Lu Ming

Chapter 253 Steel Mills and Ore

Unlike the first workshop where there are many apprentices, the second workshop has time-travelers here.Where "precision instruments" are produced, there must be industrialists who understand computers to control the place.Correspondingly, almost all "intermediate" technicians work in this factory.

The classification of workers' skills in the time-traveling crowd is not as complicated as that of later generations, it is simply three levels: elementary, intermediate, and advanced.Each of these three levels is divided into two levels, that is to say, the sixth level of work is over.

Even so, there is no one who can be promoted to a senior worker right now.The factory's requirements for senior workers are actually very simple: they can simply program, and then set the parameters of the cutter head feed on the control screen according to the requirements of the drawings.

However, this is the moat.

In the eyes of these illiterate craftsmen, what even a technical secondary school student can easily do in later generations is nothing more than a holy book.

At present, the most senior fourth-level worker in the workshop can only use the two-finger Zen to input the set fixed program on the keyboard-just like what they did in the Ming Dynasty, first memorize a set of data by rote, and then Then make a product.

Knowledge determines the upper limit of a person.These craftsmen who lack basic theoretical knowledge will show their true colors once they encounter Zenith Star technology.

Of course, they can't be blamed for this, the Ming Dynasty was such an environment.Besides, the young people of later generations have been playing with mobile phones since childhood, going to Internet cafes to hack after class, and eating chicken every day; it is not difficult for them to modify some simple data on the keyboard according to the needs of the drawings.

But these craftsmen can't do it.First of all, this generation has never been to junior high school, so most of them cannot understand drawings that require simple geometric knowledge.Secondly, they have never played LOL, so when faced with an industrial control screen as big as an iPad, these guys suddenly felt numb and couldn't understand it.

So the current situation is: once there is a new workpiece, the workers on duty must first set all the parameters, and then hand them over to the workers for execution.

As for senior craftsmen who can handle all the procedures by themselves, there is not a single one now.The so-called mid-level technicians must have a few years of hard work to catch up on basic knowledge.

The third workshop is the exclusive core workshop of the time-travelers.Several sets of Gitmeyer CNC machining centers imported from later generations are the most valuable property of the industrialists.This 5-axis CNC machining center can handle complex curved surfaces. In theory, it can process propellers and BMW engines. It is a real industrial mother machine.

Of course, the current propellers of a certain dickhead force are all made of pig iron, and they can't make BMW cars, so they can only use machining centers to produce some low-level lathe parts, which is considered overkill.

The seemingly glamorous and enthusiastic production activities, in fact, still have empty connotations underneath.Take the most important steel product as an example. Apart from qualified crude steel, the kiln district steel mill can neither roll the special thin plates required for car shells nor the steel types required for high-end engines.

So high-end stuff like BMWs will always be a legend; clumsy, inefficient old-fashioned gas engines are what the Industrial Party is currently striving for.

Industries are intertwined.

The easiest place is also the most difficult place.Starting from a steel ingot and a screw, if any link is not done properly, the system will eventually magnify the problem and show it.

The kiln area is now such a situation.In addition to relatively strong machining capabilities, other links including raw materials can only be described as weak.In fact, even in the field of machining, it is still a lame field that Mingren can't do without the time travel.

After inspecting the machinery factory, Yao Zhesheng and Zou Guoqing, who were not very satisfied with the status quo, took another electric tricycle and went to the neighboring steel factory for a tour.

The development of the steel mill to this day is no longer the shabby situation where there were only two small electric furnaces.In addition to importing two 2-ton electric furnaces in succession in the later stage, the steel mill also built a batch of metallurgical equipment such as iron furnaces and reverberatory furnaces through DIY methods.

With the Haidong chain stores stationed in the major wharves along the coast of Fujian, the vast number of Fujianese mine owners suddenly found that life is actually booming.

In the beginning, no matter whether it was raw and wrought iron or ore, as long as it was transported to the dock, it would be purchased by the commercial firm.These new merchants are rich and powerful, backed by the increasingly famous Guerrilla General Mansion, they have slowly raised the price of iron in Fujian since half a year ago.

To the excitement of the masses of local sticks, Haidong Chain Co., Ltd. not only opened up to buy iron materials, but also distributed a lot of money to form a joint venture with others to set up a mine.In places like Youxi County and Jian'an County, where traditional iron smelting is located, Haidong Commercial Bank has sent special personnel to negotiate business.

The conditions for running a mine are extremely generous: all mountain owners, mine owners, native riches, squires, local snakes like local snakes near the mines in various places can come to discuss cooperation with Haidong Commercial Bank empty-handed.

Powerful local snakes can get a large amount of money from the firm for nothing.These people often recruited a large number of miners under the organization of commercial banks, and several partnerships recruited a large number of miners to expand the original mines and furnaces to increase the output of iron materials.

The benefits provided by Haidong Commercial Bank are far more than these: mining tools and transport carts made of fine steel, rails, experts with "secret maps" to explore ore belts, rechargeable thermometers, and people who can build new iron-making furnaces "Great Craftsman". These soft conditions to improve the efficiency of ironmaking can be obtained from Haidong Commercial Bank by the partners.

What the local snakes have to do is to keep transporting iron materials and excess ore to the dock, and then exchange them for high-quality private salt, grain and tools from the warehouse of the business.As for silver. This is the last option. Illegal salt and grain are always more useful than silver in the mountains.

With the passage of time, the entire metallurgical industry in Fujian is undergoing profound changes under the control of the invisible hand of the time-traveling forces.

The most important change is: the rapid growth of pig iron production.

Capital is profit-seeking.When the shareholders of the iron yard found that the purchase price of pig iron from Haidong Commercial Bank had increased significantly, they would naturally ask the stove to smelt more pig iron and produce less wrought iron.

There are many traditional steelmaking methods in ancient times, such as block smelting method carburizing and forging (steelmaking), steel pouring method, Suzhou steel method, steel frying method, low temperature crucible method (Damascus steel) and so on.

These methods remain the same, and are essentially low-temperature ironmaking.The so-called "steel" mentioned above are all iron products with unqualified impurity content.You must know that the melting point of pure iron is 1538 degrees. Before the appearance of Huntsman crucible steel in 1740, humans could not melt iron into liquid, let alone control the phosphorus and sulfur content in it.

And the steel factories far away in the kiln area naturally don't need the so-called wrought iron that the furnace workers in the middle ages painstakingly smelted.Because in the eyes of the Industrial Party, any product refined by Ming people is a waste product that has failed quality control.

Then, according to this principle, the pig iron that takes less time, consumes less material, and saves the process immediately became a favorite: the cross-travel crowd deliberately increased the purchase price of pig iron.

Naturally, mine owners in the Ming Dynasty would not reject this change: an earthen furnace that could produce 800 jin of wrought iron a day can now produce more than 2000 jin of pig iron, so why not do it?
However, this was not the end, and the mine owners soon felt the stronger appetite of the industrial society.It didn't take long for the "master craftsmen" sent to various places to guide production to put forward more "lenient" requirements for Ming people's products: we want low-quality pig iron.

This kind of so-called "pig iron" that has only been smelted hastily, which saves time, manpower and fuel to the greatest extent, is actually no different from the strip steel of later generations. It is garbage that can be thrown on the ground and broken.

However, this kind of rubbish was bought by Haidong Commercial Bank at the promised price.

It has been out of control ever since.After hearing the news, mine owners in the Ming Dynasty began to switch to this kind of iron ore that is not like iron ore; and the kiln district steel mills happily began to take over this "high-grade ore" in large quantities.

Yes, in the eyes of the Industrial Party, these iron materials are equivalent to high-grade ore.In essence, they are high-grade ores jigged out by Ming people; it's just that the tools for jigging are not machines, but flames and earthen furnaces.

Today, the integrated Fujian iron smelting industry has become more and more in line with the appetite of the crossing forces. Just like the early colonies, the left hand exports population and raw materials, and the right hand obtains industrial products.

In the process of tireless siege by the commercial system, the number of liner ships from the other side of the sea to Dayuan is increasing day by day.Now every 15 days or so, there will be cross-sea fleets departing from the ports of Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Zhangzhou.

There are not only iron and coal ships in the fleet, but also passenger ships full of people and merchant ships loaded with sugar, indigo, and porcelain.Under the guidance of the pilot ship emitting a white beam of light, these bright ships traveled all night, and within a day or two they were able to cross the strait and arrive at Dayuan.

With the increase in the throughput of "high-grade ore" and the successful operation of the Taipei Iron Sand Mine, Yaoqu Steel Works finally dared to set the target of steel production in 1628 at the unit of "thousand tons".

Of course, the "steel output" here refers to the total amount of all metallurgical products including refined iron. In fact, the current steel output in the kiln area is not high.For a power in the 17th century, in fact, all kinds of cast iron are the metallurgical products that society needs most, not steel.

Among the daily products of the kiln district steel factory, the largest shipment volume is round steel bars, followed by some rough steel ingots for machining.In fact, these two products have always maintained a share of less than 30% of the total products of the steel mill, and the rest are all kinds of cast iron products.

This number allocation scheme is very reasonable.You know, in this plane, wood gas engines made of cast iron plates and ductile iron are already Zenith star technology.And the crossing force does not need higher technology to wipe out enemies with bows and matchlock guns-with the resources to develop five pairs of wheels, wood gas trucks + Erba Dagai have already wiped out all enemies.

Therefore, all kinds of cast iron products are the mainstream of steel mills today.

(End of this chapter)