Daming One Piece

Chapter 88 Water Power and Cannon Casting (Second update, please recommend, please collect)
In fact, since Shi Yiwen came to Beigang, Beigang has been changing, and the biggest change is probably the shipyard.

Once upon a time, the shipyard was just a workshop that could only make small boats, but in the past days, it has been constantly changing.

The biggest change was the sawmill by the river.The hydraulic sawmill used in this sawmill, this reciprocating hydraulic sawmill is mostly made of hardwood, which was invented as early as Roman times, but it has never been spread to the East.

So sawing wood in the East is still like "sawing the big saw" as sung in the nursery rhyme.

After seeing the efficiency of the two people's big saws, Shi Yiwen naturally thought of this reciprocating hydraulic sawmill. Its structure is very simple. It is nothing more than waterwheels, drive shafts, crankshafts and other components, mostly made of wood. Not to mention, even the saw blade may directly use the saw blade of the old large saw.

So soon a waterwheel was erected by the river, and a hydraulic sawmill was built next to the waterwheel. Since then, planks and square beams of various thicknesses have been continuously transported out of the woodworks, greatly speeding up the production process. the speed of shipbuilding.In the past two days, a new machine has been added to the wood factory.

The waterwheel drives the transmission shaft to drive another transmission shaft through gears. After several adjustments, it finally drives a simple wooden lathe.Driven by the cowhide belt, the belt shaft rotates rapidly, and a nearly seven-foot-long cypress on the lathe is quickly rounded by the sharpening knife.

"Wooden molds for sand casting, although there is no limit to the type of wood, but because of the difference in wood, the life of the model is different. If you use ordinary white wood, the life span is only about dozens of times, and it is easy to deform, so We need to choose the right wood. The juniper wood we use now is the best model material. Its service life is about 2000 times. This is because of its strong moisture resistance, light and soft material, and strong toughness. More suitable for modeling..."

Juniper is rare in mainland China, but it is widely distributed in Taiwan, and most of them are huge materials up to tens of meters. Although Taiwan cypress is not suitable for the hull of warships because of its light and soft material, it is used on commercial ships. It's not so particular, the "Black Pearl" used a lot of cypress.

Of course, juniper wood is the best raw material for models now.

"This, this is really a god!"

Seeing the sawdust being cut from the wood under the blade, everyone was dumbfounded. They have heard of waterwheels and water mills, but sawing and chipping wood with waterwheels like this is beyond them. imagination.

This water power is too convenient!
"Master Guo, you don't know, our sawing factory has been open for a day, and the wood we saw can't be used to build a boat. It's like in the past, just sawing the wood can exhaust a person. I look at this young master. The lathe is not bad for turning the mast, and it will definitely save a lot of work..."

After studying with the master for a long time, even Fang Dayang knew that labor was saved, so he really learned from some master.

"No wonder the boat was built so quickly."

"I think wooden nails are the most suitable ones. Master Fang, the wooden nails on our boat should be as round as possible. Isn't this suitable?"

In fact, craftsmen have been the group of people who like to think the most since ancient times. In the past, they seldom considered improving their craftsmanship. To put it bluntly, it was because of the abundance of manpower. up.

"Yes, yes, and drilling. In my opinion, we can also get a similar machine for drilling keels..."

Listening to the craftsmen brainstorming about how to use water power, Shi Yiwen just nodded slightly in his heart, and did not interfere with them. It is good that they have such an idea, and when someone really improves a similar device, then It's not too late to reward them.The shortage of manpower will drive them to make corresponding changes, which is a good thing.

If they use their brains, they may soon realize that water power has far more applications than they imagined.There is no rush right now, take your time.

Under the cutting of the hydraulic lathe, the wooden cannon body was slowly formed. After measuring its size, wooden lugs were added, and the model of the cannon was completed.

When the model was sent to the iron workshop, a sand box over two meters long was placed in front of the melting furnace.

"Young master, the sand has been mixed according to your instructions."

"Okay, I see."

After carefully checking the quality of the casting sand, Shi Yiwen nodded.

"The quality of this sand is very good, let's mix the ingredients according to the previous ratio."

Following his instructions, the craftsmen began to work, and most of them seemed a little curious and even a little excited.

"Can sand be a model?"

Sand casting!
For this era, "sand mold casting" is undoubtedly the "black technology" that was born out of nowhere. The cannons of this era are all made of mud molds that have been used for hundreds of years. Although the technology is mature, the shortcomings are also obvious. Its outer form and core are made of clay, which has low air permeability and is difficult to dry out. After being baked by charcoal fire, it is often dry on the outside and wet on the inside, and moisture is generated during casting, so the cast artillery often has honeycomb holes.If it is slowly dried in the shade, it will take at least one or two months, but even so, there are many shortcomings.

"...Compared with mud casting, sand casting has the advantage that the model can be used immediately without drying in the shade. Another advantage is that it has good air permeability. Just like the mixed sand we are using now, it is divided into two types. The inner layer Fine sand is used, which is characterized by good surface quality and smooth casting surface, but the fine sand has poor exhaust performance, so fine sand cannot be used all, only the inner layer is used, and the outer layer is all coarse sand, although coarse The surface quality of the sand is poor and rough, but it has good exhaust performance. In this way, the two kinds of casting sand are mixed to form a model with a rough surface and a fine interior. There will be honeycomb cells..."

Maybe Shi Yiwen didn't know how to cast cannons, but he didn't know anything about metal casting. After all, it was written in the book. Of course, the only problem was the positioning of the gun core, which involved a series of problems such as fixing the core.Its core is how to correctly place the core of the mold so that the barrel of the gun is truly coaxial with the outside of the gun, otherwise the gun will not be able to shoot accurately.

This problem may seem inconspicuous, but it is precisely the most difficult part in casting cannons. However, there are corresponding solutions in casting science. The simplest solution is to let gravity, but there are still some problems to be solved. After spending some effort and finally completing the positioning of the gun core, Shi Yiwen raised his head and smiled.

"Okay, let's start watering the waves!"

(End of this chapter)