Daqin Engineering Corps

In fact, it is not simple to say that it is simple, because it requires a "cam mechanism".

To put it simply, if the lever is directly installed on the waterwheel... although it can be pushed, but because the waterwheel rotates at a roughly constant speed and the angle of the lever itself changes when the lever is pushed, the thrust is inconsistent.

This will cause the wind force to be different, and the loss of the lever and the leather bag will increase in series, especially if the hydraulic power is insufficient, it will be easy to get stuck and unable to push when the lever angle is the largest...

Then just need the rotation of a "cam mechanism" to make the lever be pushed by a constant force with the same magnitude and direction.

The problem of pushing is solved, and the problem of pulling is also simple. You only need to use the same lever in the other direction to pull it back with a hemp rope.

So when the waterwheel turned, the thing called "橐" evenly blasted into the blast furnace one after the other.

This scene only made Bian and Qiang stunned for a long time without reacting.

In fact, it wasn't just the two of them, all the other workers in the iron smelting workshop looked at this thing with half-open mouths in surprise.

After a long while, Ben finally realized, he repeatedly praised:

"It's great to make this thing."

"In this way, the big problem of wind blowing is solved, and we can even make a bigger waterwheel to push a bigger peg."

"then……"

As he spoke, Lian Bian's own eyes widened, and he asked Shen Bing suspiciously:

"Lieutenant General, will the quality of this method of ironmaking be better than that of human platoons?"

Shen Bing secretly praised in his heart.

This bian still has some skills, knowing how to infer.

It should be known that in the past, there was insufficient wind power and different sizes when using manual blasting, so it was difficult for the temperature in the blast furnace to rise and fully oxidize the carbon during ironmaking, resulting in high carbon content in the smelted iron.

Now switch to the "water row" driven by water power... The human blow is called "human row".

This means that as long as the hydraulic force is strong enough, larger pegs can be pushed.

Of course, it also has a limit. If you blindly pursue wind power and increase it, the skin will be easily broken.

The water row can blow in more wind, and then there will be a higher furnace temperature and the probability of oxidizing carbon.

Although it is not yet possible to smelt high-quality iron, it is necessary to improve.

Chapter 264 The Rice Pounding Wheel

"Water drainage" certainly does not save much labor.

Looking at the whole Shouchun, there is only such a iron smelting workshop.

There are only dozens of people in an iron smelting workshop who need "water drainage" to blow air. If it is useful in other aspects, it is a foundry iron workshop... It is to beat iron into ironware, and it also needs to melt iron and then cast it into needed shape.

It's just that the wind power required by iron casting workshops is not as high as iron smelting, so it doesn't even need "water drainage".

Therefore, the labor that can be saved is only a few dozen people, and it is not very useful at all.

But of course, Shen Bing did this in the hope of improving the quality of some iron.

Another more important thing is... He wants to use water power not just to make "water drainage".

"Water drainage" is just an experiment.

He found that Shouchun is full of runoff river water, and there are many places where waterwheels can be used. Wouldn't it be too wasteful not to make good use of it?

Therefore, after Shen Bing returned to Daying from the iron smelting workshop, he immediately found Hui.

Shen Bing hadn't seen Hui et al. for a long time.

These craftsmen who joined the Black Armor Army with Shen Bing from the artillery division and now became the Shenwu Army have been protected in the Shenwu Army from beginning to end.

There is no other reason, Shen Bing needs these craftsmen, if they are placed in modern times, they will be talents.

Shen Bing has any ideas or needs, and only they can realize them.

Otherwise, if you come to Wang Ben and tell him what kind of blueprints and how to make them, it would be better to let him lead the troops to fight a battle.

As soon as he entered the account, he excitedly bowed to Shen Bing and saluted:

"This subordinate has seen the lieutenant general."

Shen Bing looked at Hui's crown and praised him:

"I haven't seen you for a few days. The head of the village is already a 'doctor'. Congratulations."

He quickly replied:

"It's all thanks to the wiseness of the deputy general, but we are rewarded for nothing."

What Xi said is correct, these craftsmen do have a taste of "receiving rewards for nothing".

Because they don't need to fight on the front line, even when the Ruyin defenders are so tense, these craftsmen are also working with the witch doctor to take care of the wounded in the rear.

But when all members of the Shenwu Army were promoted to the third level, they also followed suit. It can really be said to be "lying down and winning".

On the other hand, since the Shenwu Army was named by Ying Zheng, the food has been greatly improved. Meat sauce is indispensable. Amaranth, eggs and fish are also common.

Because it is to supply thousands of people in the Shenwu Army, it is not realistic to eat pork, and the supplies of the Qin Army have not yet reached this level.

But Shouchun has many fishermen by the Huaihe River, and it is still possible to eat a fish in one group.

This made Xi's originally dark and thin face look much more rounded.

After Han said a few words, Shen Bing said to Hui:

"The head of the village still remembers the waterwheel I made in Handan, and then make... a thousand more."

He couldn't help but widen his eyes:

"One thousand?"

"But Lieutenant General, there is no fear of water shortage in the Huaihe River, so why do we need to build water trucks?"

Shen Bing didn't answer, just took a blueprint and said:

"You can make it according to this picture."

He glanced at it, but it was a very simple bracket.

Although he didn't understand the use of this bracket, but seeing that Shen Bing didn't want to say more, he didn't dare to ask more, and he backed away with the blueprint.

In fact, it's not that Shen Bing doesn't want to say more, but that he doesn't understand.

They have never seen these things, and it takes a lot of effort to explain them, so it's better to make them and understand them once they are used.

In the evening of the same day, Hui produced two waterwheels according to the drawing... These are just samples requested by Shen Bing.

Although this thing is very simple, it is not a joke to make thousands of pieces in batches. Once there are any shortcomings, it will be troublesome to modify.

So to be on the safe side, Shen Bing still made two experiments first.

The thing is very simple, that is, several sections of logs protrude from the waterwheel, and as the waterwheel rotates, the logs will drive the levers successively like a seesaw to hit the ground again and again.

Of course, there is a straight mallet at the other end of the lever.

It was very interesting for Xi, the gunner and others to watch this thing beating there by themselves, but they still didn't understand what it was useful for.

It wasn't until Shen Bing called someone to bring a stone mortar and put it under the mallet that everyone suddenly realized:

"It turns out that this thing is used to pound rice!"

"This method is very good. In this way, there is no need to pound rice anymore."

"It's not that there is no need to pound the rice, but that the rice can be done by the waterwheel!"

"It's no wonder the deputy general asked for a thousand. I still think it's too much. Now it seems that a thousand is not enough, let alone tens of thousands!"

……

They are right, this thing is used to pound rice.

The rice pounding water wheel is simpler than the "water row", but the problems it can solve are not small.

There is no electricity in this era, and it is not possible to use a machine to "rumble" for a while to separate the grain and rice husks like in modern times.

The ancients pounded rice entirely by manpower.

And every family has to eat every day, two meals a day, so they have to pound rice every day from morning to night.

Just the matter of pounding rice will tie up most of the women at home and lose their freedom.

There is an old saying that "men farm and women weave", which means that men work in the fields and women weave at home.

Of course, weaving is also a heavy and time-consuming labor, and the clothes worn by the whole family are woven inch by inch.

Pounding rice is even better.

And weaving can be done occasionally, and if you have old clothes, you can just wear them again. After the turn of spring, it will not be so cold and the pressure will be reduced.

But the pounding of rice is not even slow, and the whole family will have nothing to eat if they don't pound rice for a day.

So it's not that women in this era don't know how to do farm work, but that the backward productivity of this era makes women busy enough to do housework, and they simply don't have time and energy to do farm work.

So Shen Bing was thinking: If rice can be pounded by water power, how much labor can be liberated and saved?

The most clever one was Cang, who went to fetch a bag of grains without waiting for Shen Bing's order, and then poured the grains into the stone mortar...then saw the wooden hammer pounding in again and again.

Because the mallet is much larger than the rice pounder used in ordinary households... Women have less strength, but water power can easily carry the mallet.

So it took only one stick of incense to pound out half a bag of rice.

All the carpenters couldn't help cheering excitedly.

Hui couldn't help sighing:

"I have been suffering from pounding rice for many lifetimes, but I don't want to be able to pound rice so easily after I have a waterwheel."

"The deputy general is a great talent, I admire him."

Shen Bing smiled as a response.

This thing can also be regarded as a big change.

The most interested should be the farmer Xu Ying.

Although it is not just agriculture, because scholars, farmers, businessmen and even kings have to eat, although nobles don't have to pound rice by themselves.

But its influence is greater than that of the invention of paper.

It is conceivable that after Xu Ying knew about this thing, he would immediately use his farm family's network and spread it to all parts of the Central Plains.

In the future, as long as there is water and rivers, waterwheels will probably be seen.

Chapter 265 Pounding rice for farmland

Then the waterwheel pounded rice and tested it several times and found some problems.

For example, the strength is not very strong, and another example is not as careful as when pounding rice by hand, so some grains will always be brought out.

But these problems are easy to solve.

The former only needs to adjust the position of the fulcrum of the lever, so that the mallet can be lifted higher, so the force of hitting the mortar will be greater.

Fortunately, I did a test with the sample, otherwise the problem was discovered only after mass production, and thousands of units would have to be changed.

The latter needs to be transformed into a stone mortar.

That is to choose a larger stone mortar with a higher edge, so that the grain will not jump out of the mortar even though it is smashed inside.

However, although this method is good, it seems that it is not suitable for tossing at this time.

Because this means that all the stone mortars used for pounding rice in the hands of the people have to be replaced.

It is difficult to do this. First, you have to find a suitable stone, and then you have to knock it out of a hole and polish it.

At this time when the tools are extremely backward, it will take a few days to make it.

So Shen Bing thought of another method: still use the original small stone mortar, but spread a layer of burlap on the outside of the small stone mortar.

If there is no sackcloth, you can use sacks for storing rice or old clothes. In short, the spilled grains are collected and processed again.In this way, there is no waste problem.

Out of caution, Shen Bing tried a few more times and started mass production after confirming that there was no problem.