"The old high-pressure boilers used wrought iron pipes." A fat man squeezed over, "I dismantled the antique boiler in our factory, and there was no steel at all. It was all soft iron. The fire tubes inside were made of wrought iron."
"Who are you?" Wang Luobin was stunned for a moment.
"I'm Xiao Gui, from the machinery factory." The fat man looked helpless. The leader didn't recognize him, which was not a good thing anyway.
“Do you think there’s anything wrong with imitation high-pressure boilers?”
"It's not a big problem. It's just that there are many novices here and few experienced ones, so the work is not very good. In my opinion, we should start with a simple Lancashire boiler and let everyone practice - after all, Master Zhou is also a novice in riveting work, so first
Build something with low requirements and it will be less likely to cause trouble." Xiao Gui said very conservatively, but he didn't seem to care at all.
"Okay, let's copy two Lancashire boilers first, and then build a high-pressure boiler after we become more familiar with it," Wang Luobin said.
Solving the boiler problem is equivalent to solving half of the steam engine problems. The key component of the steam engine is the cylinder, which is a product that tests the level of industrial processing. The cylinder is actually machined with a boring machine, and the quality of the cylinder directly affects
Actual power output and safety of steam engines.
The machinery factory has accumulated considerable experience in using large-scale boring machines by processing artillery barrels in the past. This time, it did not encounter any technical difficulties in manufacturing the cylinder.
The first steam engine designed and manufactured by Traveler, the "Mozi Type 1", was a horizontal steam engine driven by a Lancashire boiler. The cylinder with a steam jacket was located on a cast iron base, and the chute and base were cast.
It is one-piece and drilled with holes. The crank pin is connected to a suspended crankshaft plate, and the outer end of the crankshaft is supported by an independent bearing. The regulator automatically adjusts the degree of expansion according to the load of the machine. There are two on the crankshaft
The main spool valve and expansion valve are driven by the eccentric wheel. The cylinder diameter is 311mm and the stroke is 560mm. When the steam pressure is 4 kilograms per square centimeter and the rotation speed is 95 rpm, it can generate 50 horsepower. This level has reached the same level as that of the traversing many belts.
The power of the new low-power boiler machines is almost the same - of course, the boiler machine achieves this with a smaller boiler volume.
If you want to increase the horsepower, just enlarge the diameter of the cylinder and increase the stroke. If you expand the cylinder diameter to 560mm and the stroke to 1000mm, the output power of a steam engine with the same structure can reach 185 horsepower, which is enough to meet most industrial applications.
The materials used in boilers and steam engines, except for a few parts that are made of low carbon steel, are either pig iron or wrought iron - very suitable for the metallurgical level of the time traveler.
"Actually, there is still a lot of room for improvement." Xiao Gui commented on the design drawing drawn by Xiao Bailang, "For example, using a drop valve to replace the slide valve, or simply using a cylindrical swing valve - this will only require improved materials and processing levels.
Already——"
"The processing level is no problem. We have so many modern machine tools and professional staff."
Xiao Gui smiled: "No one has done these jobs before, it's better to be careful and proceed step by step. If something goes wrong with the boiler or steam engine, it will kill people. Everyone has worked in the factory, so don't forget about safety in production."
"That's right, casualties can happen at any time if you're not careful in the factory. Today's apprentices are better. Children are more receptive, but adult workers don't pay much attention. They think we are making a fuss out of a molehill - sooner or later we will get injured at work." Jiang Ye agreed.
.
"There's no way, people can't remember lessons without bloodshed." Zhan Wuya sighed and said, "I won't say more about this. Our policy for production equipment is: proceed step by step, run fast in small steps, and continuously improve.
In terms of production technology, we are repeating the old path that our predecessors have taken, and technological improvements are based on evidence and will not make detours."
Start with equipment with simple technology and gradually increase the technical content and processing difficulty of the equipment. This way you can quickly climb the technological tree and avoid the risks caused by the Great Leap Forward-style development.
Even very simple and primitive equipment can play an important or even indispensable role at this stage. Things like steam engines play a much greater role than diesel engines at this stage.
The production of boilers and steam engines is a golden finger for the great cause of crossing, the key among the keys. No one dares to neglect, Ma Qianzhu ordered the Planning Committee to unconditionally approve all materials and energy applications sent by the Works and Energy Commission, Wu De also
He patted his chest and said that he would give as many manpower as needed. Lingao Construction Corporation even organized a surprise construction to build a factory building.
Although there are many different types of factories in the five-year plan, in fact most of them are just workshops in the Bobu Industrial Zone. The layout of the industrial zone has been overall planned to make full use of space and centrally arrange various pipelines.
.Pedestrian paths and simple tracks for transporting goods are laid with concrete between workshops and warehouses.
Of course, this kind of track cannot run trains. It is just two rolled wrought iron bars directly inlaid and laid on the concrete floor. It has a low load-bearing capacity. Originally, the mechanical team planned to use hardwood tracks. Considering the climate of Lingao -
―Wooden products are prone to decay and damage during the rainy season, so forged iron was used. It is cheaper than steel and tougher than tracks made of pig iron. It was the main material for early railway tracks.
Originally, Zhan Wuya's design of this kind of track was just to imitate the simple transportation method between workshops in his previous life - he worked in a spray painting workshop for a while, and large workpieces were loaded on flatbed trucks and pushed along the track from the previous workshop.
Come here. It saves manpower and time, and is highly efficient.
But the train party members who passed through the crowd couldn't help but get excited when they saw the track. After a group of people signed a petition, the executive committee was finally moved, so what was originally a simple track between workshops turned into a complex set of tracks.
"Track system".
In the new plan, the length of the track has been greatly increased, and the connection range is also wider: from Bairen City, farms, Dongmen City, to the hydropower station on the Wenlan River, the inland terminal, Bairen Commune, and all the way to the factory area.
Various workshops, warehouses, and office buildings within it can not only transport various equipment, raw materials, and goods, but also people. The track is equipped with a turnout and an auxiliary track every certain distance to allow vehicles to avoid each other.
In order to grasp the operating status of the vehicle and facilitate dispatching, a high platform was specially built as the main console, and a wired telephone and lighting control system were installed. In an emergency, a colorful flag visual system can be used or directly connected to the radio to use a loudspeaker
Speaker control.
"Mr. Wen, these are several types of vehicles we have designed for rail transit." In the vehicle workshop, Li Chiqi, who serves as the workshop director, introduced several flatbed trucks parked under the work shed to several main members of the executive committee.
A young man with a background in machinery and automation can hold such an important position first of all because his major is basically useless and he can spend his time on the tedious administrative work of leadership positions - like Jiang Ye, Zhou Bili, Xiao Gui and others
People with technical skills are too busy just doing technical research, designing, and processing products every day.
Of course, another reason why he serves as the director of the vehicle workshop is that he is a senior model player, especially skilled in fully internal vehicle models - he is the person closest to vehicle manufacturing. Since the birth of the vehicle workshop, he has lived up to expectations and has modified more than ten vehicles.
Handcart, manufactured and modified the first batch of two-wheeled freight carriages, and recently produced Chuanzhong's first four-wheeled carriage, the "Hongqi" type.
Wen Desi and others looked at the several flatbed rail cars under the work shed. They all looked unremarkable, no different from the small flatbed railcars they remembered using in the factory. It was just that the vehicles in front of them were mostly made of wood.
Material.
"This is a basic flatbed cargo type." Li Chiqi was wearing jet-black work clothes. He was a fat man with short curly hair and small eyes. He had not lost weight after arriving in Lingao for so long, but he had become unusually strong.
"This flat-panel type has a maximum load of 5 tons. It has no power and relies on human power, horse traction or motor vehicle traction. If it is further improved, it will not be difficult to reach a 15-ton load."
"EMU traction, what kind of power is it?" Ma Qianzhu became interested. He remembered that the track flat cars used in this kind of train are usually electric. Of course that is not possible here.
"Well, we have developed several models of high-speed trains, and we have to ask the Industrial Energy Commission to evaluate which ones we will choose." Li Chiqi said, "We have designed a variety of removable modification kits for this basic model, including
Tank truck transportation type, bulk cargo transportation type, over-long item transportation type, etc., different functions can be achieved by installing different kits."
"This design idea is good." Wen Desi agreed.
Ma Qianzhu was worried: "Is there something wrong with the steering rack of the vehicle?"
"There is no problem. This difficulty was overcome when we developed the Hongqi carriage." Li Chiqi was confident. "One of the main problems limiting the vehicle load now is that the actual track load is not accurate."
Wen Desi waved his hand: "No problem. Back then, the British could transport several tons of coal in one truck using wooden tracks and horse traction. What's more, our rail transit is still built with concrete and steel materials."
"This is the second model: a self-propelled flatbed truck." The second model introduced by Li Chiqi is exactly the same as the basic cargo type. The difference is that there are four seats at the four corners of the flatbed truck, and there are some chains under the seats.
There are wheels and the like, and there are pedals under each seat - obviously it moves by human power.
"That's good, but does it have enough driving power for four people on the bike?"
"It's enough. It's very fast when it's empty. We also installed a brake device on it. It's just that it's difficult to start when it's fully loaded." Li Chiqi has already done experiments. After loading more cargo, if there is no external force,
To help start, the four people in the car cannot step on the pedals no matter what. "It takes about ten people to push together to start. After starting, you can rely on pedals to move."
Do we need to prepare ten people as starters? Obviously this kind of vehicle can only be used as a transportation vehicle or to transport light objects.