Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 230 Flat Glass Production Line

To make poured flat glass, the cross glass craftsmen first need to find a suitable formula. The commonly used ingredients list is: silica sand, washed and sieved; alkali salt - replaced by seaweed ash; quicklime, sifted after sifting with water ; saltpeter.Finally, there is broken glass.

Ji Situ commanded all the raw materials to be calcined in the sintering furnace to remove the moisture.After it is out of the oven, the sintered block is cut into small pieces.Put them into the crucible one by one for melting - the volume of the sintered material is much larger than that of the molten glass, so you must wait for the previous ones to melt before putting in new raw materials.

These jobs are all performed by apprentices.Among the children taken in from Guangzhou, those who were older and not suitable for education were incorporated into the Apprentice Corps and were educated under the apprenticeship system.Apprenticeship is a way of imparting skills in the actual production process in the form of teaching by precept and example.A large number of skilled workers with basic skills can be trained in a relatively short period of time.It plays an important role in the industrial development of the Time Travel Group——According to the estimates of Zhan Wuya and others, after 3 to 6 months, most of the simple jobs in the industrial sector can be performed by local apprentices. Focus on more complex and sophisticated work.

The Apprentice Corps adopts a mode of centralized accommodation and militarized management.Get up at 6 o'clock every morning for morning exercise, running and doing exercises.After breakfast, they are even better than the school children in terms of clothing and food treatment-after all, working in a factory consumes much more than studying.The food standard is to guarantee 2570 calories per day.The varieties offered are similar to those in other countries: brown rice, sweet potatoes, vegetables and fish products.No fat or meat.

The whole team started working at 7 o'clock and worked until 6 o'clock in the evening.Lunch is served in between.After dinner, focus on studying culture for an hour. Go to bed at 9 o'clock.The apprentices have no holidays and no wages, but the children are still getting used to it—after all, the food here is good, the accommodation is good, and the clothes are neat.The masters are also kind, and they don't beat and scold casually like the apprentices outside.And they soon knew that they were learning amazing new skills that they couldn't learn outside.For a small number of children who have deep wandering habits and are unwilling to work, they naturally have no interest and time to reform their outlook on life through the public—the last place they will go to is the labor camp. After staying there for a few months, they will cry and cry. Coming back—not everyone can come back.

Looking at the teenagers who came into the workshop in bulky indigo homemade overalls and rattan hard hats, led by the team leader like lambs, Bai Yu sighed: "I know why Marx said that capitalists are evil. .”

"You bastard, you bastard, work quickly!" Xiao Bailang climbed on the truss and was overcoming a huge block of pulleys. The chains of this set of cranes were processed by himself in the chain bearing workshop yesterday.

"NND, this is mutilating children—" Although Bai Yu was a computer network engineer, he also worked as a human soul engineer in another time and space. He came to the workshop to formulate regulations for industrial schools for the Ministry of Education. When you come, you will be caught and beaten.

"If I don't kill children, I'll kill you instead." Although Xiao Bailang had a pretty face, and looked like a queen when he was serious, Bai Yu had no choice but to shut up. He muttered, "Socialist democracy and the legal system are always advocated by the party."

"There's no socialism here," Xiao Bailang slammed the disobedient pulley with a hammer. "What's our name? By the way, Du Wen said last time that we have a tendency toward oligarchism."

Before Bai Yu could speak, the team leader over there turned back to Ji Si with a serious face, so he bumped his heels and stood at attention in a German style, and raised his hand to report: "Report: No. The glass team is reporting to you! There should be 11 people, but there are actually 11 people. The report is over! Please give instructions!"

The glass team almost made Xiao Bailang, who was climbing on the truss, and Bai Yu, who was the delivery tool below, burst into laughter.

Ji Situi waved his hand solemnly: "Relax!" He looked at the group of half-grown children who had been trained by the army for several months, each of them tried their best to show their "military appearance" with their chests and stomachs folded.He suddenly discovered that there was an extra armband on the left sleeve of the team leader.Take a closer look and there are some patterns on it-probably the official title mark?This group of people in the army really know how to do this.

"Today's job is to continue the practice of melting glass frits. You will be divided into three groups and carry out follow-up practice. Are you wearing sunglasses?"

"Bring it!" All the children took out a pair of sunglasses from their pockets.

"Okay, let's start the internship!"

The crucible filled with glass frit was heated in a blazing glass kiln. Every once in a while, Ji Situi would take out a crucible, check the condition in it, and add glass frit.

"Attention everyone, there is now a layer of opaque white scum in the cauldron." Ji Situi was wearing an asbestos turban, wearing sunglasses, and was lecturing to several apprentices.

"We call this glass nitrate. It is the product of using saltpeter to clarify the glass liquid. It contains a lot of impurities. It must be scooped up to make clear and transparent glass."

Several teenage apprentices stared at the red hot liquid glass in the cauldron with serious faces, and kept pushing the sunglasses that were sliding up and down their noses.

"During the whole melting process, although the crucible is closed and you cannot see it. But as a glassworker, you must always pay attention to the situation in the crucible—"

Then one of the apprentices raised his hand.

"You said, what's the problem?"

"Master Ji said that you should always pay attention to the molten glass in the crucible, but this crucible has a cover, and you have to remove the crucible every time you want to look at it--Master Wang specifically said that you should keep Good temperature. In this case, why not remove the lid? Then you can directly see the inside of the crucible from the furnace mouth?"

"Because glass cannot be polluted, otherwise it will not be able to make a clear and flawless appearance. Soot is easy to fly, and it will fall into the open crucible. Do you understand?"

All the apprentices nodded together.At this time, another apprentice raised his hand: "Why don't you use wood for the fire? Wood burns cleaner than this kind of black coal."

"Okay, good question."

He then explained the calorific value, cost, and ease of acquisition of the fuel for a few minutes.All the apprentices seemed to understand but half understood.

To train these vagrants of the Ming Dynasty who have been wandering in the city and countryside for several months and cannot read a single word into new industrial workers, the industrialists have spared no effort to the extreme.Skill development is fairly easy. Chinese people have always been known for being hard-working, intelligent and diligent, but cultivating a new way of thinking is not something that can be accomplished overnight.Anyway, if you can talk, talk, don't ask to be able to understand, first instill ideas into it and then talk.

Ji Situi asked, "What's your name?"

"My name is Sun Xing." "My name is Huang Zhongshan."

"It's great that you can ask such a question." Ji Situi praised with all his might.Such children are rare and need a lot of encouragement.

After the molten glass was smelted all night, a team of two carefully took the crucible out of the kiln with a lifting frame, and carefully put it on an iron frame under the crane.This iron frame is fitted with long handles on either side for easy pouring.

At this time, the molten glass in the crucible was already in a red-hot state, and its viscosity was just right.The crucible is hoisted and transported by a crane to the pig iron pouring table.

The pouring table was originally constructed on a solid stone table top covered with copper plates.It was believed at the time that copper stained molten glass less than iron.But later in the actual production, it was found that the copper is easy to crack when the glass liquid is poured on it.Once cracked, the copper plate is completely scrapped.

The British improved on it in the mid-19th century, using pig iron as a platform.The time traveler completely imitated the design of the British, although it was not as huge as that table.But the structure is completely similar, and casters are also installed.In this way, the pouring platform can be directly pushed down to the door of each annealing kiln.There is no need to use special tools and vehicles to move.

The mechanical department also made some small improvements - a simple rail was laid between the pouring table and the annealing kiln. This is a suggested small rail that is directly embedded in the hard ground without using sleepers.But it can greatly save manpower-after all, it is not an easy job to push a table with more than 8 tons.

After the molten glass is poured from the crucible onto the table, workers use an iron roller to flatten the gelatinous molten glass.Iron bars are used around the platform to ensure that the glass liquid will not be pushed to the ground.

The entire pouring work was successfully completed, and the molten glass poured on the pouring table was easily rolled into pieces of flat glass. According to the amount of molten glass poured each time, the thickness of the glass plate can also be controlled.Then there is annealing for up to 10 days.

"This is indeed better than the blowpipe method." Ji Situi said excitedly to Wang Luobin when he witnessed the first batch of flat glass being sent into the annealing furnace.

"It's not over yet. After annealing, it needs to be milled before it can be used." Wang Luobin said.He remembered reading in books that it was a very slow and laborious job.

During the casting process, the top of the glass plate is in contact with the roller, and the bottom is in contact with the iron plate, and the surface is relatively rough.Grinding and polishing are required.

The grinding work was carried out on a stone platform. According to Wang Luobin's request, a large bluestone was specially quarried in the quarry. This is a kind of fine-textured, low-hardness stone, and it is most suitable as a grinding platform.

The grinding process is as follows: the glass plate to be ground is coated with a layer of lime to prevent it from moving during grinding.Put another half glass plate on the flat glass that needs to be polished, a plank is glued on the glass plate above, and a horizontal wheel made of light hardwood is fixed on the plank.The wheel then moves the upper glass plate back and forth, creating a stable friction between the two glass plates.To increase the friction effect, water and fine sand are injected between the two glass plates.Raised edge stops should also be installed around the grinding table to ensure that water and sand will not run off.

(End of this chapter)