Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 309
The eighth prince was born, and Taichang couldn't be happier.

When people are thriving, adding a child is adding blessings.

And now, under his governance, Daming is getting more and more prosperous and developed.

Under such circumstances, he was naturally very happy to have licked a precious son.

He also likes this precious son so much that he hugs him whenever he is free.

That day, he was holding his precious son happily in Qianqing Palace, when Wang Zheng ran over suddenly and said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the new press machine and the shearing machine you mentioned are ready, we can give them to you." The battleship is armored!"

Oh!
If the armored battleship is made, Da Ming will be truly invincible, at least for the past few decades.

Hearing this, Taichang quickly stuffed his precious son into Wu Wan'er's arms, and then excitedly followed Wang Zheng to the steam engine factory.

At this time, the steam engine factory was almost completed, and the neat rows of warehouses were filled with copper ingots and rubber barrels, and the huge factory buildings were roaring with machines, full of heat.

The place where the new plate pressing machine and shearing machine are placed is still the huge foundry, because there is a furnace in it, which can quickly burn the copper ingots red.

Of course, it is still in the research and development stage at the moment, so there is no special workshop to manufacture copper and iron plates. If the new presses and shears are successfully developed, a large factory must be built in Wubei City for special production. Copper and iron plates.

What do the new presses and shears developed by Wang Zheng and the others look like?
Taichang followed Wang Zheng into the workshop and had a look, with a hint of relief on his face.

This time, the new plate presses and shears they developed finally look a bit like mature machine tools.

The new press machine still has two press rollers standing side by side, but the width of the press rollers has reached about two feet.

Moreover, the triangle iron pressed on it is no longer pulled up by a guillotine-style punch, but by two huge steam pistons.

The bottom of the platen machine is no longer a simple sink, but a row of small round rollers and a flat cast iron platform.

In this way, the pressed copper and iron plates are not directly dropped into the water tank for cooling, but are conveyed by small round rollers and flattened on the cast iron platform for cooling.

The copper and iron plates cooled by this cooling method will definitely not be the same as the original, uneven like an irregular piece of dough.

As for the shearing machine, the whole is a bit like a dog's head guillotine, but it is much larger than ordinary dog's head guillotine.

The thick guillotine was supported by four huge steam pistons, and many solid cast iron blocks of about half a foot were pressed on it.

This is the most primitive way to increase weight, because cutting short copper and iron plates requires a lot of force to punch down, and there is no hydraulic machine these days, so this is the most primitive way to increase weight.

At this moment, Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing and others were already standing there waiting, and there was a row of craftsmen standing in front of the furnace next to it. Everything seemed to be ready, as if they were waiting for him to come.

Seeing this, Taichang naturally waved without hesitation: "Let's get started."

Hearing this, the row of craftsmen immediately picked up the tongs, pushed the iron trolley to the furnace door, quickly opened the furnace door, dragged out a large copper ingot more than two feet wide and put it on the flat trolley.

Then, they jointly pushed the flatbed cart to the front of the press machine, lifted the iron cart directly, and poured the red-hot copper ingots onto the press rollers of the press machine.

Seeing this, Wang Zheng on the side immediately opened several valves quickly.

"Puff, puff." There was a puff sound, and the two pressure rollers rotated accordingly, and the triangle iron on the pressure roller was also pulled down slowly by the steam pistons on both sides.

Soon, the pressed copper plate was exposed from below, passed a series of small round rollers, and slid onto the cast iron platform.

The copper plate pressed out this time is much better than last time, at least both sides are neat, as if it has been cut with a paper knife.

However, this copper plate is not very big, about two feet wide and less than five feet long.

In other words, it was just a small board about fifty centimeters wide and more than one meter long, not as big as a door panel.

This size is barely enough to armor a battleship.

Moreover, it seems impossible for them to make larger copper and iron plates at this moment.

Because there are still a lot of immature technologies at the moment.

Like heating a copper ingot.

It is already a bit difficult to heat a copper ingot more than two feet wide in the furnace. If it is larger, a special furnace must be made, and it is too big for craftsmen to hold it, and special equipment must be used to hoist it.

These days there are no oversized furnaces or special lifting equipment.

Of course, later generations of pressed copper plates and iron plates certainly did not do this.

Because the copper and iron plates pressed out by later generations are continuous, and I don’t know how long they are.

The problem is that it is impossible for them to reach such a high level with the existing technology.

Okay, this cannot be forced, it can only be improved with the development of technology.

Taichang stood there pondering for a while, and the copper plate had almost cooled down. Although it was still a little hot, everyone couldn't wait any longer.

Wang Zheng directly ordered several craftsmen to put on thick cowhide gloves to lift the copper plate to the shearing machine, stuff it carefully, and then decisively opened a valve.

There was a crisp "click", and the irregular part in front of the copper plate was really cut off.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Zheng opened another valve.

"Puff, puff," there was a puff sound, and the guillotine was slowly lifted up again.

Wang Zheng hurriedly took a ruler up and drew it for a while, then ordered the craftsmen to stuff a piece of the copper plate in, and then decisively opened the valve that was pressed down.

There was another crisp sound of "click", and a square copper plate fell from the other end of the shearing machine.

Immediately afterwards, he drew a scoop according to the gourd, took a ruler to measure it, and cut it again.

This time, the pressed copper plates became two square plates and two irregular scraps.

After working for a while, he ordered several craftsmen to come to Taichang with the two cut boards, and asked excitedly, "How is it, Your Majesty?"

Taichang took a closer look at the two square plates, nodded in appreciation and said, "Well, very good, the plate press and shearing machine have been successfully developed."

To be honest, it is already very good to be able to make such a board these days.

Hearing this, Wang Zheng couldn't help but happily said: "Then can we try to manufacture iron-clad warships?"

Uh, you are a copper plate!

Taichang looked at the shearing machine on the side, pondered for a while, and then asked, "Are you sure this shearing machine can cut an inch-thick iron plate?"

this!

It seems a little too excited.

Because the steam engine factory didn't have many iron ingots, they used copper ingots.

The copper plate is much softer than the iron plate, and the guillotine made by Baisteel can be cut with one blow.

If it is replaced by a one-inch thick iron plate, it may not be cut off.

Hearing this, Wang Zheng couldn't help but said in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, why don't we find some iron ingots to try?"

Of course you have to try.

Fortunately, it's not that the steam engine factory doesn't have iron ingots, it's just that there aren't many iron ingots.

Soon, Wang Zheng led people to find a pile of iron ingots the size of bricks.

Of course, these can't be burned directly on the press machine, because the press machine is two feet wide, and this kind of iron ingot the size of a brick has to be melted into long strips more than two feet wide.

This is not difficult, because this is a foundry workshop, and it is definitely no problem to smelt iron ingots.

Moreover, a crucible more than two feet wide is ready-made, as long as the iron ingot is burned into molten iron and poured into it.

The craftsmen in this foundry workshop are also very skilled in smelting work. Wang Zheng led the people to work for about an hour, and the iron ingot more than two feet wide was ready.

Moreover, the iron ingots that have just been smelted are put in and burned for a while, and they burn red.

The next step is to press the plate and cut the plate.

There is no problem with the pressing plate, because the red-hot iron ingots and copper ingots are soft, and there is no problem of hardness.

However, there was a problem when cutting the version.

After the iron plate was stuffed into the shears, the guillotine couldn't go down at all!

Wang Zheng looked at the unmoving guillotine on the card, and the expression on his face was embarrassment, distress, and loss.

Obviously, this shearing machine can't cut an inch-thick iron plate.

He froze for a moment, quickly opened the valve for lifting the knife, and then quickly walked to the guillotine to check it carefully.

Fortunately, the punching force wasn't too strong at this moment, the guillotine just got stuck and didn't break.

What to do now?

An inch-thick iron plate cannot be cut, so this iron-clad battleship cannot be made!

He couldn't put the two uneven iron plates on the battleship, it wouldn't fit well at all.

(End of this chapter)