When Jiang Xuan left the Shangui Tribe, Shanjia still hadn’t decided whether to accept help from the Teng Tribe.
Although the tribesmen are not knowledgeable, they are not stupid either. They know that the more attractive the conditions, the greater the price they will pay.
What's more, the Mountain Turtle Tribe is cautious by nature, and they don't believe that the Vine Tribe will help them for free.
They prefer exchange of equal value and feel safer in their hearts.
Jiang Xuan doesn't force it, he believes that one day the Mountain Turtle Tribe will figure out that only by following the footsteps of the Vine Tribe can they become stronger.
After dinner, Jiang Xuan returned to the tribe with a large number of magical mushrooms obtained from the transaction.
……
At the end of April, the warm and humid spring passed quietly, and the hot and rainy summer arrived.
"Huhuhu..."
At noon on April 30th, the sky suddenly became dense with dark clouds and a strong wind blew, causing the treetops to bend. The branches and leaves rubbed against each other in the strong wind, making a "rustling" sound.
"Rumble..."
After a while, the dark clouds became thicker and thicker. There was a rolling muffled thunder in the dark clouds, and snake-shaped lightning flashed back and forth in the dark clouds.
"Crash..."
In an instant, the downpour came from far to near, like a waterfall, washing the ground wantonly.
There was a heavy rain outside, but Jiang Xuan inside the house was not affected much because the tiles on the roof had just been repaired not long ago, so there was no need to worry about water leakage.
He was sitting at the table, concentrating on shaping a model with clay.
What he pinched was a wheelbarrow.
In fact, two-wheeled vehicles or three-wheeled vehicles are more stable, but they also have higher requirements for road conditions.
Opening a flat road in the virgin forest near the Vine Tribe is obviously a huge project that consumes countless manpower and material resources. With the current productivity of the Vine Tribe, it simply cannot afford it.
Unicycles are different.
The wheelbarrow is a very light means of transportation. It can adapt to various complex and difficult-to-walk terrains, and is very suitable for the places where the Vine tribe people live.
Jiang Xuan first pinched the frame. The frame has two long handles, and there are two support frames below the handles connected to the body.
Finally, he pinched another wheel and glued it under the car body.
The construction of the wheelbarrow is very simple. Jiang Xuan quickly kneaded it and placed it on the table.
The wheels and two support frames of the unicycle are triangular in shape, stably supporting the entire vehicle and preventing it from rolling over.
"The most troublesome thing about making a wheelbarrow is the wheels and bearings. The wheels can always be made by carpenters with a little effort, but the bearings are more troublesome."
Jiang Xuan frowned. The common ball bearings in his previous life could not be manufactured with existing industrial technology because they were too precise.
It is really difficult for tribal people to manufacture high-precision ball bearings.
But without bearings, even just one axle will not work. The hole in the center of the wheel will get bigger and bigger, and the axle will get finer and thinner. A wheelbarrow will be scrapped quickly, and the person pushing it will also have a lot of effort.
"What kind of bearings can the current rattan tribe make that are strong and durable?"
The first thing Jiang Xuan thought of was the sleeve bearing with the simplest manufacturing method.
The so-called sleeve bearing is actually a wide metal ring placed on the axle. A metal ring is also placed on the center hole of the axle, and lubricating grease is added to it to reduce the problem of excessive wear between wood. Of course, this kind of sleeve bearing is essentially two metal rings that hurt each other. Even if lubricating grease is added, the fate of being worn out cannot be avoided.
Moreover, the rattan tribe currently does not have metal with high hardness, high toughness, and wear resistance.
Whether made of bronze or gold, the service life of bushing bearings is not ideal.
The most ideal material for sleeve bearings is steel because it has high hardness, stronger toughness than bronze, and better wear resistance.
However, it is not easy to smelt high-quality steel. With the current smelting process of the Vine Tribe, no matter how hard you try, you can only smelt low-quality iron that is unusable.
Therefore, the plan of manufacturing bushing bearings was rejected by Jiang Xuan. This thing was laborious to push, not durable, and its load-bearing capacity was not strong.
Jiang Xuan continued to think about it, and used clay to knead some ball bearing parts, staring at those parts, trying to find replacements.
Jiang Xuan has a bad habit, that is, when he is thinking, his hands will always unconsciously play with some small objects.
Sometimes it's a small dead branch that he breaks into many small pieces.
Sometimes it was just a pebble that he kept playing with.
Today, he only had clay on hand, so he pinched a small piece of clay and kept twisting it.
He thought hard but couldn't think of an alternative, so he could only lower his head in distress.
At this time, he had twisted the small piece of clay into a strip, which was very round.
He stared at the strips of clay for a while, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he thought of a way to replace the balls in the bearing.
That is to use cylindrical rollers instead of balls.
First of all, it is much easier to make a cylinder than a ball, and its force-bearing area is large, so the hardness requirements of the manufacturing material are relatively small.
Jiang Xuan vaguely felt that he had seen this kind of bearing somewhere in his previous life, but the impression was too superficial and he was not sure.
Jiang Xuan immediately twisted some cylindrical rollers with clay, then pinched the inner sleeve and outer sleeve of the bearing, and put the cylindrical roller into the gap between the two sleeves.
Although the workmanship was rough and the materials were wrong, Jiang Xuan immediately confirmed the feasibility of this thing after seeing the model of the cylindrical bearing.
The only thing that needs attention is that a cover plate needs to be added to both sides of the cylindrical bearing to prevent the cylindrical roller from falling out.
However, having a model is not enough. You must make a real cylindrical bearing to know whether it can be used.
Jiang Xuan carefully took the clay wheelbarrow model and the cylindrical bearing model, and headed to the woodwork workshop and smelting workshop.
At this time, the heavy rain had stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, the sky became clear again, and the forest was filled with the aroma of vegetation and rich water vapor.
He first came to the woodwork workshop, handed the model of the wheelbarrow to the workshop owner Huai, and explained to him the method of making wooden wheels.
The main body of a unicycle is not difficult to manufacture, it just requires the use of more mortise and tenon structures.
Since the Vine tribe had bronze tools, it is no longer difficult to make woodenware with a mortise and tenon structure, and they have accumulated a lot of experience.
Making wheels is a little more troublesome, but the Vine tribe now has tools like rulers, and Jiang Xuan taught them to draw circles by connecting two points. As long as they spend some effort, they can always make wheels.
After Jiang Xuan explained the manufacturing methods and precautions of a wheelbarrow, he said to Huai seriously:
"The wheelbarrow is very important to our Vine tribe. You can think of it as an animal that does not need to eat grass, drink water, or rest."
"With the wheelbarrow, it will be more convenient for our Vine tribe to transport things in the future, and the tribesmen will not have to work so hard."
Huai nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, leader, even if I don't eat or sleep, I still have to make a wheelbarrow!"
"Okay!"
Jiang Xuan patted Huai's shoulder: "I believe in your ability. Work hard and the tribe will not treat you badly."
Huai got the leader's approval and became even more excited. Without saying a word, he immediately picked up the tools, selected the wood and started to make the main part of the wheelbarrow.
Jiang Xuan stood aside and watched for a while, but found nothing wrong, so he quietly left and headed to the smelting workshop.
After arriving at the smelting workshop, Jiang Xuan pointed to the parts made of clay and explained in detail the manufacturing method and function of cylindrical bearings to the workers who were good at casting bronzes.
Cylindrical bearings are actually not complicated. The only thing that determines the upper limit of its performance is the material and accuracy.
After listening carefully to Jiang Xuan's explanation, the workers immediately started making pottery molds and preparing to pour the parts of the cylindrical bearing.
That night, the first set of cylindrical bearing parts were produced in the smelting workshop.
However, during assembly, Jiang Xuan discovered that the inner ring and outer sleeve of the bearing did not match well, and the cylindrical bronze rollers were not very consistent in size.
The final result is that the thing they spent most of the day making cannot be used, it just looks like a cylindrical bearing.
Jiang Xuan encouraged: "It doesn't matter, keep working hard tomorrow, I believe you will succeed."
The soldiers in the smelting workshop were not in a very good mood. They greatly underestimated the difficulty of making this thing.
However, the tribesmen will not give up easily, not to mention the support and encouragement of the leader.
The second day, the third day... In the following half month, the soldiers in the smelting workshop were constantly trying to make usable cylindrical bearings.
On May 10th, the main body and wheels of the unicycle were first manufactured by the woodworking workshop.
On May 18, the core component of the unicycle, the cylindrical bearing, was finally successfully manufactured by the soldiers in the smelting workshop. Each cylindrical roller was polished and calibrated by hand to ensure that the rollers were of the same size. p>
On May 19th, the first wheelbarrow of the Teng tribe was born under Jiang Xuan’s own hands!
"Finally successful!"
Jiang Xuan checked the wheelbarrow one last time and found no problems, so he put some things on the wheelbarrow and pushed it out.