Daming Military Empire

Chapter 19 The Drill Press
After the first experiment of the new gunpowder was completed, Zhu Cijiong did not participate in the subsequent experiments, but directly taught Xu Guangqi the preparation method of granular gunpowder, and asked them to find ways to experiment with the killing distance and firing range of the gunpowder.

After several rounds of experiments, Xu Guangqi and others came to the conclusion:

After using the new gunpowder, the penetrating power within 35 steps (50 meters) has doubled, and the shooting range has increased by nearly [-]%.

After using the new granular gunpowder, the killing distance of the bird gun was directly increased to 85 steps (about 150 meters), and the firing range reached [-] steps (about [-] meters).

In this way, the shooting range and killing distance of the bird gun are basically comparable to the longbow, but the penetration is slightly worse.

Of course, these are far from enough. In order for gunpowder weapons to perfectly suppress bows and arrows on the battlefield, the range must be longer, the penetration must be stronger, the killing distance must be at least 150 meters, and the most important thing is that the rate of fire must keep up.Matchlock guns have a congenital defect in the rate of fire, and no amount of improvement on this point will help. Only when the flintlock gun is made can this problem be completely solved.

To make a flintlock, you must have a machine tool, and to make a machine tool, you must have a power source, so Zhu Cijiong set the original steam engine as the next goal.

The core of a steam engine is a piston and a crank. The piston is easy to understand. It is a cylinder that moves back and forth in a straight line. The crank is a bit more complicated.The crank is a set of devices that converts reciprocating motion into circular motion. Because most machine tools work in rotation, this crank is an essential device in the machine tool.

In fact, the crank device is a bit like modern people riding a bicycle. When a person rides a bicycle, the hip bone is fixed, and the thigh and calf are doing small arc movements.If you carefully observe the knees of a cyclist, you will find that the knees are actually doing linear reciprocating motion.If you understand it from this perspective, it is very simple. The crank has two movable shafts, just like human thighs and calves, and then there is a rotating shaft, which is the small shaft in the center of the sprocket wheel of the bicycle. The whole crank device is based on These three axes convert linear reciprocating motion into circular motion.

Here comes the problem, there are no bicycles in the Ming Dynasty yet!How to do it?

Zhu Cijiong thought for a long time, and finally came up with a simple model, which is somewhat similar to the ancient pedal waterwheel, but with an extra rotation axis.That is, two square logs are erected, and a round wooden board is pierced with an iron rod in the middle, which is equivalent to a bicycle wheel.Then knock out a U-shape at both ends of the iron rod, and then wear a small wooden board about the size of a foot at the bottom of the U-shape, which is equivalent to a bicycle pedal.Then tie a saddle directly on the top of the two square logs, which is equivalent to the seat cushion of a bicycle.Of course, this bicycle cannot be ridden on the road. The wooden wheels can only rotate between two square logs, which is a bit like the spinning bicycles in the gyms of later generations.

As soon as he told Song Yingxing about this idea, Song Yingxing immediately understood that this was just a slight modification of the water wheel, and it was easy to make.

And after making it, Song Yingxing tried it, and felt that it was much easier to use than the original pedal water wheel, and it was a good thing worth promoting.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong would not be bored to design a waterwheel. After the bicycle model was completed, he summoned all his cronies to the side hall of the Qianqing Palace for on-site guidance.

Since Song Yingxing knew how to ride this thing, he didn't even have to teach others how to ride it, and just asked Song Yingxing to sit on it and step on it slowly without stopping.

Then he called Xu Guangqi and others over, pointed to the rotating wooden wheel and Song Yingxing's knee, and asked them to observe carefully.

This side hall immediately turned into a gym for future generations. Like a fitness instructor, Song Yingxing slowly stepped on the 'spinning bike' there, while a group of students beside him were seriously watching.

Zhu Cijiong let them observe for about a quarter of an hour. Seeing that none of the confidantes came to their senses, he had to go up and point to Song Yingxing's knee and said to Xu Guangqi: "What will happen if you connect the round rod of the cylinder to this part?"

Xu Guangqi suddenly realized: "Then no one needs to step on it, as long as the heat is turned on, the wooden wheel will keep turning!"

Zhu Cijiong heaved a sigh of relief, the heads of this group of people are finally not elm bumps, and they can still be opened up after a few knocks.Seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Zhu Cijiong decided to add more content. He asked, "Do you know about gears?"

This time Wang Zheng reacted the fastest, he asked first: "Is it a round wheel with teeth? I know this."

Zhu Cijiong continued to guide: "Well, let me ask you, make two big and small gears, the teeth are the same size, the small wheel has 170 teeth, and the big wheel has [-] teeth. Use the big wheel to drive the small wheel, then the big wheel makes one revolution. How many times does the wheel turn?"

After asking such a simple question, do we think our brains are not working?Wang Zheng replied awkwardly: "Of course it is ten laps."

Seeing that the effect was almost done, Zhu Cijiong ordered: "Xu Guangqi, you cooperate with Bi Maokang to make this set of things. This thing is curved, let's call it a crank. Wang Zheng, you are in charge of making two wooden gears. The small one is seventeen. The teeth, the big one is 180 teeth, and the teeth of the big and small gears must be the same size. Sun Yuanhua, you and Song Yingxing quickly made the copper cylinder, everyone worked hard, made everything within three days, and we will do the experiment after three days. "

Although Xu Guangqi and others did not understand what Zhu Cijiong wanted to do, it could be heard from his tone that everyone was not far from success.

This little emperor is an immortal descended from the world. He casually mentioned a gunpowder formula and increased the power of gunpowder by [-]%. After preparing for so long this time, it will naturally be a better thing. Everyone is looking forward to it, so after returning they all I was very motivated, worked overtime, forgot to sleep and eat, and finally made everything in three days.

On the fourth day, after the early court, Zhu Cijiong and a group of cronies got together again in the side hall where Ming Xizong used to do carpentry work, and started a new experiment.

The first experiment was the air cylinder. Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing made a small improvement. The upper and lower ports of the air cylinder were respectively connected with a water jug. It is enough for one person to unpress the lid of the pot.

Uncover the kettle lid on the lower opening of Unicom, press and hold the upper lid of the Unicom, the cylinder rod will drop immediately, uncover the upper lid of the kettle, press and hold the lower lid of the Unicom, the cylinder rod will rise immediately, and the two hands will take turns When the mortgage is released, the cylinder rod will move up and down continuously. The faster the movement of both hands, the faster the cylinder rod will move.

Seeing that they could use their brains to make improvements, Zhu Cijiong nodded, praised a few words, and then asked them to connect the cylinder rod to the crankshaft device.

These people had discussed it long ago, so the connecting parts were prepared on both sides, and soon the cylinder and the crankshaft were connected together.

Without Zhu Cijiong's call, Song Yingxing immediately began to take turns to lift and press the kettle lid, and the crankshaft turned. The faster the movement of both hands, the faster the turning shaft in the middle of the crankshaft. Circle look.

Compared with hand tools, this speed is almost at the limit, but is this enough, not enough, far from enough.

Zhu Cijiong asked them to connect the large gear to the rotating shaft of the crankshaft device, and then put the small gear on the large gear, and put a shaft through the middle of the small gear, and use a wooden frame to fix the position.

This is terrible. Following Song Yingxing's actions, the pinion's speed reached a terrifying [-] revolutions per minute at its highest point. In the Ming Dynasty, which was purely manual work, this speed was just like a fairy tale!
Although the noise is loud, although the rotation is not smooth enough, this is only a rough model, and the official thing is definitely better than this.Everyone looked excitedly at the rotating pinion. Wouldn't it be scary to drill holes with such a fast speed!
They used to drill holes by pulling ropes by hand. It took three people a day to drill a half-meter-long gun barrel. Now with this thing, as long as a drill bit is fixed on the shaft of the pinion, one person can drill ten holes a day. Even twenty roots come out!

Without Zhu Cijiong's guidance, they already knew the function of this set of tools. Xu Guangqi excitedly pointed to the middle of the small gear and said, "Your Majesty, can we drill holes by adding a drill bit here?"

Zhu Cijiong nodded with satisfaction and said, "Well, it can be used to drill holes, so let's call it a drill press, and it can also be made into other things. Let's talk about it after you make the drill press first."

Then, he pointed to the cylinder and said, "You don't have to stand alone to lift it and press it. Next to the two holes, add a smaller cylinder with a small slider inside, which can just block the upper air hole when you go up." And the lower air hole is open, when it comes down, it can just block the lower air hole and the upper air hole is open, and then connect a round rod to the slider, and the protruding rod is connected to the rotating crankshaft, and the joint is also bent. It just needs to be the exact opposite of the bend next to it, so as long as the hot air is sent in, it will keep moving by itself.”

When everyone heard this, they were stunned again, this thing can move by itself!
They pondered for a long time, and found that according to Zhu Cijiong's intention, the round rod can really stretch back and forth by itself, as long as the heat is continuously supplied.

Everyone couldn't believe that there is still someone in this world who can come up with such a good thing. They looked at Zhu Cijiong with admiration, and praised in unison: "The emperor is really a god!"

(End of this chapter)