The train driver in the courtyard

Back at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, Li Aiguo, seeing that Chen Baiya had not yet returned, summoned some untrained automotive experts and, based on the structure of a two-thousand-ton hydraulic press, designed a hydraulic press specifically for pressing helmets.

The specifications are 200 tons, and it adopts the three-beam four-column structure of crude oil press. It is equipped with a mold at the bottom, which can produce one piece at a time.

Li Aiguo produced a prototype and planned to keep it to produce motorcycle helmets himself.

The blueprints and technical data were sent to Factory 251, which was under construction, to manufacture the helmet hydraulic press.

After finishing these tasks, Li Aiguo got busy with the work on the military motorcycles.

Once the Qianmen Locomotive Depot obtains the license to produce motorcycles, military motorcycles will be manufactured and transported to the front lines as soon as possible.

In the evening, Chen Baiya returned from the steel rolling mill and reported that the production of parts at the steel rolling mill was now back on track.

"Deputy team leader Liu Haizhong has performed exceptionally well. He has been keeping an eye on things in the workshop these past few days and has helped resolve a lot of problems."

"Ah."

This result was not unexpected for Li Aiguo, but he instructed Chen Baiya to keep a close eye on things.

Li Aiguo then continued working.

Now Li Aiguo is at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, where no one bothers him, and he can get whatever materials he needs directly.

Li Aiguo is experimenting with new materials.

There's no way around it; the front forks of military motorcycles have extremely high requirements. Of course, you could use the old materials, but they would fall apart in just a few days.

"Aiguo, go to the factory for a meeting." Li Aiguo was busy in his studio when he received a call from Professor Song Yuanzheng.

"Professor," Li Aiguo began, then, remembering Song Yuanzheng's new identity, changed his words, "Factory Director, what kind of meeting is it?"

"Our Factory 251 is almost finished with the planning, and we are currently assembling the helmet hydraulic press."

After Song Yuanzheng explained, Li Aiguo finally understood what was going on.

Like other factories in those days, Factory 251 adopted a strategy of building and producing simultaneously.

After receiving a large number of orders from the Railway Corps, the Ministry of Building Materials transferred hundreds of workers from factories near Beijing to support Factory 251.

Factory 251 quickly assembled a complete team.

Professor Song Yuanzheng was appointed as the factory director to oversee the research work. A technical section chief and more than a dozen technicians were transferred from the neighboring ceramics factory to be in charge of manufacturing the helmet hydraulic press.

Today is the day for the assembly and acceptance of the helmet hydraulic press.

Li Aiguo brought the untrained automotive experts to Factory 251.

Director Song of Factory 251, along with several factory leaders and leaders from the building materials department, have arrived.

Inside the workshop, a middle-aged man wearing a brand-new Zhongshan suit and with hair oil on his head was directing several technicians to install a helmet hydraulic press.

Upon seeing Li Aiguo enter, Song Yuanzheng pointed to the middle-aged man and introduced them to each other: "This is Comrade Li Aiguo, the technical advisor of our Factory 251."

"This is Section Chief Gong from the Technical Department of Factory 251. Section Chief Gong served as the Technical Department Chief in the ceramics factory for many years and is a top expert in technology."

When Li Aiguo extended his hand, Section Chief Gong simply shook it lightly before turning around and continuing with his work.

Li Aiguo was puzzled and looked at Song Yuanzheng with some doubt.

"Ahem, Comrade Aiguo, that's just how Section Chief Gong is." Song Yuanzheng looked a little embarrassed.

He actually knew the reason very well.

Most of the employees and leaders of Factory 251 came from the ceramics factory, and the technical department should have been headed by Section Chief Gong.

Now that the higher-ups have actually appointed Li Aiguo as a technical advisor, it's like putting Section Chief Gong in a superior position. No wonder he's not happy about it.

However, this kind of thing was suspected of undermining the internal unity of Factory 251, and Song Yuanzheng could not bring himself to say it.

This wasn't the first time Li Aiguo had dealt with this kind of person, so he could easily tell the difference, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

After all, his role as a technical consultant was only a "part-time" one, with the sole purpose of producing safety helmets.

Li Aiguo focused his attention on the machine that was being assembled.

This is much prettier than Li Aiguo's design.

The machine tabletop has been polished and has a metallic sheen, while the pillars underneath are painted dark green.

The helmet hydraulic press was almost assembled. Section Chief Gong pointed and said, "Leaders, after careful study, I believe that there is a problem with Li's design; the output is too low."

In response to the call for large-scale production from higher authorities, I personally led the technicians, working day and night, to improve the helmet hydraulic press. Now it can produce two helmets from a single mold!

Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo shook his head helplessly.

Some people just like to change other people's designs to make themselves seem technically skilled, smart, and to show that they've done a great job.

For example, large trucks have a rated load capacity.

As a result, the transportation company saw that adding a dozen or so tons would be just as effective as transporting the goods, so they decided to overload the truck.

They can also do the math. By overloading each truck by more than ten tons, they can minimize costs and have a price advantage over trucks that are not overloaded.

As for those trucks that are not overloaded.

No, without overloading, we won't be competitive.

Everyone knows what the consequences of overloading will be.

The rated pressure of the helmet hydraulic press is only two hundred tons.

Generally, it uses a single mold to ensure sufficient pressure; Li Aiguo has calculated this.

"Comrade Aiguo, what do you think?" The leader of the Glass and Ceramics Department looked at the helmet hydraulic press, thought it was particularly beautiful, and then looked at Li Aiguo and asked.

Li Aiguo was at a loss for words.

They are currently using the pretext of improving equipment to increase production, and if we directly reject that, it will inevitably make people feel that we lack magnanimity.

However, if this thing is directly applied to large-scale production, it will cause trouble if problems arise.

"I suggest we give it a try first," Li Aiguo said somewhat tactfully.

When Section Chief Gong heard Li Aiguo's opinion, he was a little unhappy. He immediately patted his chest and made a guarantee: "We have already calculated it. Doubling the efficiency is absolutely no problem."

We have a lot of orders now. Trial runs require warm-up, a hot-melt process, and finally cooling, which will delay production by at least one day.

Several technicians nodded in agreement.

"This isn't the first time we've improved our equipment. The ceramic hot spinning machine at the ceramics factory even received praise from higher authorities."

"Yes, Section Chief Gong is an expert."

"In comparison, the one driving the train is the outsider."

Li Aiguo interrupted them without any politeness: "Then why did you invite me here? To watch the show!"

The tone of those words was somewhat harsh, and Factory Director Song Yuanzheng's heart skipped a beat.

Without Li Aiguo's creation of the safety helmet and the orders he secured, there would be no Factory 251.

It's fair to say that the entire Factory 251 owes Li Aiguo a favor. Now that Li Aiguo is only serving as a technical advisor, these people are still not satisfied. What are they trying to do?!
However, with many workers and technicians from ceramic factories now working at Factory 251, even the factory director, Song Yuanzheng, has to have some concerns.

Factory Director Song Yuanzheng stepped forward to smooth things over: "Old Gong, Comrade Aiguo's concerns are not without merit. The quality of the safety helmets is related to the safety of the railway soldiers, so we must be cautious. Let's try a few first."

"Factory Director." Section Chief Gong felt that Factory Director Song was being too protective of Li Aiguo, and he still had to explain.

Factory Director Song Yuanzheng frowned: "Section Chief Gong, quality is the lifeline. We can never be too cautious. Let's start the trial run!"

Seeing that Song Yuanzheng had lost his temper, Section Chief Gong had no choice but to notify other supporting units in the workshop to prepare.

The manufactured fiberglass was sent to the helmet hydraulic press and demonstrated in front of everyone.

Li Aiguo watched in astonishment. A motor system had been added to the back of the hydraulic press, which could speed up the oil extraction and significantly increase the stroke speed of the hydraulic press.

It looks very clever.

However, the stroke speed of a hydraulic press is precisely calculated.

While ensuring both maximum power output and safety, this approach will affect the lifespan of the hydraulic press.

"We've calculated that we can produce an average of 60 safety helmets per hour, with a daily output of up to 480. How's that speed?" Section Chief Gong said, looking at Factory Director Gong and the institute leaders with some pride as he operated the machine.

The institute leaders were very excited to see such a fast pace: "Great! Section Chief Gong is very skilled at improving the hydraulic press. We'll hold a celebration party for you after work tonight."

"Although the idea for the improvement came from me, everyone helped a lot, especially Comrade Li Aiguo. Without his original design, there would be no machine." Hearing the leader's praise, Section Chief Gong was overjoyed.

He feigned modesty for a few moments, then turned to Li Aiguo: "Technician Li, you absolutely must come to the celebration party!"

"I won't go. This is all thanks to the technical department; it has nothing to do with me."

We're only producing helmets now; there's still more work to be done.

Seeing that the trial production results wouldn't be available anytime soon, Li Aiguo mentioned that he still had work to do at the locomotive depot and needed to rush back.

"Technician Li, you can go ahead and do your work. Leave this to me." Section Chief Gong was eager to show his face and couldn't wait for him to leave.

Song Yuanzheng glared at Section Chief Gong, then smiled and said to Li Aiguo, "Technician Li, I'll let you know when the results are out."

"Thanks."

Li Aiguo smiled and led the untrained car expert out of the workshop.

Wearing a helmet and sitting on the motorcycle, Li Aiguo twisted the throttle and sped away with the wild car expert.

The untrained automotive expert, who had worked with Li Aiguo on the development of the hydraulic press, also noticed something amiss and tightly hugged Li Aiguo's lower back: "Aiguo, isn't this something wrong?"

He felt indignant for Li Aiguo. How could someone alter another person's work without permission and then take credit for it?!

"No."

“No, you can’t hide it from me. If we could have added an electric motor to provide auxiliary power back then, we would have done so long ago. This thing causes unstable travel, and the quality of the forged parts is prone to problems,” the wild car expert said in a low voice.

Li Aiguo smiled and said, "Whether there is a quality problem or not, we need to wait until the product is manufactured before we can discuss it."

The wild car expert immediately understood.

Now that Section Chief Gong has raised the banner of large-scale production, he can't convince them through debate alone. In fact, he'll be branded as jealous and resentful of talent, putting him in a passive position.

This kind of thing has happened frequently in other factories.

Only by presenting facts can we change these people's minds.

Li Aiguo continued, "The state-owned factories in the local areas are different from the locomotive depots; things are very complicated there."

We just need to do our own thing.

Interfering in other people's affairs, even with good intentions, will be seen as meddling.

Having technical skills isn't enough to get a job; you also need to pay attention to your work methods.

"Yes, I suffered a great loss when I was working at the BAIC factory." The untrained car expert nodded in agreement, recalling his own experience.

He admired Li Aiguo for this.

No matter how many projects Li Aiguo organized or how many organizations he collaborated with, he never caused any trouble or suffered any losses.

This is closely related to the work methods.

Back at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.

The automotive expert contacted the steel mill and confirmed that parts production was on track, so he planned to continue helping with the research on military motorcycles.

"Aiguo, what are you doing?" The Wild Car Expert was baffled when he saw Li Aiguo make a small motor with magnets and copper wire and install it on a safety helmet.

As Li Aiguo picked up a few pieces of plastic with scissors and inserted them into the motor head, he said, "This is a miniature fan."

"fan?"

"I plan to mount the fan on my helmet."

"A fan helmet?!" The wild car expert's eyes widened, and after understanding it, he nodded repeatedly: "Good stuff, this is like carrying a fan with you. With this as a backup, we can live the life of a landlord."

“What nonsense are you talking about? These are tools we railway workers use for work, not for enjoyment,” Li Aiguo reminded him. “Ah, right, right, I was confused! These are our production tools.”

With a fan-cooled helmet, the brain can stay alert, allowing skilled workers to improve assembly speed and quality in hot workshops—it truly is a useful tool.

The structure of a helmet fan is not complicated. It only requires a motor, a few small fan blades, and an outer protective cover to effectively prevent accidental hand injury when the fan is turned on.

The fan is powered by two Baoxing brand dry cell batteries, which are sold on the train and do not require a ticket, but they are relatively expensive.

The cost of just a few cents is definitely worthwhile if it can prevent workers from suffering heatstroke at a critical moment.

If we can develop rechargeable zinc-manganese dry cell batteries in the future, we can complete the set.

The helmet fan wasn't technically difficult to make; Li Aiguo gathered all the materials and finished it in just one morning.

Li Aiguo made several hats and distributed them to the wild car experts and the staff in the workshop.

The weather was hot, and although there was a fan in the studio, you would still be sweating profusely after staying there all day.

At lunchtime, Wild Car and a group of technicians wearing hats went to the canteen to eat, which immediately attracted the attention of their coworkers.

"Wow, this hat is amazing! It even has a fan. Let me try it on."

"Holy crap, it's so cool! I feel like my wife is fanning me."

"let me try."

For a moment, the workers forgot about eating and scrambled for the few hats.

After trying on the hat, the workshop director traded half a pack of cigarettes with a technician for a day's use, and immediately knocked on the door of Section Chief Xing's office.

"Section Chief, I need to trouble you with something."

Section Chief Xing had just hung up the phone with the Ministry of Machine Building, and the other party said that the application report from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot had not yet been approved, and he was in a bad mood at the moment.

"What is it?" he asked, his face hardening.

"Take a look at this." The director handed over the safety helmet and turned it on.

Looking at the rapidly spinning fan, Section Chief Xing was taken aback at first, but then he understood: "Is this another new gadget that Comrade Aiguo has come up with?"

"You guessed right. I hope Comrade Aiguo can help us manufacture more than thirty more. Our line workshop will cover the cost." Director Zhou said somewhat embarrassedly.

He had argued with Li Aiguo last time because of the hammer.

"You're so old, yet you still care so much about saving face." Section Chief Xing put the hat on his head and tried it on, nodding in satisfaction: "You know what, this thing is actually quite useful. Let the section handle this. I'm going to find Comrade Aiguo now."

When Section Chief Xing arrived at the workshop, Li Aiguo was optimizing the fan.

A speed control device has been added, which can set three speeds: high, medium, and low. The speed can be adjusted according to different temperatures, thus saving electricity.

"Section Chief, you're here." Li Aiguo stood up to greet Section Chief Xing as he entered.

"You made this thing, didn't you? It's a good one. We need five hundred of them in the section. When the materials are delivered, we'll have to trouble you again."

“That’s easy, I’ll arrange it later.” As a train driver at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, Li Aiguo naturally wouldn’t refuse.

After chatting for a while, Section Chief Xing also left.

Li Aiguo invited Director Zhang to explain the manufacturing process of the motor and fan blades. Now, the workshop's technicians are too busy to handle everything, so they need help from the maintenance workshop workers.

"It's quite simple, don't worry. These five hundred fans should be made within two days." Director Zhang put away the documents, took a cigarette from Li Aiguo, and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he stopped and asked, "Aiguo, didn't you go to Factory 251 today?"

"Factory Director Song Yuanzheng is keeping an eye on things over there." Li Aiguo lit a cigarette, squinted, and wondered how things were at Factory 251.

Inside Factory 251 at this time.

The helmets have been produced, a total of thirty, and are placed on the drying rack to cool down.

"Boss, it only took less than half the time and saved half the manpower." Factory Director Song Yuanzheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there were no problems with the helmet production process.

The building materials department leader nodded approvingly: "Good, good, good. Section Chief Gong is indeed an outstanding talent. We should give more responsibilities to such energetic comrades."

Section Chief Gong proudly raised his head and looked around.

"incredible."

"In my opinion, our Section Chief Gong is already qualified to be the factory's chief engineer."

"That's right."

The group of technicians transferred from the original ceramics factory spoke loudly.

The technicians from the other factories nodded in agreement when they saw that there were no problems with the helmet.

"Let's see how good the quality of these helmets is!" Amidst the exclamations of praise, Section Chief Gong, seeing that the helmets had cooled down, casually picked up two helmets.

The two helmets collided, making two loud bangs.

"Listen to this sound! Isn't it solid? Our improved equipment has a pressure exceeding 250 tons, which is much more powerful than the previous design. *burp*"

As Section Chief Gong was explaining, a loud commotion erupted, and he froze on the spot.

It turned out that a helmet had been shattered during the collision, leaving a deep crack on the side.

Section Chief Gong stood there holding his helmet, not knowing what to do for a moment. His face turned from red to purple, almost like a monkey's bottom.

Song Yuanzheng's face turned pale, while the leaders of the building materials department turned ashen.

Meanwhile, the technicians in the technical department, who were still chattering away, all had their mouths agape, wide enough to fit an egg.

"Well... maybe Section Chief Gong is just too strong," a technician said, his eyes darting around.

Upon hearing this, Section Chief Gong chuckled awkwardly and quickly said, "Yes, I'm too strong. This is fiberglass, not steel, so it can't withstand my strength."

"Yes, yes, that doesn't count. Look at the other one, it's pretty hard." Someone tried desperately to salvage the situation.

It would have been better if they hadn't explained; their explanation would have made the leaders of the building materials department look like fools.

The safety helmet is known for its sturdiness; it can withstand bricks even in front of the leaders of the 12th Railway Division, a fact that has already spread throughout the department.

It broke after just a couple of touches? Who are you kidding?
The leader of the building materials department, with a gloomy face, stepped forward and grabbed two helmets without saying a word.

In the dead silence, he exerted force with his arms and slammed them together violently.

With a dull yet piercing crack, a fissure suddenly appeared on the side of the brand-new helmet, sending tiny fiber fragments flying everywhere.

The factory leaders and technicians who were watching looked even more grim.

The building materials department leaders, refusing to believe it, continued to grab the helmets and bump them together.

"Whoosh!" "Pfft!" "Clang!" Various sounds of breaking rang out one after another.

Fiberglass shards accumulated at his feet.

Everyone present stared wide-eyed, mouths slightly agape, and collectively fell silent.

In less than five minutes, twenty helmets of various shapes, but all of them had cracks or holes, were scattered on the ground.

The leaders of the building materials department were utterly dumbfounded when they saw the tattered helmet.

If this were used for large-scale production, resulting in a large number of substandard safety helmets being sent to the railway troops, he would be facing a special court.

"Is this what you call being qualified?"

The technicians and employees who were watching looked at each other in bewilderment.

"This helmet looks like an eggshell now."

"That's so unreliable."

"What's wrong with the technical department? Isn't this just harming people?"

Section Chief Gong finally realized what was happening and said blankly, "I calculated it, the pressure is fine, how could this be?"

"Shut up!" Factory Director Song Yuanzheng turned to the workers who were watching: "Everyone, go back to work. Don't let this happen out of the public."

After the workers who had come to watch the commotion left, Factory Director Song Yuanzheng looked at the department leader and asked, "Leader, what do we do now?"

"What can we do! Get someone to come and see what's going on." The head of the building materials department was exasperated, but there was nothing he could do. He looked at his assistant and said, "Please ask the department's expert on hydraulic presses to come over. Didn't Professor Yu just return from out of town? Ask him to come over."

The assistant understood the leader's meaning: this matter was best kept within the 251 Factory's boundaries and not allowed to be known by outsiders.

The assistant drove off in the jeep, and Section Chief Gong picked up the helmets and said timidly, "There must be a problem with the installation process. I'll bring some people to disassemble them and reinstall them."

"Let's wait until the experts arrive," the building materials department leader said impatiently.

I just praised this guy in front of so many people, and then he pooped a huge poop.

Section Chief Gong was still unwilling to give up, but Song Yuanzheng pulled him aside.

The assistant returned quickly, bringing in an elderly expert with gray hair.

"This is Professor Yu, a professor of mechanical engineering at Qinghua University. He was once in charge of the design and installation of a 1,000-ton reinforced concrete hydraulic press at Beijing Heavy Machinery Plant and is a well-known hydraulic press expert in China."

The assistant introduced Professor Yu's identity and then stepped aside.

Professor Yu was still holding a book, so he must have been teaching a class and was invited over from the classroom.

"Is this a new type of hydraulic press?" Professor Yu stepped forward and took a look, feeling that something was amiss.

Factory Director Song Yuanzheng stepped forward and explained the situation, but omitted the part about Section Chief Gong's modification: "This is a new design from our factory that can be used to press helmets, but there is a problem with the quality of the helmets. Please take a look."

"Really?" Professor Yu stepped forward, circled the hydraulic press, and suddenly stopped. "That can't be right. With the design level of this hydraulic press, it's impossible for such a basic error to occur."

He tilted his head and looked around, then said, "If I'm not mistaken, this hydraulic press wasn't designed by you!"

"What do you mean?" The leader of the building materials department, who was sulking, became interested.

Professor Yu pointed to the hydraulic press and said, "Although this hydraulic press is only designed to handle 200 tons, its design is particularly ingenious, especially with the addition of flow valves and directional valves, which can precisely control pressure, flow rate, and flow direction. This is extremely rare in China, and only someone who is truly knowledgeable in the field could design it."

"And this oil filter, it looks ordinary, but it uses a U-shaped design, which at least doubles its lifespan."

"It can be said that the designer of this hydraulic press has surpassed me in his research on hydraulic presses."

"but!"

Professor Yu changed the subject, pointing at the electric motor with a disdainful look: "What is this thing for! It's utterly stupid. Do they really think that adding power will increase pressure? They might as well just get a few dozen cows. This is a completely unprofessional approach."

Section Chief Gong blushed deeply upon hearing this.

Factory Director Song Yuanzheng felt a pang of regret. It turned out that Li Aiguo had already seen through it, but he hadn't pointed it out to save face for them, which was why he left.

The hospital leaders' gazes toward Section Chief Gong had turned hostile; they were clearly trying to sabotage production and dig a hole for him, their leader.

But this wasn't the time to assign blame. The leader looked at Professor Yu and said, "Is there any way to improve this?"

"Improve it?" Professor Yu, being the straightforward old scholar, didn't mince words and pointed at the helmet hydraulic press, saying, "This thing is just a pile of junk right now, how can we improve it?"

"What if we remove all the modified parts?" Factory Director Song Yuanzheng was also nervous. Production was about to begin, and there wouldn't be enough time to manufacture new equipment.

"It's too late. The overall structure of the equipment has been altered, so dismantling it won't help."

"Who's been so clever to modify a perfectly good hydraulic press like this?!"

"It's just nonsense!"

Professor Yu also noticed something was wrong and gave the hydraulic press a good scolding.

“This may not necessarily be my responsibility; perhaps the machine itself has a design flaw!” Section Chief Gong suddenly spoke up, realizing he was in big trouble.

When problems arise, the best way to deal with them is to shift the blame.

The path of dismantling and modifying is not feasible, and there is no time to remanufacture the helmet hydraulic press. Factory Director Song Yuanzheng was worried about what to do when these words reminded him.

"It seems that Comrade Aiguo built one himself. Perhaps we should borrow that one and see how it goes."

(End of this chapter)