African Nationhood

Chapter 252 Military Industry (Part )

Then Shi Jintang tried shooting at the 500-meter target and the 900-meter target.

His accuracy on the 500-meter target was much worse, and at 900 meters, he couldn't even guarantee his target accuracy. It seemed that he didn't have the potential to become a sniper.

After shooting the bullet and loading the first round, he suddenly remembered that Trudeau had not mentioned the labor-saving tool "bridge clamp", but the same was true here.

He called Rong Kui over and told his junior about the function and shape of the "bridge clamp". As for the pattern, he would find an opportunity to draw it later.

After hearing this, Rong Kui roughly understood what Boss Shi meant, so he explained his understanding to Boss Shi, and told Boss Shi that he could handle such a simple thing without drawing a picture.

Since his subordinates are capable, Boss Shi is naturally happy and relaxed.

Then Shi Jintang inspected the production lines of the shell gun and Maxim machine gun. The production of these two weapons has just started, and the pressure on production capacity is still very high.

After inspecting the new rifle factory, the group went to the military gunpowder factory next to the arsenal.

In the military documents of Nanhua Company, several factories here have numbers instead of names.

For example, the gunpowder factory in front of us is code-named 111, while the tnt and picric acid factories are code-named 112 and 113 respectively.

The arsenal we went to see before was code-named 211. As for the Anhai Town arsenal, it was a cover for the outside world.

In the future, it will turn to private ownership and be sold to private capital for operation. The main business will still be Martini-Henry rifles, lever rifles, shotguns and the like.

Precision weapons will be transferred to inland cities. In the future, a large number of military factories will be built in Harbin, Bulawayo and Jianye on the Matabeleland administrative side to prevent them from being monopolized.

The factory manufacturing rocket launchers is code-named 311, the mortar factory is code-named 411, and the mine factory and grenade factory are code-named 511.

Because the current conditions are limited, we are temporarily gathering in this area.

After the construction of several inland cities starts and the railway lines are built, these factories will be moved there in batches.

……

Factory 111 has a supporting acid-making workshop. The first workshop is the workshop for producing sulfuric acid.

Before I even got there, I saw yellow steam lingering in the workshop. The workers inside were all wearing thick protective clothing and masks.

But most of their work clothes were in ruins, not because they were torn but because they were corroded by sulfuric acid vapor.

Shi Jintang stood far away and didn't want to go there, so Rong Kui stood aside and explained to Shi Jintang.

“The method of producing sulfuric acid in the workshop here is the method commonly used in Europe and the United States.

Sulfur dioxide gas is produced by burning sulfur. After being mixed with excess air and water vapor, it is passed into a corrosion-resistant lead chamber to cool down and drop to become dilute sulfuric acid.

Then the excess water in the dilute sulfuric acid is slowly evaporated by distillation to obtain concentrated sulfuric acid. "

This acid-making process is, to put it bluntly, similar to the process of making wine.

Later industrial methods for manufacturing sulfuric acid in large quantities also produced by-products from smelting metals. For example, by-products can be obtained from copper smelting and gold smelting.

Nanhua Company's copper smelting plant will still take time to operate, and we can only wait for follow-up arrangements.

Shi Jintang nodded, and then said as if he was remembering something: "The lead chamber will react to form lead compounds during the production process, which is harmful to the human body. I think you should improve this process."

Rong Kui was a little confused after hearing Shi Jintang's words, "Oh, how can we improve it? Mr. Shi, have you also studied this?"

Shi Jintang thought of the indigenous methods of making strong acid in later generations. He dragged Rong Kui to the office of the factory, took a pen and paper and began to draw the indigenous reaction tower in the base area behind enemy lines. “Place four water tanks on top of each other, open the middle, and seal the gaps with lead to form a reaction tower with a larger volume.

7 or 9 such tall towers form a reaction tower group, connected in series with ceramic tubes and glass tubes with larger diameters;

The front and rear towers are filled with acid-resistant porcelain tiles, and the ancillary equipment is enlarged accordingly.

In this way, the efficiency of the reaction tower can be improved, and the use of too much lead can be avoided, which may cause damage to workers. "

After seeing the pictures drawn by Shi Jintang, Rong Kui was so excited that he almost cried, "Mr. Shi, your knowledge is much better than those European and American scholars and professors."

Shi Jintang waved his hand, "This is just my idea, you can also think of other ways.

After all, nothing in this world is absolute, and ceramic vats may restrict further production capacity improvements.

Is it possible to think of using other materials to replace my idea?

I remember that some granites are not so afraid of sulfuric acid corrosion. You can also try it. "

Rong Kui nodded immediately, "Mr. Shi, we will remember your teachings and we will try more."

Shi Jintang discussed with Rong Kui for a while, and then came to the nitric acid manufacturing workshop, which was also filled with smoke.

The method used to make nitric acid here is the method of adding concentrated sulfuric acid and saltpeter. This method consumes a lot of concentrated sulfuric acid and can easily cause damage to operators.

The ammonia oxidation method used in later generations to produce nitric acid in large quantities has not yet had an impact.

Because the ammonia synthesis process was still too poor, it was not possible to try it until the Germans figured out how to use nitrogen to produce ammonia.

Shi Jintang took a look from a distance and found that the work here was pretty good. The process of preparing concentrated nitric acid was similar to that of concentrated sulfuric acid, and the principles were the same.

After visiting these two workshops, they came to the workshop that produces smokeless gunpowder.

"Since I accepted your mission, I have broken down the process flow for mass manufacturing of smokeless gunpowder:
  The first step is called degreasing:
  Workers are required to make a mixed acid solution of concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid according to a fixed ratio, and then soak cotton in the mixed acid to make weak nitrocellulose and strong nitrocellulose.

The second step is called acid washing:
  This process requires the use of a beater to break up the nitrocellulose into slag. After cleaning and cooking, the residual acid in the nitrocellulose can be washed away. This can ensure that the nitrocellulose does not denitrify and lose its combustibility, and then collect the cleaned nitrocellulose powder residue. stand-by.

The third step is called gelation:
  The nitrocellulose residue that has completed the acid washing process is mixed together with alcohol, rosin removal and acetone to make a 'dough', and then a dough press is used to press the nitrocotton glue into long strips to dry. In this step, smokeless gunpowder has been It's finally taken shape.

The fourth step is called granular polishing:
  Cut the smokeless gunpowder pressed into strips into granules using a roller knife, and then polish it with graphite powder. This step is very important. If it is not polished with graphite powder, it is easy to cause insufficient combustion of the nitrocellulose particles.

After these few steps, the smokeless powder propellant has been completed. "

After listening to Rong Kui's explanation, Shi Jintang already knew enough about the production process of smokeless gunpowder.

The group continued to visit and inspect two factories producing picric acid and tnt.

These two organic compounds require a lot of materials, and the most commonly used one is concentrated nitric acid. Shi Jintang didn't dare to go in and take a closer look. He just listened to Rong Kui's general introduction and gave up.

As the inspection time passed, the morning passed quickly. Shi Jintang and his party, led by Rong Kui, went to the workers' canteen for a meal.

During the meal, the factory workers discovered Boss Shi's arrival, and the workers swarmed in.

Shi Jintang expressed condolences to the workers in the canteen, left the factory, and continued to inspect the bullet, mine and rocket factories in the afternoon.

　Please subscribe, collect, monthly tickets, recommendation votes.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)