The Hudong Shipyard in Yangshupu was finally completed and put into operation. However, under the joint pressure of the British merchants Yesong Shipyard and Xiangsheng Shipyard, life was not easy. However, Lin Shuo decided to build a new 15,000-ton shipyard.
Xu Jianyin really can't figure out what to do with spending more than 300,000 silver dollars to build such a large shipyard. All calculations indicate that the displacement of the largest merchant ship currently plying the route to China will not exceed 6,000 tons.
However, Lin Shuo advised him to take a long-term view. Nowadays, giant ships of more than 10,000 tons on European and American routes are very common, and there are more than a dozen merchant ships with a displacement of 20,000 to 30,000 tons. Considering economic benefits, merchant ships will become bigger and bigger.
On the other hand, the displacement of the main battleships of the navies of all major countries is now close to 15,000 tons. If a battleship passes through the Far East, only the Hudong Shipyard can perform maintenance. Currently, even the Japanese cannot do it in East Asia. Is there an exclusive deal?
Not easy to do?
"Why did the battleship come so far?" Xu Jianyin asked.
Lin Shuo was startled. He couldn't tell him that the Russo-Japanese War would break out next year. Wouldn't that make people think he was a monster? "Look, don't the Russians have a few battleships in Port Arthur? Maybe after a while, the British and the Germans will
People will also send big ships, yes, and Americans!" He could only find this reason.
Lin Shuo can now earn nearly two million silver dollars every year from the trade of agricultural, forestry and livestock products. Although the bank's annual profit is only a hundred thousand yuan, it can absorb nearly three million in deposits. In addition, he is engaged in tobacco, matches, grain and oil processing
On the other hand, there can also be a profit of RMB 700,000 to 800,000, which can basically maintain the investment in Hanyang Iron Works, Pingxiang Coal Mine and Hudong Shipyard. The current situation is that investment in textiles, silk reeling, tea making, tung oil, etc. can still be found
People are recruiting investors for cooperation, but when it comes to investing in steel mills and shipbuilding, there are no people around. In this area, I can only survive by myself. Moreover, over the past few years, the ironworks and shipbuilding have not made any money, and they still need one to two hundred dollars every year.
Millions of investments continue to be made in renovation and expansion.
Lin Shuo knew that heavy industrial enterprises such as steel and shipbuilding must have sufficient scale to generate benefits, so he could only bite the bullet and continue to invest more.
The plan of the Hudong Shipyard has been changed again. The shipyard will add a large dry dock, a 3,000-ton slipway and a 6,000-ton slipway. In conjunction with this, it will expand four workshops, three large warehouses and two outfitting buildings.
The expansion of the wharf and shipyard is partly for the sake of the future. On the other hand, Lin Shuo also wants to retain these more than a thousand construction workers with experience in shipyard construction.
The re-planned Hudong Shipyard has expanded its factory area to more than 1,300 acres, with more than 1,600 meters of river bank including the transportation dock. In two years, the shipyard will have more than 20 sets of various heavy lifting equipment
, twenty-seven stamping and forging equipment, more than 460 sets of metal processing machine tools, 14 sets of sand foundry and heat treatment equipment, two 50-ton steel-making furnaces, more than 1,100 meters of transportation track, and there are also plans to build a shipyard
Own thermal power plant.
In fact, for countries like the Qing Dynasty that lack experience in modern shipyard construction, the best way is to copy Western ready-made design planning and construction plans, which will reduce many unnecessary risks. At this time, Germany is located in Stettin
Vulcan Shipyard wants to build a new shipyard in Hamburg due to production capacity, and Xu Jianyin has a long-standing relationship with this German shipyard that has built two ironclads, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and three Hai Rong-class cruisers for the Qing Dynasty.
Yes, Lin Shuo obtained the complete plan of the Hamburg Vulcan Shipyard's new branch in Hamburg on the condition that all large-scale shipbuilding equipment of the Hudong Shipyard be ordered from the Vulcan Shipyard.
Volcan Shipyard also promised to send first-class engineering and technical personnel to China to guide the installation and operation of the equipment.
In the transformation plan of the Hanyang Iron Works, a new steel rolling branch for marine medium-thick steel plates was added. When this branch is put into operation in two years, it will form a production capacity of 20,000 tons of medium-thick plates per year, reversing the current situation.
The situation in which steel plates cannot be produced domestically.
The freight railway from Pingxiang to Zhuzhou has started construction, but it is not expected to be opened to traffic until the autumn of 1904. The only way Lin Shuo can think of now is to convert the coal ships between Hankou to machine power, but the entire set of steam-powered equipment is too large.
, the total weight of more than ten tons including the boiler and steam engine makes its travel on the Xiangjiang River waterway quite restricted, and the water level is too low to pass.
In fact, during the decades of Westernization Movement in the Qing Dynasty, many modern enterprises have been established, including steel, coal, shipbuilding, textiles, cement and military manufacturing, etc. However, a complete industrial system has not been formed, which has reduced the production cost.
If it remains high, the benefits will not be very good.
From the perspective of future generations, the current industrial level of countries around the world is still at a relatively low level, and the technical content is not high. Although electric motors and internal combustion engines have appeared, they are not widely used in industry. Most factories
The steam engine is still the main power source.
Although the steam turbine has just been invented, it is still in the experimental stage. All ships in the world, including merchant ships and warships, are powered by steam engines without exception.
Lin Shuo set his sights on internal combustion engines and electric motors. In this new field, everyone was basically on the same starting line. He knew very well that he did not have the ability to create something that transcended the times. Electronic computers are good things, but now you just want to control the world.
The elites are all gathered together, and no matter how much manpower and material resources are invested, it is impossible to create a practical crystal diode.
In the era when electric lights and automobiles had just entered people's lives, not many rich people could foresee the huge market and wealth contained in these two industries. In the electrical field, although the old Morgan merged Edison Electric, Thomson-Housden and other companies into
General Electric, but he only focused on the huge profits in the field of power transmission and did not have a deep understanding of the electrical appliance manufacturing industry.
In the automobile industry, at this time, Karl Benz's automobile factory with less than 300 people had just registered as Benz and Sons Automobile Company, and Daimler received an order for 36 "Mercedes" cars named after the Austrian businessman's youngest daughter.
, thus bringing the troubled factory back to life.
In the United States, Ford Motor Company's total assets were less than $30,000, and Chrysler had just switched from horse-drawn carriages to cars. Although the body made of steel was patented, the main structure of the car still used wood.
In a factory building of the machine shop of the Hudong Shipyard, there are seven "cars" that Lin Shuo bought from all over the world. Without exception, they all have black wooden bodies, open compartments, and spoked wheels. There are actually...
There are also two vehicles using wooden wheels.
No matter how you look at it, these "cars" look like two bicycles connected together with a rack.
If you invest one million to open an automobile factory, you will definitely be called the leader in this industry. The Hudong Machinery Factory will definitely be able to imitate China's first internal combustion engine. At least the accuracy of the steam engine cylinder boring by the machine factory now
No worse than steam engines imported from abroad.
Lu Yijin, the chief engineer of the machine factory, told Lin Shuo that it would not be a big problem to copy these cars, but it would take at least several years to make the motor.
"Is it possible to mass-produce other mechanical products now?" Lin Shuo asked, "It will take nearly two years before the shipyard is put into production. The workers in the factory also need to be trained. We cannot leave everyone without work."
"There is a kind of bicycle on the market now, and each one can be sold for more than 80 yuan. I calculated the cost, and it is probably less than 18 yuan, and the profit is quite considerable." Lu Yijin thought for a moment and said.
"Bicycle?" Lin Shuo's eyes lit up, "I think we can give it a try. If it can be produced, the market will probably open up. Are there any difficulties in the process?"
"I'm not worried about the technology. It's readily available in foreign companies. It's not a big problem to buy it and copy it. The problem is the rubber tires. I don't know how to get them." Lu Yijin said.
"Oh, that's not a problem. We will import from foreign companies at the beginning. There are many rubber plantations in Nanyang, but people have to go to the West to learn the processing methods." Lin Shuo said that in a few years, the rubber plantation he opened in Nanyang will be able to supply raw materials.
, just remember that raw rubber needs to be vulcanized before it can be used. I don’t know how to do it specifically.
The first truly modern bicycle was designed and finalized by Starley in the UK. This mechanical engineer redesigned the earlier bicycle style from a mechanical and mechanical perspective in 1886. Its main feature was the use of a diamond-shaped bicycle.
The frame makes the body have higher rigidity and strength. The rear wheel is driven by a chain, and the direction is directly controlled through the front fork. Rubber wheels are also used for the first time. Since then, it has opened up broad prospects for the mass production and application of bicycles. Therefore,
Staley is known as the "Father of Bicycles".
Coincidentally, Starley's bicycle invention and Karl Benz built the first car were both in the same year. Does this indicate that humans will be able to run faster and further in the future?
At this time, riding a bicycle was not only a fashionable thing in the eyes of the Chinese people, but also represented a symbol of westernization, civilization, and progress in the minds of many people. Someone once marveled at the speed of bicycles and wrote a poem in the newspaper: "Between and back.
A unicycle is like flying on the flat sands of Ai Ping. It is like galloping towards the morning in the setting sun, and the rustling sound is still there."
For those children from rich families, riding a bicycle through the streets, looking left and right, is like driving a Maserati swaggering through the city in later generations. It is a very popular thing. Bicycles are not the kind of mass transportation in later generations. The price of each one in this era
A bicycle that costs 70 to 80 yuan is not affordable for ordinary people, and it is still a toy in the hands of the rich.
For a large machinery factory like the Hudong Machinery Factory with hundreds of machine tools, manufacturing bicycles is not very difficult. In fact, most Western products come from manual workshops. After more than a month of decomposition and imitation, the first bicycle
Domestic bicycles are quickly assembled.
The reason why it takes more than a month is mainly to carry out special modifications to some lathes. On the other hand, it is the welding of the steel pipes of the frame. Electric welding has just taken shape in this era. The formula of the welding electrode coating used is very problematic. At first, only gas welding process can be used.
.The other is that the strength of the flywheel simply does not meet the requirements. After being made of high-carbon steel, it can barely be used, but it is easily damaged.
There is no way, the quality of steel in this era can only reach this level, and no one seems to be able to produce higher-strength alloy steel. Bicycles imported by foreign companies will also be guaranteed to last for two years in their promotions as proof of excellent quality.
, meaning that in two years this thing will become a pile of scrap metal.
Fortunately, the Hudong Machinery Factory can sell more than 300 bicycles every month. In addition to manufacturing steam engines and imitation textile machines, flour machines, silk reeling machines, etc., it can make a profit of nearly 10,000 yuan a month. More importantly,
, this factory has trained more than 2,000 skilled mechanical workers.