The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 66 Good news about iron ore (please vote for me, please collect, please support.)

Several blacksmiths studied the waste pile for a long time, and even used hammers to smash the waste apart. They looked at it carefully and then whispered to each other and came to a consensus.

The leader, the middle-aged blacksmith Wang Dachui, came forward. Without saying anything, he first made a bow with his fists and respectfully replied: "Mr. Feng, we have seen these iron slags. They are iron ore with high quality and should be able to be smelted into good quality." Come on iron."

Feng Guohui was a complete layman in smelting steel, so he had to rely on these professionals, so he asked, "Since it is high-quality iron ore, why didn't the Huang family produce good iron?"

Wang Dachui reported back;

"Mr. Feng, I guess the master the Huang family hired is a second-hand swordsman and is not proficient in smelting steel.

We smashed these smelted iron slags and looked at them.

Among the large pieces of iron slag, there were still many remaining stones, which broke into pieces when they were thrown to the ground with a little force.

The young people guessed that the furnace temperature was not enough to smelt all the ore and smelt it thoroughly.

And there are too many impurities, which is equivalent to making a pot of uncooked rice.

This may be a problem with the iron smelting furnace, which requires the use of a strong blower, which cannot be done manually.

There may also be a problem with the fuel. Ordinary wood cannot raise the temperature of the iron smelting furnace to a high enough temperature. It is best to use charcoal or bamboo charcoal, and high-quality coal will also work.

Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to smelt lumpy iron ore directly into the furnace, and it is difficult to remove impurities and can easily be smelted into inferior iron.

In contrast

Powdered iron ore is easier to smelt, requires a relatively lower furnace temperature, and the quality of the smelted iron is better. "

After hearing what Wang Dachui said, Feng Guohui felt that it made sense.

He knew that in his previous life, when all the people were smelting steel during a major movement, a large amount of waste was produced. This was the drawback of blindly launching a campaign.

It is very possible that the Huang family is just one of the pioneers who failed in smelting steel.

Blacksmiths like Wang Dachui can see that the iron ore is quite good, and they can say that they have noses and eyes, which shows that they are somewhat capable.

Iron-making is not a complicated matter, so they can be tested on a small scale first to see if they can make high-quality steel.

At least, I know what I’m doing!

If we really want to smelt steel on a large scale, we may have to wait until the blast furnace equipment from the UK is installed and debugged before we can carry out industrial production.

Thought of here

Feng Guohui ordered;

"In this case, I will allocate some manpower and funds to you and try to make a few furnaces of iron. If you do it well, I will give you a heavy reward."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Feng, you guys must work hard." Wang Dachui is a cautious person, and he doesn't dare to boast that he will be able to smelt good iron.

Now that I had decided to do it, I immediately assigned more than twenty villagers to them and started building the iron-making furnace in a hurry.

So many people worked together and quickly built three indigenous iron-making furnaces, which was very simple.

Next to the iron-making furnace made of clay, three large bellows were made out of wooden boards, and then high-quality charcoal and iron ore powder were prepared.

The red iron ore is ground into powder, piled with charcoal at the bottom of the iron-making furnace, and ignited to burst into flames.

Then the iron ore powder was added in, and the blazing flames were blown through the bellows to burn more violently. After just over an hour, a piece of orange-red high-temperature molten iron appeared in the iron-making furnace.

Continue to add charcoal, add iron ore powder, and vigorously stir the molten iron to fully smelt it...

Finally, use an iron spoon to scoop out the molten iron and pour it into a mold made of clay.

at dusk

Beside the blazing iron-smelting furnace, Wang Dachui and the other blacksmiths looked excited. After polishing the smelted iron blocks, they revealed the original color of the bright and cold iron blocks and presented them as treasures.

"Mr. Feng, the quality of the smelted iron is really good. Is it not much worse than that of foreign iron?"

"It's really good. There are big rewards. Each person will be rewarded with 10 silver coins." Feng Guohui weighed the heavy iron block in his hand and looked at the polished and shiny steel texture. He couldn't be more satisfied.

Great, Nanyang Company will have another solid basic industry in the future.

Those who take it seriously will not know how to do it, and those who can do it will not find it difficult.

I remember that back then, the Huang family was engaged in mining and smelting iron with great fanfare, but what they failed to accomplish despite spending so much money was easily destroyed by Wang Dachui and a few other blacksmiths.

This once again proves that if you want to get things done, you have to hitch the right mule and use the right people.

According to Wang Dachui et al.

The experts from the Huang family who came to make iron were either deliberately trying to embarrass them, or they didn't even know the basics of the fake stuff, otherwise they wouldn't have poured large chunks of ore directly into the iron-making furnace.

Compared with iron ore powder, the difficulty is ten times or a hundred times higher.

Normally

It is enough to use iron ore powder to make iron, and the furnace temperature should be kept at more than 1,000 degrees. Basically, the two major requirements of charcoal and a bellows can meet the requirements.

With large pieces of ore, the furnace temperature must be at least five to six hundred degrees higher. Normal methods cannot reach such a high furnace temperature, and ordinary clay furnaces cannot withstand it.

Feng Guohui laughed when he heard it, and also when he thought about it.

Iron ore powder is extremely fine particles. Compared with the volume of stone, isn't it hundreds or thousands of times different?

He had no intention of delving into the Huang family's past decades ago. While he was delighted, he began to seriously consider the next step of developing the industrial production of iron ore.

Forewarned is forearmed, without prejudging the waste. The iron-making blast furnaces imported from the UK must also use iron ore powder, which requires Nanyang Company to solve the two major problems of iron ore raw materials and fuel in order not to delay production.

In terms of time

The iron-making blast furnace imported from the UK will probably be in place by the end of the year or early next year, which is about 9 to 10 months ago.

It will not be put into actual production until the turn of spring and summer next year.

But the preparations must start now, and we cannot wait until the steel blast furnace arrives, which is a waste of time.

First of all, we need to level the site, build a steel factory, purchase steam engines, cranes, iron chains, steel and other materials, and design the roughly required production facilities based on the smelting production process.

For example, qualified high-temperature molten iron produced in an ironmaking blast furnace needs to be poured into molten iron ladles and transported to molds for casting or rolling into finished products.

This molten ladle weighs several tons, and it must be run on a track and dragged by mules, horses and other animals through ropes.

For another example, raw materials such as iron ore powder or charcoal are large in quantity and heavy in weight. A feeding table must be set up. How to design it needs to be carefully considered?

Steel factories are often more than 10 meters high. Building them with large rocks is extremely uneconomical, labor-intensive, and too heavy.

In order to cope with this major project, several new brick kilns must be built and a large amount of cement and cement must be imported to meet construction needs.

Feng Guohui was writing and drawing in the study room of the Huang family mansion, listing various projects needed to build a steel plant. Soon, more than ten pages were filled with dozens of projects.

Among the raw materials required for smelting steel, he directly selected coal mines.

The coal mine known in the Sishui area is now the Qiaojia Coal Mine operated by the Qiao family. It is about 23 kilometers away from the Landoshan Mine. The entire road needs to be repaired.

Nanyang Company needs to set up a new carriage factory specifically to produce Western-style four-wheeled heavy-duty carriages. The wheels and frames of such heavy-duty carriages need to be thickened and reinforced with steel bars to be enough to carry 4000 to 5000 pounds of cargo.

During Napoleon's army's expedition to Tsarist Russia, more than 2 such heavy-duty carriages accompanied the army.

To this end, the Nanyang Company will also set up a new horse farm to specially introduce Zhangzhou horses or other varieties of tropical horses that can adapt to the tropical climate to supply the needs of the cavalry team and mule and horse transport teams.

As for the expansion of production at Qiaojia Coal Mine, Feng Guohui has not considered it for the time being.

By then, the worst thing is to buy the coal mine and invest more manpower in mining. This is not a big problem.

The flickering lights of a room are particularly conspicuous in the dark courtyard of a deep house.

Feng Guohui sat on the table, and his mind was filled with various matters related to the opening of the iron mine.

Whatever comes to mind, I immediately write it down with a brush.

By the way, there is also mineral powder.

The fine iron nuggets smelted this evening once again proved one thing; things must be carried out according to the original laws of things and cannot be taken for granted.

All mined iron ore must be processed into iron ore powder. This is a prerequisite for ensuring the smelting of high-quality steel. There must be no idea of ​​saving time and labor.

In the evening, more than 200 pounds of high-quality iron were smelted. It was the result of more than 20 villagers hammering it all afternoon, which was very labor-intensive.

First, smash the iron ore into small pieces, then smash them into powder piece by piece, and sieve them again with a sieve.

The unqualified fine stones will continue to be smashed with a hammer until they are qualified.

To do this, small-scale experimental smelting can be done.

If the steel blast furnace were to produce normally, it would require several tons and dozens of tons of iron ore powder raw materials every day, and it would be impossible to smash them all with a hammer.

How much iron ore powder can be produced by a strong man wielding a hammer for a day?

A few pounds or dozens of pounds?

What is the use of this little iron ore powder?

Thinking about thousands of people wielding hammers and smashing rocks, the scene is very joyful. Isn't it a sad scene of backward productivity?

Feng Guohui had insights far beyond his time. He immediately thought of using machines to solve the problem, and steam engines became his best choice.

Using steam engines as power to design pulverizers and ball mills became the best solution to this problem.

It would certainly be best if ready-made mine screening equipment could be imported from the UK. If it really doesn't work, you can only design one yourself. That's no alternative.

The principle is very simple

It is to crush large pieces of ore into small pieces of ore, and then crush the small pieces of ore into melon seed pieces. It mainly uses a cone-type crusher to perform primary crushing, secondary crushing and third crushing processes.

The ore is crushed into small particles and then enters the ball mill to be completely crushed into powder.

The raw materials crushed into powder also need to be separated by magnetic beneficiation to separate the soil and iron ore powder.

When the final iron ore powder enters the smelting furnace, it is almost certain that the fewer impurities there are, the better the quality of the smelted steel will be.

Unconsciously

The night was already very deep, and Feng Guohui was still writing and drawing under the oil lamp in the study. His figure was reflected on the window paper, reflecting his tireless figure.

(End of this chapter)