that the use effect of this new type of sail will be much better than that of the old type of sail.

Of course, this kind of sail with technical advantages must also have a large enough area to fully reflect its performance advantages. Therefore, the Ministry of Shipping will not hesitate to try every means to increase the sail area by raising the mast. According to this

The shipbuilding technology of the era could only use relatively low masts like Chinese sailboats, or use a large number of stay ropes to ensure its stability like Western sailboats. If you want to directly build a hollow ship like Shuangchuang Group

It is technically impossible to use steel pipes as masts. Therefore, even if this new type of sail is secretly learned in the future, its ship performance will still have a relatively large gap compared with the genuine products of the Cross-Train Group.

Li Nai listened for a while, and he could basically understand what everyone said, but the meaning of many terms was unclear to him, and it was not convenient for him to have people constantly explain to him, so after a while, he felt even more confused.

. However, Li Nai noticed that it was not only the Haihan people who participated in the discussion, but also seven or eight Ming Dynasty shipwrights who occasionally added a few words to express their own opinions. One of the shipwrights named Zhang seemed to stand out.

Yue Zhiyun, Sun Changmi would also call this person "Master Zhang" from time to time.

Li Nai heard that Master Zhang spoke with a Fujian accent, so he turned to Jiang San and asked in a low voice: "What's the origin of this Master?"

Jiang San responded: "Zhang Tiangui, Master Zhang, is a good man in the shipyard. The chiefs promoted him to be a senior foreman. Now all the shipwrights in the shipyard are under his control. When Chief Yue and Chief Sun are not in the shipyard, they are

Master Zhang has the final say... By the way, it seems that Master Zhang was recruited by your firm in Guangzhou and sent to Victory Port."

"Is this happening?" Li Nai didn't expect that the number one shipwright of the Haihan people was actually recruited by himself. "Fu Ruifeng" is also one of the top sea merchants in Guangzhou. Although the number of ships under his name is not as good as that of Xu Xinsu

There are provincial-level large-scale merchants with twenty or thirty ships, large and small, and they usually need to make a lot of repairs. Moreover, after establishing a relationship with the Haihan people, Li Jifeng was already considering whether he needed to build one himself.

The shipyard built a few more ships specifically to run the route to Port of Victory. If he had known that among the craftsmen he recruited were talents like Zhang Tiangui, he should have stayed and worked for them.

However, after looking at the scale and operation of Haihanren's shipyard, Li Nai knew that even if he could afford a high enough commission, it would be difficult to give shipbuilders like Zhang Tiangui enough room to perform. First of all, if he really wanted to open a

The scale of the shipyard is definitely not comparable to that of the Haihan people - it needs to provide food, drink and food for hundreds of workers. How many ships must be built this year to balance the books? And as far as Li Nai knows, the Haihan people are very interested in this shipbuilding company.

The factory's investment does not count the cost at all. What they want is the results, not the investment. This operating model certainly cannot be applied to "Furuifeng".

Secondly, the respect and freedom given to Zhang Tiangui by the Haihan people is also very high. On many issues regarding the details of ship construction, the Haihan people actually rely on his opinions. Moreover, the shipyard is building experimental boats one after another, which can be used seriously.

The ship that comes for shipping has not been finalized for half a year. If it had been placed in another shipyard, the foreman responsible for the construction would have been fired long ago. How could the Haihan people still treat him as a guest of honor?

Li Nai finally made it to the end of the discussion. Everyone stood up, patted their butts, and went to work. Yue Zhiyun walked up to Li Nai and asked, "Mr. Li, do you want to go see our new ship?"

"It's my wish, but I dare not ask you to listen." Li Nai responded respectfully. In terms of his attitude towards craftsmen, Li Nai was different from quite a few Ming Dynasty scholars because he came from a merchant family, and merchants in this era were

The social status is still not high. Scholars, farmers, and merchants. To be honest, the merchants are still ranked behind the craftsmen. Of course, after the merchant's wealth reaches a certain level, his status will still rise significantly, but if a merchant's son wants to become an official

As an official, the disadvantage of family background will be magnified - this is also the reason why Li Nai gave up taking the imperial examination after he was awarded the title of Juren.

It is precisely because of this deep-rooted concept that Li Nai has always been relatively gentle and humble when dealing with craftsmen, not to mention that the shipbuilder in front of him is a Haihan native. In Li Nai's view, Yue Zhiyun, although Sun Changmi is not

People like Tao Donglai, Schneider and others have such high status, but at least they are in charge of affairs, and they should give them enough respect.

Yue Zhiyun was also very satisfied with Li Nai's attitude. He stretched out his hand and said, "Then please, Mr. Li, come with me."

Due to the need for confidentiality, there is a bamboo fence as high as a person outside the slipway of the No. 1 test ship. It is difficult to see the working conditions inside from the outside. When Li Nai entered the port the day before, he only saw the top of the fence.

A small part of the hull. This time Yue Zhiyun took him into the fence, and he really saw clearly this experimental ship that the Haihan people attached great importance to.

This semi-finished product, which is still on the slipway and is supported by many supports, is about ten feet long. Since the upper deck is still under construction, the width of the hull is not easy to determine. Li Nai estimated based on his own experience that the width of the ship is

The width should be between two feet and two feet five, but judging from most of the hulls that have been built so far, the depth of the hull is greater than that of the same level of Fuchuan or Guangzhou. It is visually estimated that it is at least one foot or more. Judging from the hull size alone

Look, this ship should be slightly larger than the usual 400-material sea-going ships. Especially in terms of draft, it is almost one-third larger than the average sea-going ship of the same level. And the shape of the hull

It still basically maintains the pointed bottom shape of a Chinese sailboat with a wide top and narrow bottom. It can be imagined that the deeper draft hull will bring better seaworthiness to the ship.

There are obviously far fewer shipwrights working on this slipway than on the other slipways. Li Nai knew without asking. This must be due to the Haihan people's confidentiality considerations. But from what he has seen so far, Li Nai feels that this ship

There didn't seem to be anything particularly outstanding about the ship, but Li Nai felt that this was probably a matter of his own knowledge, otherwise there wouldn't have been so much content that he didn't understand at all when he was sitting in on the seminar.

If Li Nai was more knowledgeable, he should have been able to see that the keel of this ship has a tendency to tilt downward toward the tail, which is not very obvious from various existing sailboats. This structure can achieve a larger tail draft.

The depth can greatly move the transverse hydrodynamic center of the underwater hull back, which is beneficial to windward sailing and reduces the lateral drift of the hull, effectively improving the stability and speed of the ship at sea.

This structure comes from the "Baltimore schooner" that only appeared in the 19th century. This North American schooner that appeared in the Chesapeake Bay of North America two hundred years later is also a prominent role in the history of world navigation. It was developed after the 19th century

One of the best fast sailing ships, it represented the most advanced ship design ideas at that time, and also had a revolutionary impact on subsequent shipbuilding technology - the scissor sailboats that appeared later were advanced fast sailing ships developed on this basis.

sailboat.

In terms of the design of the bow, the Ministry of Shipping did draw lessons from the design of the clipper ship. The shape of the underwater part is like a sharp axe, which is almost the shape of minimum resistance. There has also been some debate about the design of the bow, and some

Someone proposed a design plan using a bulbous bow, but it was later rejected by the Ministry of Shipping. Firstly, the technical difficulty of building a bulbous bow is relatively high, and secondly, it can reduce drag and increase speed by installing a bulbous bow on small and medium-sized ships.

The effect is not obvious, and Crossing Group may not have enough conditions to build large ships with a displacement of several thousand tons in the next few years.

The best parts of these excellent designs were adopted by the Ministry of Shipping and incorporated into the trial production of new sailboats. Of course, the Ministry of Shipping still insisted on its own opinions on the design of the sail system, which was based on fluid mechanics after all.

The black technology works designed based on the principle have also been tested in practice by later generations. The technical content is much higher than the diaper-like full sails of the foreign devils. However, even if Li Nai saw such small technical details, he would also be aware of them.

I don’t think it has any significance in promoting the advancement of navigation technology. At most, I can intuitively feel that the shape of this ship is very smooth and it looks more pleasing to the eye.

Yue Zhiyun said: "Mr. Li, you can look here as you like, but regarding the construction of this ship, please don't ask any more questions. As for the reason, I won't explain more, you understand."

Li Nai nodded, indicating that he understood. This was not the first time he had encountered this kind of thing in Victory Port. The last time he came here, he had asked many unanswered questions, such as who were the iron ships moored at the port?

How it was made, why the output of the salt field far exceeded the level of the Ming Dynasty, the manufacturing process of glass, etc. Every time the Haihan people were unwilling to answer these questions, they would use the "Confidentiality Regulations" to excuse themselves. Li Nai didn't know what the Haihan people were

The "Confidentiality Regulations" specifically stipulates, but it is obvious that the production process of everything they make is within the scope of this "Regulations", and now it is obvious that another item has to be added to the list.

Li Nai is not disgusted with the attitude of the Haihan people. Technical barriers are the magic weapon for craftsmen to make money in this era. Is it because the Haihan people's products can be sold at such high prices because they have mastered unique manufacturing techniques? What about these special skills?

It might be easy to reveal it to outsiders, and it would be nice to have someone to see it. Li Nai secretly wondered in his heart, after returning to Guangzhou this time, should he find a shipyard to supplement his knowledge of ship construction, so that he might be able to learn a little bit about the sea?

What exactly is the technical superiority of this new type of sailboat? Li Nai made up his mind and kept the appearance of the boat in his mind while looking at it, planning to seek professional advice after returning home.

But it is a pity that Li Nai came to visit a little early. The deck superstructure has just entered the construction stage. As one of the essence of the design of the No. 1 test ship, Li Nai did not have the chance to see the steering wheel steering system this time.

.

Regardless of Chinese or Western-style sailing ships, this era still uses the helmsman to directly operate the rudder stock at the stern of the ship to adjust the direction of the rudder. The disadvantages of this steering method are very obvious. First, on ships with slightly larger hulls, the helmsman’s

The line of sight will be blocked by the poop deck, and it is impossible to observe the movement of the sails on the ship. In this way, the helmsman can only operate through indirect transmission of instructions, which affects the navigation efficiency; secondly, this steering method almost relies on pure human power.

, if you encounter bad weather at sea, human power may not be able to match the power of nature. If the wind and waves are too big, you may lose the initiative to steer.

Historically, the steering wheel, a black technology for navigation, was only invented in the early 18th century. The arrival of the Time Travel Group brought its emergence nearly a hundred years earlier. The technical advantages of the steering wheel are as obvious as the disadvantages of the old rudder. This thing is set

On the poop deck, the operation is light and flexible, and the user can intuitively see the movement of the sail to adapt to changes. The steering operation of the rudder is an epoch-making improvement compared to the old method. The most important thing is that this thing

Although it is not high-tech for the public, it is not like a new sail, which can be copied just by looking at it from the outside. Its main transmission structure is hidden inside the hull, and non-professionals can even see the steering wheel.

I can't imagine how such a small wooden wheel can turn the entire ship.

In addition to the steering wheel system, the black navigation technology that was also invented in the 18th century in the original history also includes the sextant and the nautical chronometer. The sextant has undergone many improvements in the 18th century.

The octant with an angle of only 90 degrees was gradually transformed into a sextant with an angle of 120 degrees. Compared with the astrolabes and rectangular quadrants used in the past to measure latitude, this instrument is more convenient to use and more accurate.

There has also been a big improvement.

The marine chronometer is as necessary as the sextant in ocean navigation. In order to use the speed to estimate its relative position, the ocean-going ship needs a stable and reliable chronograph to calculate the speed. In this era

The accuracy of chronographs that can be carried on ships is far from meeting the requirements of navigation. Once there are wind and waves, the pendulum of the mechanical structure will have errors. In 1656, the Dutch scientist Huygens invented a spiral balance spring to replace the pendulum, but this

The marine clocks still only had poor time accuracy. It was not until 1736 that a British clockmaker built the first real marine clock for a reward from the British Parliament.

However, the early navigational clocks were all big, and the Ministry of Shipping had no intention of using that kind of cumbersome navigation device. Whether it was a sextant or a navigational clock, they were included in the list of strategic materials in the material procurement before the time travel.

Of course, the preparatory committee, which had limited funds at the time, did not buy any high-end goods. Instead, it purchased a batch of marine quartz navigation clocks directly from the Internet, and they have now been put into use on the Black Earth Port route. The technical department did not forget to purchase them.

Several mechanical marine clocks are used as backups. When the level of metal processing technology improves, they can be copied to prevent everyone from being blinded when the battery of the quartz clock runs out in a few years.

It is worth mentioning that in terms of navigation, the leading expert in the crossing group is King Tom. His professional level is not only in terms of navigation theory and experience, but also in terms of equipment level. This is

The navigation clock the guy used is a super limited edition of the Villeret 1858 series produced by Montblanc - a set consisting of an analog dual time zone chronograph and a large analog navigation clock. Especially the one made of ruby, granite, brass, aviation aluminum

The 120-kilogram luxury nautical clock made of raw materials and carbon fiber is enough to blind the eyes of every visitor. It is said that this set of nautical clocks is limited to 16 sets worldwide, and it can become an epic piece of equipment in any navigation game.

, I don’t know how much this guy spent to get it.

Tao Donglai is considered a well-informed and wealthy man in the Time Travel Group, but he was also surprised when he saw this outfit. According to what he said afterwards, the average price of watches in this series of Montblanc is RMB

More than seven figures. According to this calculation, Wang Tom's equipment is probably worth much more than the two catamarans put together. There are actually many members with six or seven figures in assets before time travel, but as the saying goes

They say that the poor play with cars and the rich play with watches, so it seems that Wang Tom is the real rich man who hides deeply. If Wang Tom hadn't been at sea all day long and few people knew his details, I'm afraid there would have been someone in Victory Port.

There were a large group of ladies who were going to give birth to a child for Tom Wang.
Chapter completed!