Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 300 Think boldly

Wenhua Hall, the meeting hall, and all the important court officials gathered again.

This time, the entire meeting hall was almost full. Not only the cabinet and the seven important officials came, but also several important officials from the Ministry of Industry, including Wang Zheng, Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing.

What did the emperor call everyone to do?

Taichang exchanged a few words with the ministers, then waved towards the door, and ordered two eunuchs to bring in a huge steam engine and put it on a table.

Now the steam engine made by Daming is really delicate, not only the inner wall is extremely smooth, but even the outer wall is shiny, it looks like a finely crafted handicraft.

Of course everyone knew what it was, but they didn't know why the emperor ordered people to lift it up.

Taichang waited for everyone's eyes to focus on the steam engine, and then said in a proud tone: "I believe everyone knows what this is. This is the most advanced thing in our Ming Dynasty today, the steam engine."

Uh, the emperor didn't say that!
Who didn't know it was a steam engine?
Did he mean he didn't say that?

actually not.

Immediately afterwards, he smiled and asked, "What do you think about this steam engine?"

idea?

In terms of ideas, of course there are.

For example, this steam engine is really well made, this steam engine is so exquisitely made, our Daming's processing skills are really high, and so on.

However, no one spoke.

Because they all know that this is not what the emperor wants to hear.

Every time the emperor summons them, it is not to listen to these useless nonsense.

Most people can't figure out what the emperor thinks.

It can be said that every time the emperor summoned them to discuss something shocking enough.

So, what shocking idea does the emperor have this time?

In other words, what did the emperor want to hear from them?

Bi Maokang, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, stared at the steam engine for a long time, and then carefully said: "Your Majesty, I think this steam engine has many uses, but we don't have enough steam engines, and we can't use them in many places. For example, thousands of sets of chains and iron buckets have been made in Wubei City for the waterwheels used for disaster relief, but none of the steam engines have been equipped yet.”

Heck, these guys still have a little idea.

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Well, Menghou is almost on the point. This steam engine has many uses. Tell me, what are the uses of this steam engine? Be more courageous and think freely."

So this is what the emperor wanted to hear!
When Sun Yuanhua heard this, he couldn't help thinking: "Your Majesty, I feel that steam engines can be used to make many machines for processing artillery, for example, for shell casings, for punching dials, and even for processing shells, etc."

This is still a bit conservative and nothing new.

However, Taichang still nodded and encouraged: "Well, these ideas are good, you can be more bold."

Song Yingxing heard the words, and said boldly: "Your Majesty, I think that I can use a steam engine to make a mine cart. After all, a steam engine can drive a ship. In fact, it is almost the same to sail a boat on land. We just need to use a wooden paddle wheel. It’s almost as good as making it into iron.”

This is a steam locomotive.

Song Yingxing's idea is already a little new.

Taichang nodded in appreciation and said: "Well, this idea is very good, you can be more bold."

That's not bold enough!
When everyone heard this, they were all dumbfounded.

They thought Song Yingxing's idea was bold enough.

Sailing on land!
Who dared to think so before?
Anyone who thought this way before was out of their minds!

Just kidding, sailing on land, you probably entered a river in your mind, right?
It's not bold enough to have a river in your head, and everyone really can't think of any more daring ideas.

It seems that everyone can't come up with any more bold ideas, so it's time for me to talk about it.

Seeing this, Taichang pointed directly at the steam engine on the table and said, "Meng Hou just said that we haven't made enough steam engines. Why aren't we making enough steam engines? That's because we haven't made steam engines fast enough. Why? Is the speed of our steam engine not fast enough? That is because we have a steam engine and don’t know how to make full use of it. Think about it, if we replace the whole process of steam engine with machines driven by steam engine instead of labor, how fast it will be ?”

This idea can no longer be described as bold.

This is simply a wonderful idea!
You must know that processing a steam engine is not just one or two processes. There are many processes in the whole process. Is it possible to replace them all with machines driven by steam engines?

There was an incomprehensible expression on everyone's face.

Is it impossible?

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Taichang simply ordered someone to fetch tools and dismantle the steam engine in front of him into parts.

There are actually not many parts in this steam engine, because the steam engine at this moment is just a simple steam piston.

If we talk about parts, there are actually only four main parts.

One is the cylinder block, which is precision-cast and then finished with a reamer and grinder.

Taichang directly put the cylinder aside, and said calmly: "I won't talk about this, because the inner and outer circles are processed by reamers and grinders, all of which are steam machine tools, and the speed is fast enough."

There is also a connecting rod protruding from the middle of the piston. This connecting rod and the circular baffle below have actually been riveted into one, which can be regarded as one part.

The processing of this connecting rod is more troublesome, because the connecting rod bears a relatively large force, and the strength of the casting is not enough. It must be cast out thicker according to the required size, and then forged, and then the upper edges and corners are ground off. Grind to a smooth round bar.

Moreover, a large hole must be opened on the round rod to connect the machines that need to be driven.

Taichang pointed to the connecting rod and said: "Look at this connecting rod, except that a grinder is used to grind the outer circle, the rest are basically processed by hand, which takes a lot of time.

In fact, forging can also be replaced by a steam machine tool. The forging machine tool can be directly replaced by a machine tool for stamping gold coins, silver coins and copper coins, and the above mold can be directly changed into a hammer.

We can call this kind of bed a forging bed.

We can even make a hammer with a circular groove. In this way, as long as you turn it around and beat it, the hammer will still be round, and it will be easier to process later.

As for the follow-up processing, we can directly modify the grinding machine, add a tool on it, and cut the outer circle in a circle first, so that the size is almost the same, and the grinding machine does not need to spend as long as before to polish the surface.

This kind of bed for cutting round surfaces can be called a lathe.

As for the hole above, we can also change the reamer and replace the reamer with a drill bit, so that it can be drilled out in one go.

We can call this kind of bed a drill press. "

So it's really not very complicated, just change the original punching machine, grinding machine and reaming machine into forging machine, lathe machine and drilling machine.

At this time, Wang Zheng's eyes were already shining, showing an expression of eagerness to try.

Taichang then pointed to the baffle with the sealing ring on the connecting rod and said: "This seems to be processed by hand and then slowly ground to a perfect fit with a grinder, right?
In fact, there is no need to be so troublesome at all.

We can do it with machine tools driven by steam engines.

We can first burn a large copper block red, and then use one or two huge iron rollers to roll the copper block to the thickness of this baffle like rolling dough.

This kind of steam machine tool is relatively large, we can call it a plate press machine, that is, a machine tool that presses out copper plates or even iron plates of various thicknesses.

As long as a large copper plate of this thickness is extruded, we will make a large drill bit with a hole in the middle and teeth around it, and drill the pressed large copper plate on a drilling machine. Once drilled, it will become a baffle. .

After drilling down, we can also use a lathe to process the outer circle to roughly the same size, and then use a grinder to polish it. Even the groove in the middle for the sealing ring can also be processed by a lathe in advance.

As for the hole for the riveted connecting rod in the middle, we can also directly drill it out with a drill press!

Think about it, in this way, wouldn't the baffle be easy to process? "

In this way, processing the baffle is indeed much simpler.

At this time, even Bi Maokang showed eagerness to try.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang pointed to the cover plate that sealed the steam piston and said: "This is actually almost the same method as the baffle plate, as long as such a thick copper plate is processed with a press machine in advance, and then processed with a lathe, drill machine and grinder. It came out. You said, if all of them were changed to steam machine tool processing, wouldn’t we be able to make steam engines much faster? Therefore, your ideas should be bolder, bolder, and don’t think about it if you can’t realize it. We With the steam engine, nothing is impossible!"

The emperor is right!

We have a steam engine, nothing is impossible!
(End of this chapter)