The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

"Jianyang, Zixian, is this sample really made by the machine you developed? Is it true that the machine can make more than 600 silver coins in half an hour?"

In ancient times, beautiful coins were very popular. Every year, Baoquan Bureau and Baoyuan Bureau in various places would mint a batch of money to pay tribute or give gifts to dignitaries. It was also because of these coins that Western silver coins became widely popular in the first place. The quality is uniform, the pressing is exquisite, and the materials are abundant.

More than ten years ago, foreign money was even regarded as art in the Ming Dynasty. Many people were reluctant to spend the foreign money they got. Instead, they would punch holes in the foreign money and hang it on their bodies as decorations like silver medals.

And now the samples provided by Wang Wenlong are no worse than the most beautiful foreign money. The profit here is too great, which naturally arouses Li Sancai's interest.

Honest said quite proudly: "This is the average output of our machine, it is not considered high-quality."

Li Sancai was even more surprised when he heard this. Wang Wenlong suggested: "We can go to Baoquan Bureau for actual casting tests, and then we will know whether our machine is better than Baoquan Bureau's coinage method, and we can also attract more Suzhou people to invest together." ."

"This is a great idea." Li Sancai agreed. He was an official. If he wanted to open a mint with great fanfare, the risk of public opinion would be too high. If he could get local support and let local officials take some shares, the business would be successful. Justified. Li Sancai himself really wanted to see how efficient the physics club's coin-making machine could be.

……

In the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, the weather in Daming, which has entered the Little Ice Age, has been very cold. Even in places south of the Yangtze River like Suzhou, it feels like the breath has turned into ice.

To the south of Taohuawu in Suzhou, there is a large open space next to the river. This area is on the edge of Suzhou city and has convenient water transportation. Therefore, Yongfengcang, the largest granary in Suzhou city, was set up. There is also a bustling warehouse next to Yongfengcang dock. The factory is the mint of Suzhou Baoquan Bureau.

Early that morning, a large group of people led by Li Sancai, the Governor of Water Transport, senior officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, officials from the local Baoquan Bureau in Suzhou, magistrates and edicts from the two counties, scholars from the Suzhou Physics Society, and celebrities from the Wushan Society watching the fun. We entered the Baoquan Bureau Manufacturing Workshop next to Taohuawu.

"Governor Li, Chief Chen, Shen Sicheng, Zhang Daling, Assistant Wang, Qian Education... drink tea, drink tea..." The officials of Baoquan Bureau ran up and down, they were very busy, if it weren't for today's coin minting machine The experiment was carried out in the Taohuawu workshop of the Security Bureau. On weekdays, he, a small official in charge of craftsmen, did not see so many important figures.

The craftsmen in the workshop also stood on the side and watched curiously. Deng Zhimo took the reporter beside him. He took a brush and recorded a few strokes from time to time. He was going to go back to make a report and promote the physics club's coin making machine.

There are eight furnaces in the workshop, and most of them are closed today. It's just that these fires are in there, and with so many big shots here, it's not a joke if dangerous things like copper, charcoal, and fire catch any gentleman.

The thirty or forty workers in the workshop all stood aside and watched in surprise.

The only thing left is a large furnace used to melt silver water. This furnace was specially used to make silver for Baoquan Bureau to spend money on. It is also the object used today to compare the production efficiency with the coin making machine.

There were three experts from the Baoquan Bureau standing in front of the stove wearing leather aprons and leather gloves, looking at the officials' faces at a loss.

The people operating the coin machine on this side were Wang Zheng and two talents from the Jiangnan Physics Club. They all rolled up their sleeves and looked nervous.

Xu Xueju brought a copper drain, carefully calibrated the time, and then said loudly: "Let's start together!"

Wang Zheng and others were a little nervous at first. Being watched by so many people operating the machine, their hands were shaking. They always failed to place the silver billet in the correct position, or did not press it in place when using the machine.

The more nervous the machine was, the more mistakes it made. Under the eyes of everyone, the machine soon began to jam. When discharging materials, some debris accidentally got stuck in the gear. The machine could only be stopped for inspection. The scholar who was hammering the silver billet on the ground was not there. The method continued to cut the blanks, and he quickly rolled up his sleeves and started to dismantle the machine.

The three old craftsmen who were doing the comparison on the other side were in much better condition. Although they were stared at by everyone, they were nervous at first, but after the fire was raised, the three of them got into working mode and concentrated on their work, and soon the silver bars were After adding the crucible, the wax model here was also carefully repaired, and the sand was turned to prepare for casting.

While the machine was stopped, the fire was blazing. In comparison, the casting of Baoquan Bureau was much smoother than the machine pressing of the Physics Club.

Seeing this scene, Wang Wenlong's face became a little ugly, and he hurriedly went up to help clean the machine.

Seeing that everyone present was starting to talk, Deng Zhimo walked up to an old craftsman with his interview book and asked:

"Old man, what do you think of this machine?"

The old craftsman said: "The machines made by the old men are naturally good."

"Do you think the machine or the worker will win?" "Win?"

Deng Zhimo explained that today we are comparing the production efficiency of machines and casters with each other.

The old craftsman blinked his eyes and said with surprise on his face: "Isn't this just a joke? The gentlemen are all literary stars from the sky who have come down to earth, how can they do such a cumbersome job? This machine is just a juggling tool that looks good, how can it be compared to Can you join our craftsmen?" The officials in the workshop did not explain clearly to the craftsmen present what they were going to do today. The old craftsman thought that some important people came to the factory to inspect, so he gave them a day off from work. He didn't take the machine seriously at all.

A quarter of an hour passed, and the physics club was still repairing the machine with drawings.

On the stove next to them, under the fierce fire, the workers had already melted the first batch of silver water, and spent money on a plate of more than ten pieces of silver paper, just waiting to be cooled and polished.

Many officials, businessmen, and scribes who were present thought that the physics club's machines would definitely lose when they saw this scene.

A scholar who was watching the excitement whispered from the side: "Whatever machines the people in this physics club make are still not as useful as manual labor."

The big businessmen and officials present were not easy to talk to, but their expressions all revealed the same meaning.

Everyone thought that the coin machine was so easy to break, not to mention that someone had to hammer out the silver billet first, and the size, thickness, and weight of the billet needed to meet the specifications. The scholar watching the operation carefully calibrated the silver billet with a caliper. From this look, the onlookers subconsciously felt that this machine was flashy and difficult to maintain.

After waiting for two quarters of an hour, the coin machine was finally cleaned. In order to prevent debris from falling into the machine, Wang Wenlong also asked someone to get a few thin plates to cover the places where debris could easily fall into the machine.

But in just over a quarter of an hour, everyone was surprised to find that Wang Zheng and the others were catching up step by step in their efficiency in making silver coins.

This time, they had lost enough face. Wang Zheng and the other three also became familiar with the eyes of the people around them, and gradually became more proficient after they started operating again.

Two of the three scholars are strong.

The scholar who first produced the silver billet held a large hammer in his hand, with a circular groove carved into the hammer head. He took the broken silver raw material and smashed it hard, and the silver was flattened into a round plate. Then he picked up the iron twister and cut the edges, and the silver blank was made.

This step of the machine is even simpler. Put the silver billet into the conveyor slot of the machine, and one person turns the elbow handle five or six times. As the conveyor belt rotates out, a silver coin has been pressed.

Wang Zheng is only responsible for feeding and discharging materials from the side, watching the operation of the machine, picking up money and sorting it out, and basically does not exert much effort.

This is still the case when broken silver is used as raw material. If large-scale production can directly produce silver plates, cut the silver plates into round blanks, and then leave the work of shaking the shaft to animal power, this work will be more labor-saving.

Everyone saw that the output box next to the machine was filled with more and more silver coins. By the time half an hour passed, the output of the mechanical suppression had easily doubled.

An hour later, the silver coins next to the casting furnace will cover the bottom of a bamboo basket. There are also a dozen silver coins soaked in water that have not had time to be cleaned and polished, and the machine is already filled with three There is not enough baskets and scraps of silver to use as raw materials.

Li Sancai was the first to praise: "This machine is really effective!"

Everyone present nodded.

There is no need to calculate the output. Just place the baskets on both sides to determine the difference.

And everyone can see clearly that the costs and output levels used by the two methods are not at the same level.

The polishing and cleaning of minted silver coins will consume raw materials, but the loss in the process of pressing silver coins is negligible.

As for the minted products, a certain proportion of the coins will have problems such as trachoma, fire color, etc. However, each of the suppressed coins has the same complete pattern and clear water lines, and even the details of the mold have been imprinted.

(End of this chapter)