Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 542 Industrial Empire 2
In a large factory, in front of several giant impact machines, workers are carefully putting workpieces made of mild steel into the mold one by one, and then stepping on the pedal, the stretching mold driven by the water wheel is supported by a powerful force. The impact force fell hard, and with a bang, the workpiece was pressed into a Chinese cone with a round hole.This is the prototype of the warhead. Whether it is the 120mm cannon equipped by the navy or the 85mm howitzer equipped by the infantry, even the warhead components of the rocket launcher are all processed here.Of course, this processing method is still quite primitive, the machines are also backward, and the production capacity is not high. With so many machines, it can only process more than 1000 workpieces in a day, but in this era, such efficiency is already very scary.

Another machine tool, which was so much bigger that it had to be powered by two water wheels to fully operate it, was busy machining a gun barrel.This gun barrel has a diameter of 122 mm and a length of thirty times its diameter. It is so heavy that a water wheel must be used to provide power to drive a lathe to send it to the machine tool.Of course, the machine tool responsible for processing it is not an ordinary person. The sharp boring tool rotates very fast driven by the water flow, and is sent into the barrel bit by bit... A heart-wrenching sound sounded, and a large amount of bronze debris came from it. Splashing out, it's rifling.The knife is made of the sharpest and most impact-resistant high-manganese steel. At such a high speed, cutting the hardest bronze is similar to cutting tofu.Despite this, it is not an easy task to draw the rifling well. After all, this is a very bulky weapon with very high accuracy requirements. Even the most skilled craftsmen are not completely sure that it can be done in one go.No, there is one over there that has been screwed up, and the boring thread is being bored out with a boring machine, and it is going to be turned into a large-caliber smoothbore gun, and sold to some bad guys...for example, to a city-state republic of Nice.

There are also two smaller ones, and the processed barrels are not so thick, both are 85mm. These are howitzers.The production task of this kind of gun is very heavy. The Tianxiong Army ordered [-] guns, and the Heluo New Army ordered [-] guns, which is almost enough for them to work hard for two years.

Dan Danyang is not interested in the production of those gun barrels. He is instructing the workers to push a gun barrel in front of the boring tool. It is easier to cut, but even though it is mild steel, it is much stronger than bronze. It is not so easy to deal with it, and it is not easy to process.Shan Danyang frowned, looked at the progress and estimated the time required for processing, and how to quench and carburize the rifling to improve the overall strength: "Sure enough, it is much more difficult to cut than bronze. Maybe the carbon content exceeds the standard. I have to lower it later... How long should I heat treat after processing the rifling before quenching to achieve the best effect? ​​Is it six hours or eight hours? Be conservative, eight hours..."

Just as he was muttering, a round baby face appeared in front of him, which startled him. He pushed hard and almost pushed him into the machine tool.Baby Face roared: "You took the wrong medicine, right? I'm not Nie Xiaoqian or Sadako, why are you having such a big reaction!"

Dan Danyang said angrily: "Do you know that I'm already seventy or eighty years old, showing up out of nowhere can easily scare my old man into a heart attack!"

Yang Menglong pointed at the cannon barrel that had been shaved to the point of sparks flying, "How are you doing? How's the progress?"

Dan Danyang glared at him again: "Thanks to you, after countless experiments, I finally figured out the formula of cannon steel! This kind of cannon steel has successfully solved the big problem of easily producing bubbles, bulges, and cracks. At the same time The hardness is also moderate, and the knives made of manganese steel can be cut completely, and it is not difficult to process it into rifling."

Yang Menglong was happy: "In other words, it won't be long before we can say goodbye to the bronze cannon?"

Shan Danyang snorted: "What a beautiful thought. Although its hardness is moderate, it is still much stronger than bronze, and it is quite difficult to process... You know that manganese steel knives will become soft as soon as they are overheated. If we continue to process, it will be useless, so we have to stop every process to cool down the tool and then continue, which is very inefficient."

Yang Menglong scratched his head.There is no way around this. The sharpness and strength of this knife is already at the same level as the magic weapon in the hands of the protagonist in martial arts novels in this era, but it is still powerless to deal with steel mounds every day.He asked: "Have you tried high-carbon steel? How effective is it?"

Dan Danyang said: "It's not as good as high manganese steel!"

Yang Menglong suddenly frowned and sighed.Now he only has two options: high carbon steel and high manganese steel. As a result, neither one is very satisfactory. What should he do?
Shan Danyang knew what he was thinking as soon as he saw that his face was as tight as a bun, and said angrily: "I say, just be satisfied. Although this knife is not very impressive, it can at least make you think." The necessary rifling is pulled out, so that the cannonball can hit farther and more accurately. Others are still playing with the sloppy smoothbore cannon, and they don’t even know what rifling is!" Reactionary academic authorities like the new and dislike the old. In the past, they were The breech-loaded rifled cannon looked down upon it, thinking it was just a fool's errand. However, after seeing the power of the breech-loaded rifled cannon, he immediately kicked the front-loaded smoothbore cannon that he had regarded as a treasure into the Yangtze River, and gave it four more One word: The dirt has to fall off!

Yang Menglong sighed: "It seems that using high manganese steel to cast a cannon is just a fantasy. Unless we can get tungsten steel, there is no chance."

Shan Danyang became interested: "Tungsten steel? What is tungsten steel?"

Yang Menglong said: "Tungsten is a metal with extremely high hardness. The knives made of alloy steel made from it are extremely sharp and resistant to high temperatures and wear. It is one of the most ideal knives... Don't look at me, I don't have it." That person can get it out!"

Not to mention, as soon as he mentioned tungsten steel, Shan Danyang looked at him fixedly, looking like he was going to eat people, which made Yang Menglong's scalp go numb... There is no electricity these days, so where can he get tungsten? Steel go?Even if you get tungsten, you can't process it.There is no way, let's see the future, sooner or later, it will be made out.

Over there, someone came to report that a cannon had been assembled and asked the chief engineer to check it.Dan Danyang took Yang Menglong to the assembly workshop quickly. Sure enough, an 85mm howitzer has been assembled. Compared with the original 85mm howitzer, this gun has been improved. First, the diameter has been doubled. The shooting range has also increased a lot correspondingly; the second is the addition of a garrison hoe. In the Battle of Lushun, Yang Menglong was pissed off by the cannon that retreated several meters after firing a single shot. , As long as the hoe is installed and the hoe is deeply nailed into the ground, the cannon will not shift.The third improvement is the use of rubber wheels—yes, really rubber wheels!Two months ago, at the request of Yang Menglong, foreigners got a few barrels of rubber from Nanyang and sent them over. Now they have come in handy. After some exploration, they were successfully applied to the breech block seal and the gun wheel.After testing, the performance is satisfactory. After using rubber on the breech block, the sealing performance is greatly improved, and the gas leakage phenomenon has almost completely disappeared, and the rubber wheels make it easy for the gun cart to drive on the road. The wheel can pull a small cannon by itself, and if you use rubber wheels, you can pull it to trot all the way.

Yang Menglong looked back and forth, left and right, and almost leaned over to take a bite to taste.He was proud that this cannon was a product beyond the times. With it, it would no longer be a dream to knock on the door of Europa with a strong ship and a sharp cannon, and force them to sign a lot of power-defeating and humiliating agreements!

"How's the performance?" he asked.

Dan Danyang was busy checking every detail of the cannon, even a single screw: "The first gun has been tested, and the range has been increased by 500 meters, the rate of fire has been increased by two rounds, and the accuracy has also been improved to a certain extent. The effect is still satisfying, but I don’t know how this one is going.”

Yang Menglong said: "Pull him out and give it a try!"

Dan Danyang rolled his eyes: "The artillery test field is in Nanyang, and the test field in Wuhan hasn't been built yet!"

Yang Menglong snorted: "Do you still have to transport it back to Nanyang for testing?"

Shan Danyang said: "Nonsense, do you still want to test in Wuhan city?"

This is the truth. Cannon testing grounds cannot be built anywhere. After all, cannons have a range of several kilometers. If they crash into a residential area, not one or two will die.The hydraulic resources in Nanyang are insufficient to provide a strong enough power for the lathe, and Wuhan is densely populated and does not have the conditions to test artillery, so it has to be produced in Wuhan, then shipped back to Nanyang for testing, and then delivered to the army.

Yang Menglong originally wanted to have a good time with two shots, but now it seems that there is no hope, he said bitterly: "Okay, hurry up and send it to Nanyang for testing, and ah, the testing ground in Wuhan should also be built quickly, otherwise it will be too much. Trouble!"

Dan Danyang stretched out his big hand in front of him: "Where's the money? Here!"

Yang Menglong's face immediately collapsed: "Let's talk about it later, talk about it later... You guys are busy first, I'll go to the rifle factory to have a look." He left in a hurry.

Shan Danyang shook his head straight: "When you mention money, you run faster than a rabbit. The more you become an official, the more stingy you become... It's really hard life to follow such an unreliable guy." Never mind. , continued to check, pointed to the two screws and said: "It doesn't work here, change it for me immediately!"

The rifle factory is not far from the artillery factory, just dozens of steps away.The scale here is smaller than that of the Artillery Factory, and there are fewer machine tools. Workers are putting solid steel pipes into the slots, and the drill bits are driven by hydraulic power to drill all the way in.The experienced old workers watched from the side, and poured a little water on the gun barrel at the right time to cool down the gun barrel and indirectly cool the drill bit.The cost of these machines is very scary, but the effect is also very scary. It used to take a month to drill a barrel, but now it takes 6 minutes to complete it. The scrap rate has dropped from 7% to less than [-]%. Which one is better? Save money, everyone knows it.The rifle factory spent [-] to [-] taels of silver over the years, most of which were spent on these machines. Now, it's time to produce results.

After each barrel is drilled, workers immediately take it to the boring machine, bore the inside of the barrel as smooth as a mirror, and then pull the rifling. All these processes are completed by machines, which makes those who rely on craftsmanship The old craftsman was hit hard. He felt uncomfortable just watching the machine work with such a high salary.

Seeing Yang Menglong coming, Ye Xin came over to greet him and said with surprise: "Hey, our hands-off shopkeeper is here!"

Yang Menglong said: "Fuck you, who is the shopkeeper? I come here often to check if the work is okay!"

Ye Xin said: "Yes, I come here often, twice a year, once every six months..."

Yang Menglong called: "Am I that lazy!"

Ye Xin said, "Only you will know."

Both of them laughed.Yang Menglong was granted a title, and more and more people were in awe of him. However, these old craftsmen still called him "hands-off shopkeeper" unceremoniously, which made him feel more cordial.

(End of this chapter)