"Sir, can this human-powered blower really blow out strong enough wind?" Miaoyi asked, pointing to a large blower that was pushed and pulled by six strong men shouting slogans.
"This blower is different from the hand blower. The air in it flows in a directional direction. It can only flow from the hot blast furnace to the blast furnace and not back. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to design the air inlets and baffles. This
is its design
Drawing, it has four openings, two in and two out. The baffle for the air inlet opens inward, and the baffle for the air outlet opens outward. Do you know why?" Wan Lei asked Wei'er to pull out the drawing for everyone to see.
Take a look and continue to use heuristic teaching.
"I know this. According to the principle of aerodynamics, the air actively flows from the side with high pressure to the side with low pressure. When the air is discharged, the pressure in the space inside the air box becomes smaller, and the hot air outside the air box just pushes open the baffle and opens the baffle.
The inlet enters the windbox. Under the action of thrust, the pressure of the air on the other side increases, pushing the air outlet open and blowing toward the outlet." Chi Xin said.
"Well, yes, that's the principle. In fact, the push-pull blower is not as good as the water drainage, that is, the hydraulic blower. However, there are no rivers in Beiping City, so we cannot build dams and water drainage. If the rotary blower is driven by manpower or animal power, the speed
Too slow and unable to improve
The effect of wind speed, so we settled for the next best thing and used this kind of push-pull blower. If we set up a new factory in the future, it will definitely be located by the river. Firstly, it only saves manpower by building water drainage. Secondly, it is convenient to collect water.
It also facilitates the transportation of various raw materials." Wan Lei explained.
"Sir, why do we need to add limestone to iron making? They cannot react with the iron ore and will only produce impurities. We have to work hard to process them." Chicheng asked puzzledly.
"It's for making slag. In fact, iron ore is not pure iron oxide. It has many impurities. These impurities are mixed in the molten iron, so they need to be separated. Add limestone, and these impurities can be wrapped in it and then float in it.
Waste residue is formed in the molten iron, so that relatively pure molten iron can be obtained."
"Sir, making slag wastes molten iron and wastes heat. Can't we skip this step?" Miao Yi also asked.
"No, we can't make iron in the blast furnace now. When we make steel in the open hearth in the future, the first condition is to make good slag. Therefore, adding materials to make slag is a required course in the steel industry. It is also a necessary waste and cannot be saved." Wan
Lei said.
"Ironmaking requires a temperature of more than a thousand degrees. Can a blast furnace really produce such a high temperature?" Wongyu asked.
"In order to heat the blast furnace, on the one hand, we must increase the height of the blast furnace outlet and lengthen the time the hot gas stays in the furnace; on the other hand, we must increase the speed of blowing oxygen. There is currently no way to produce pure oxygen. If pure oxygen can be blown
, which can make the coke burn more vigorously and make the furnace temperature higher."
"Oh, it turns out that the blast is also to increase the temperature of the furnace, so why not block the furnace gas vent, so that there will be no heat loss." Qiaoyu asked again.
"Combustion is a process in which carbon and oxygen react to form carbon dioxide and release heat. If the furnace mouth is blocked, the carbon dioxide cannot be discharged, which will affect combustion," Miao Yi explained.
Wan Lei and the other Taoists were talking about each other. Tie Xuan and others sitting aside were confused and no one could understand. However, they didn't bother to care about the principle or not, they just wanted to
Look at the smelted molten iron.
At this time, the temperature in the blast furnace has been enough to melt iron. Through the furnace door, you can see pieces of rolling "red water". The iron-smelting workers are holding long stirring sticks and stirring them constantly, and the fire is shining.
The reflection on their faces turned red, and the sweat kept flowing down.
Outside the iron smelting plant, tens of thousands of people were watching, watching the billowing black smoke coming out of the tall chimneys, and began to discuss. However, most of them were praising Mr. Wan for his talent and his generosity in everything he did.
, even a chimney is several feet higher than other people’s homes.
Around the afternoon, seeing that the molten iron in the furnace had become extremely poor and the iron slag was almost higher than the slag discharge port, Wan Lei asked the workers to stop adding materials and asked someone to scoop up a ladle of molten iron and pour it into the furnace.
After a trial mold was put into the water to quickly cool down, an iron pot was formed.
Of course, the quality of this iron pot has to be tested. Wan Lei took a hammer and hit it with different strengths. Tie Xuan and others also watched nervously. Every time the hammer hit, it seemed like a smash.
In their minds, after all, this iron smelting plant cost 100,000 official silver. If the molten iron produced cannot even make pots, then it will really be a waste of money.
After a period of vigorous hammering, the iron pot was not broken except for some deformation. Tie Xuan and others let out a long breath. It seemed that the molten iron could be used to make pots. However, Wan
Lei was still uneasy, and conducted several tests such as drilling, heating, and dry burning. The final results were all very satisfactory, and he gave the order: "Drain the molten iron and make a pot."
Tapping molten iron is also a high-risk operation. After all, the molten iron is over a thousand degrees high and can burn people to death if it comes into contact with them, so you have to be extra careful. However, now it is mainly used to make iron pots. You can send molds to the molten iron.
At the exit, just use a valve to control the amount of molten iron, and the mold filled with molten iron is smoothly moved into the cooling water tank. A burst of water mist rises, and an iron pot is produced.
Wan Lei continuously inspected the twenty iron pots coming out of the furnace, and found that only two were of substandard quality, with holes in the bottom, and the scrap rate was only one-tenth, which was within an acceptable range, so he asked the workers to speed up the process of making iron pots.
process, and strive to finish the molten iron within half an hour to avoid oxidation caused by prolonged contact between the molten iron and oxygen.
In fact, Wan Lei had already planned. Dozens of molds were lined up in an assembly line to produce iron cast pots. The process was very fast. In less than two quarters of an hour, the molten iron in the blast furnace was almost empty. Wan Lei sent people to
After counting the number of pots, someone changed the molds and used the remaining molten iron to cast several iron cannons of different sizes.
Of course, these iron cannons are for experiments, and cannot be mass-produced until the test is successful. After all, iron cannons are different from iron pots. They are used to fire high-speed shells, and the strength requirements for the barrel and bore are very high.
If one part is improperly designed, the result will be a useless cannon, or even serious accidents such as an explosion of the barrel may occur. There is no need to be negligent at all.
"Sir, this furnace of iron has cast 470 pots. After removing 45 useless pots, we got 425 good pots." An overseer reported happily.
You must know that iron pots are necessities in life, and the selling price is relatively high. A pot is worth at least one tael of silver, and more than 400 taels, that is, 400 taels. Even after excluding the cost of iron and coal, which is 270 taels, you can make a profit of at least 100 taels.
Two taels of silver. If you produce like this every day, you will make a profit of 3,000 taels a month, and you can recover your capital in three years at most.
"Not bad, not bad. Let's make more molds in the future. We not only produce iron pots, but also swords, plows, hoes and all other iron tools." Wan Lei also smiled and said: "That's it for today. I'll pay everyone.
They have a good day's rest and will continue to fire up the furnace early tomorrow morning."
"Okay, I'll go to the counting house right away to get my wages." The supervisor went happily.
"My dear nephew, today's first practice is a good start. It's time to hold a banquet to celebrate." Tie Xuan was also overjoyed. His suggestion immediately received a response from all his colleagues.
"Everyone is so interested. Wan shouldn't say anything to dampen the mood. However, there are still many impurities in this molten iron. Wan still needs to study and improve the production process in detail. Please don't be offended that he can't drink with you."
Wan Lei cupped his hands.
"Hey, Mr. Wan always takes the lead, and we can't help. We can only sit back and enjoy the benefits. It's really shameful." Zhao Hongru was also present to visit and said a little apologetically.
"Who said you didn't help? You are responsible for supervising the manufacturing of equipment and ensuring that all stoves meet the requirements for starting work. This is a huge credit. On the contrary, I can only point and find faults. This is how I enjoy the fruits of my labor.
Ah." Wan Lei also smiled bitterly.
"Mr. Wan is being too modest. My nephew is the one who plans the strategy and deserves the greatest credit. I am just running errands." The officials laughed.
"Hey, I don't need to say more to be polite. Since my nephew is not free, let's enjoy it alone instead of everyone. We will pay the workers more wages and make everyone happy." Tie Xuan finally made the decision, and anyway, he made the second batch.
Once a pot of iron is used, there is no need to worry that the iron factory will not be able to recoup its original investment, and issuing additional iron to the workers will only be a drop in the bucket.
"In that case, Wan will take his leave first. Could you please Master Tie to send a few people to deliver the iron cannons to the top of the city and put them on the mounts? I will go test the cannons when I have time. By the way, I will
Don't let others try it randomly before trying it, so as to avoid accidents." Wan Lei handed over his hand and went home with a few trails and some iron filings on his back.
The reason Wan Lei left in such a hurry was because he wanted to go home and use reagents to analyze the composition of the pig iron, especially the content of harmful impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur. If the phosphorus and sulfur content is high, the smelted iron will soon become
It turns into useless scrap iron and makes steelmaking more difficult.
Tie Xuan looked at the back of Wan Lei and his group as they left, and seemed to be saying to himself: "Nephew Wan is really a treasure of my Ming Dynasty. It's a pity that the imperial court doesn't know the treasure."
"Master Tie, we are lucky that Mr. Wan can stay in our Shuntian Mansion. In the future, it will not be difficult to build a strong army and build an unparalleled foundation," said a county magistrate.
"I just want to compete with the Ming Dynasty for the world. The war is dangerous and dangerous. How can I bear it?" Tie Xuan sighed.
"We don't want to compete with the imperial court, but we give in everywhere, but the imperial court still threatens us at every turn. We are helpless," Zhao Hongru also said.
"Not to mention these, since we are the parents of Shuntian Mansion, we should think about the people of Shuntian Mansion. Whether we are at war or at peace with the court, we can only take one step at a time." After Tie Xuan finished speaking, he quickly left.