Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1372 Capacity Expansion Period ([-])

The east coast prairie is still very cold in August.

In the mechanical processing branch affiliated to Tieling Special Steel, Pierre, a former French blacksmith who has been promoted to director of the branch, is staring at several "Blacksmith-2" hydraulic machines. At this time, the workbenches of these machines are being fixed The gun barrel of an 8-pound cannon, the crimson gun barrel is constantly tightened under the strong pressure generated by the liquid, the crystal structure inside the steel has been greatly improved, so its strength and toughness have naturally increased.

The 2-pound cannon processed by the "Ironsmith-8" hydraulic machine has a longer service life than ordinary artillery, and can withstand higher chamber pressure. In other words, it can add more gunpowder than ordinary artillery. The range and power will naturally go up.And more importantly, it takes a very short time for the people on the east bank to produce such a cannon. From smelting, casting, processing, quenching, tempering, grinding to transportation to the factory, it usually takes about a week. The Old Continent is much shorter.

And if the short production cycle is an advantage, then the extremely low scrap rate will probably drive the old continent's cannon craftsmen crazy, especially when it comes to large-caliber artillery, which undoubtedly means extremely low the cost of.Well, the greater range, higher lifespan, lower cost, and shorter production time all add up to a formidable advantage.It can be said that if it were not for the current prevalence of mercantilism and the many barriers to free trade, under the competition from the artillery on the east coast, all the cannon foundries in Europe should have gone bankrupt, because there is no comparison.

I believe that after the "Blacksmith-200" hydraulic press with a higher nominal pressure (3 tons) is finalized and produced, the 12-pound or even larger caliber long-barreled artillery will start low-cost mass production. The gap between the Europeans and the East Coast is still It needs to be bigger—of course, the Europeans are trying to catch up now. For example, they have vaguely heard that the reason why the people on the east coast can obtain molten steel seems to be related to a material called graphite. It can be seen from the import of a large amount of such materials (it is not difficult to guess by combining intelligence, rumors and some information).

But how to use graphite to obtain molten steel, the masters of the major iron smelting workshops in Europe are not very clear. Some of them thought of the direction of graphite crucible, but they tested and found that the temperature of molten iron in the crucible was always rising to a certain level. After the level, it will not rise any more.There must be something wrong with this!Some smart people have thought that it may be necessary to improve the design of the melting chamber to increase the temperature of the overall environment, but this is not a work that will be completed in a short time, but they are obviously on the right path at present. In Germany, Sweden And in some workshops in England, some people are already thinking about doing this.

However, perhaps after these Europeans have worked so hard to make some breakthroughs, the people on the east coast have made greater progress in other areas, leaving them behind once again and making great strides to climb the mountain. Go to a higher level of technology tree, such as the "Blacksmith" series hydraulic presses that are called the artifacts of the country.

After processing these batches of artillery, the day shift in charge of Pierre ended the production, and the rest of the work was completed by the middle shift in charge of Hu Laosan.Their production task is to temper the artillery barrels processed during the day, and then process a new batch of metal tools, which are to be exported to the United Provinces, and are mostly used for the production needs of shipbuilding and other enterprises.

Pierre knew that these so-called metal tools were actually the blanks of various woodworking tools such as saws and planes, but the shapes were relatively large, and they were mostly used for cutting and processing wood in shipbuilding enterprises.The Dutch were afraid that they would be blocked during the war, and the transfer of such materials would not be smooth. In addition, the goods produced by the people on the east coast were indeed durable and of high quality, so they imported a lot of them and brought them back to China, even if they didn’t need them for a while. It doesn’t matter, anyway, just in case—of course, according to the progress of the war in later generations, the Dutch were really a little too cautious. They did a better job in escorting this time than last time, although there are still A large number of merchant ships were captured, sunk, or forced to return by the British, but the number of merchant ships that successfully broke through the blockade and returned to the United Provinces was even greater. Therefore, most of these equipment will not be used by them, but they cannot predict the future. That's all.

Due to the recent arrival of a new group of workers—mostly students from the vocational school run by Tieling Special Steel Factory—the number of machines has also increased by more than one-third. Pierre was a little worried about this, so he decided to go to the Visit each workshop to see if the working conditions of these young new workers are really as good as they were recommended by their school teachers.

The first thing he went to was the third workshop. This is a newly established workshop of the Tieling Machinery Processing Branch Factory. The new workers basically gather here. At present, they mainly use relatively simple old-style machines and six "Ironsmith-1" models. Hydraulic presses, which process some basic parts, such as steel shafts and connecting rods on various machines.

Pierre looked carefully, and saw that these people were sitting or standing in front of the machine, reprocessing the blank parts that had been forged by the hydraulic press.For a while in the workshop, the machine roared and iron filings splashed. Everyone was very attentive and serious. There is no need to achieve such a high machining accuracy), and then machining, and so on, a steel shaft or connecting rod is considered complete.However, the careful Pierre still noticed that there were still a lot of waste products piled up in the corner of the workshop, which seemed to show that there were many mistakes in their processing, and a lot of materials were wasted, which undoubtedly meant costs.

"After all, it is young people. Although it is not impossible to practice in the factory-run school (the school has a few teaching machines), these young people who are still fledgling are still too immature. What they need now is a lot of practice and With the precipitation of time, only in this way will its technical production capacity gradually catch up, and then catch up with the old workers." Pierre thought silently.Industrialization has never been a good thing to achieve overnight, it has always been boring, long and painful, and the team of industrial workers is not so easy to cultivate—especially these mechanical processing industries that are very particular about experience—otherwise there would be no people called The X-level workers who are the treasure of the town factory have said that there is a long way to go to cultivate a team of skilled industrial workers!

This time, Konrad Van Boyningen, the ambassador of the United Provinces to the east coast, signed a five-year supply order with various ministries in a short period of time, which suddenly shocked the industrial system of the entire East China Republic. Various industries have begun to expand rapidly—the most typical of which is the food processing industry—and the expansion of production capacity in various industries will inevitably drive the development of upstream and downstream machinery manufacturing, transportation, and commercial sales. Among them, as the most basic mechanical processing industry, it will naturally benefit greatly!For no other reason, the machinery that produces goods is inseparable from them, the steam units that provide power are inseparable from them, and the vehicles and ships for transportation are still inseparable from them. Who put them at the most basic level? What about the location?

In this wave of large-scale expansion of production capacity, private enterprises avoid talking about it. Their technical capabilities are still relatively low, and the requirements for the quality of employees are not high. The requirements are not low, and it can't be used by just pulling someone over.In order to meet the demand for new employees brought about by the expansion of production capacity, their approach is basically the same, that is, to "roll" the students of the factory-run vocational school—whether they have graduated or not—and distribute them to various places according to their needs. Work while training.Although various problems are unavoidable, they are much better than those novices who have no foundation. After all, they have generally studied in factory-run vocational schools for one to two years. I also have the experience of using teaching machines to operate, and the starting point is still relatively high.

When it comes to these factory-run vocational schools, since most of the enterprises they rely on are large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises with strong strength, the teaching level for the corresponding majors is still acceptable, and the students have also accumulated experience because they have the opportunity to practice. Certain experience, so the Ministry of Education has issued a document a while ago to recognize the junior high school education of graduates of these factory-run vocational schools, and the factory-run vocational schools of some famous enterprises (such as the Southern Vehicle Factory, the First Heavy Machinery Factory, and the Northern Arsenal, etc.) have even been recognized. It is admitted to have a high school degree—but it is definitely not as popular as the high school students of the real brand. Those people are generally the leaders of the technical research team, or are the assistants and participants of important projects.

Well, without further ado.Thanks to these enterprises' investment in factory-run vocational schools, they have a large number of reserve talents to use when expanding production capacity, and can then operate the newly purchased machines in the shortest possible time and produce a large number of industrial products. Afterwards, the vehicles are transported to various places through railways, canals and three-level national highway systems, and the running-in time is shortened to the extreme as much as possible, such as the Tieling Machinery Processing Branch in front of us.

Pierre wandered around the No. [-] workshop and found that these new workers who were transformed from vocational school students were certainly not as easy to use as the old workers in the other two workshops (which had more skilled workers) (they generally used Two to three times that of old workers), but they can only be used in the current situation, at least when they process parts, their scrap rate is much lower than that of complete novices.

It seems that when the superiors ask about the teaching situation of the factory-run vocational school in the future, I can say a few words of justice for them. After all, the 5000 yuan a year for running the school is not for nothing. It's not particularly bad at work.Being able to achieve this level, Pierre thinks it is actually acceptable, what they lack is only experience, and they will be able to make up for it after a long time, and they will all be excellent skilled industrial workers by then.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the successor Hu Laosan, the deputy director of the factory, came over. The two in-laws sat together and briefly handed over the work. Pierre especially emphasized the cannon barrels exported to the United Provinces. Hu Lao The three notes were written in a small notebook, indicating that the middle shift would urge the workers to complete them, and Pierre was relieved to leave work and go home.

After he left, several workers took ignition devices and began to light the gas lamps in the factory roads, workshops and even offices one by one.The gas lamps here are installed by the East Coast Gas Company. Technically speaking, they are still the first generation. There are many problems and the smell is not light. Governor Wang Hua sent someone to help them carry out technical transformation, but they were rejected by the factory. Fang refused, because they didn't want to spend money on the gas lighting system they had just purchased and installed. They might not be able to pass the audit of the Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau.

However, even this relatively simple first-generation gas lamp system has surprised the people of Tieling Machinery Processing Branch: there is such a miracle in the world!Moreover, in addition to spending some money in the early stage, the later operation and maintenance costs are even cheaper than using candles and oil lamps. This is destined to make this new thing popular. However, there is no way to prevent major domestic enterprises from continuously reducing candle orders and turning to East Coast Gas Company for technical support.

Even Mr. Hu vaguely heard that the executive committee planned to promote this epoch-making product in Dongfang County, the capital, after the second-generation gas lamp technology matured. First, it would be promoted in a small area, and then gradually Expanding to every block, and eventually covering the entire metropolitan area - this kind of large-scale infrastructure investment is basically only possible with national investment. It is expected that the sweet pastry of East Coast Gas Company will usher in a new round of capital injection With the adjustment of the shareholding structure, all ghosts and snakes in the country who think they are powerful will jump out and take a bite. Who will make its future profit prospects very promising.

After the workers lit the gas lamps one by one, the factory area suddenly became brightly lit.Tieling County itself is full of iron mines, coal mines, manganese mines, and gold mines. It is not a problem at all to bring some low-quality coal to dry distillation to supply the gas lamp system, and the cost is extremely low.But this cost, compared to the huge benefits that workers can bring to the company by working overtime in the middle of the night, is completely insufficient.Hu Laosan believes that with the increasing population, economic scale and self-improvement of the East Coast Republic of China, new things such as gas lamps will gradually conquer every enterprise, and then Walk into thousands of households and play its unparalleled utility.

(End of this chapter)