Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 744
The rolling mill has two cold-drawn steel pipe machines and two cold-rolled steel pipe machines for drawing seamless steel pipes—of course, even without these machines brought from another time and space, a few cold-rolled steel pipe machines are made at Lingao's industrial level. There are not many problems with the steel pipe drawing machine.

The rolling mill already has sufficient experience in the manufacture of cold-drawn seamless steel pipes—so far, the barrels of all the guns produced in Lingao are cold-drawn seamless pipes. With enough production experience, they can produce another specification The steel pipe is also not a problem.

The new type of boiler still adopts riveting technology, and all the materials are made of low carbon steel. The equipment on the ship is not as good as that on land. Once something goes wrong, the consequences are much more serious. There was no explosion in the early marine boiler that did not cause a major accident. Safety comes first. .

Sun Li and Zhou Billy had the previous experience in building Lancashire boilers, consulted a lot of information, compared the advantages and disadvantages of various boilers, and then assisted in computer design and selection, and finally designed and manufactured a "Zhu Rong II" The fire-tube boilers are far superior to their early imitation Lancashire boilers in terms of overall structural strength.

The final manufactured boiler easily reached the expected output pressure during the trial ignition operation: 3.5KG/CM output pressure, such a large output value is already twice that of the boiler used by the Great Eastern in the 1850s.The Great Eastern still uses an old-fashioned box-type boiler, with an output pressure of less than 1.8 KG/CM.Six of these large box boilers had to be used to power the 4800 hp marine engine.

The only thing that worried Sun Li was that there was something wrong with the pressure gauge on the boiler. He was very worried that one day the pressure indication would be wrong and cause tragedy.

With such a high-pressure boiler, not only can the cabin space be saved, but also lay the foundation for the development of three-expansion or even four-expansion steam engines in the future.

According to the rated 1-horsepower steam engine output power, only one such boiler can meet the needs of the steam engine.However, there are still many places to use steam on the ship. The excess steam can be used for cooking and providing distilled water for the crew... Finally, it was decided to install two such boilers in the hull of the 854 modification.

The 854 modification project team still made a prudent decision to start using only a relatively simple 500-horsepower steam engine as power.Marine steam engines have special requirements for size and operation mode, so various standard steam engines widely used in Lingao industry cannot be directly loaded on ships.A special marine steam engine had to be redeveloped.Zhan Wuya's opinion is that this steam engine should be used as a standardized equipment, and if there are no special requirements, it will be generally installed on all ships that require 500 horsepower.

In the end, Sun Li and others who were responsible for the development of the steam engine decided to use the reciprocating inverted vertical steam engine, which was widely used in the middle and late 19th century and had mature technology. The twin propellers lay the foundation.The steam engine manufactured by Sun Li is a double-expansion type with higher efficiency than before, and it can be improved to three-expansion or four-expansion in the future.The Manufacturing Director Department decided to imitate the re-expansion type first, and gradually improve it.

In addition to the 500-horsepower main engine, two existing 2-horsepower small steam engines were installed to provide power for auxiliary operations, including raising and lowering sails, driving artillery, and retracting and launching small boats.

After the power scheme is solved, the biggest technical bottleneck of the 854 ship transformation project will no longer exist.The last bigger technical challenge is the paint used for the hull.Although the bottom of the ship is covered with copper skin, no special bottom paint is required, but the entire hull also needs paint as a protective material.

In this time and space, there is no modern paint, and various botanical substitutes such as raw lacquer, soybean oil, and hemp oil are all insufficient in quantity.In the end, ships were painted with asphalt paint extracted from coal tar. Asphalt paint has a strong anti-corrosion effect and was the most widely used marine paint in the European shipbuilding industry before the large-scale use of paint.This foul-smelling substance coated the hull, giving the whole vessel an unsightly light black color.So much so that the first batch of modern ships facing high production were called "black ships".

Of course, to truly build a ship into shape and launch it into operation, it is not just to build a hull and install an engine. Every step forward in the 854 renovation project, the Manufacturing Directorate and the Planning Institute will find that countless new problems need to be solved.Some require the Planning Institute to find new raw materials from various sources.Some require industrial departments to manufacture new equipment, and more problems are that they only have technical information but no professionals who really know what they know.Everything depends on the time travelers to explore, understand and experiment by themselves.

"...The construction of the 854 reconstruction project has effectively promoted the supporting and systematization of the new industrial system, and enhanced the overall coordination ability and awareness among industrial departments. The industrial department has built 2 new industrial departments for this project, and newly built 297 sets of equipment ( sets), including 46 large-scale equipment (sets), 2515 pieces (sets) of manufacturing process equipment and molds, and 3490 person-times of trained technicians and workers..." (Excerpt from "Contemporary Industrial History Shipbuilding Industry Volume", first edition, internal issue , not to be quoted without permission)
This stumbling forward is full of adventure, waste, frustration, disappointment, and surprise.So much so that Zhou Ke once said when he was drinking drunk: In terms of all the difficulties he experienced in the 854 modification project, the 854 project was launched in a hurry at the beginning.

相比之854改工程，6艘风帆蒸汽混合动力的500吨级船的建造过程就简化多了――基本上在建造854改工程中所取得的技术性成果和经验，马上就可以运用到这些船只的建造中去。而为854改制造的许多配件、工装和设备也能够直接用在这些船只上。

According to the provisions of the First Shipbuilding Filing, the construction of these ships is Project 901.After some design discussions, the final 901 project plan was to copy the northern "90-day gunboat" during the American Civil War. The first ship USS Unadilla started construction in late spring, launched in mid-August, and entered service at the end of September, hence the name "8-day gunboat". ".The construction period of this kind of warship is very short, and it is appreciated by the people who are in urgent need of new ships.

The final construction index of Project 901 is that the waterline ship has a length of 48 meters, a width of 8.5 meters, a maximum draft of 2.9 meters, a displacement of 690 tons, a load of 507 tons, and a two-masted Barquentine sail.Install a 500 horsepower steam engine with a single propeller.Another 12-horsepower auxiliary steam engine was installed.Maximum speed 1 knots.The crew is 10 people.The Admiralty designated it as a fourth-class gunboat.

The positioning of this four-tier gunboat is more responsible for route escort and long-range patrol tasks.Cargo missions are also performed.Its coal bunker area can be adjusted, and the coal-loading volume or cargo-loading volume can be changed according to different tasks.

The 500-horsepower tugboat is named Project 621. The tugboat is not only used to tow barges. Since a large number of large-tonnage ships have been put into construction, the berthing of these ships in and out of the port in the future cannot be solved by small-horsepower steamboats. .High horsepower tugboats must be arranged to assist large ships to berth and leave the dock.

The 621 project adopts double paddle wheel propulsion - paddle wheel propulsion has the advantage of shallow draft, suitable for activities in coastal areas and ports, and can also enter larger inland rivers if necessary.Moreover, it is not afraid of the entanglement of fishing nets and aquatic plants that are common in offshore and inland rivers. The maneuverability of the double paddle wheels is also relatively good, which is very suitable for the two roles given to it by the people who have traveled.

When the shipbuilding project was in full swing, at the request of the navy, the transformation of various steamboats originally equipped was also put on the agenda, and they would be replaced by iron wood bearings and brand-new cast iron propellers in batches.To improve the combat effectiveness of small boats.Once the navy plans to complete the transformation, it will transport some of the armed Daihatsu steamboats to Hong Kong and other places for various short-distance maritime chores.Cooperate with Type II two-masted patrol boats as the main force of the Hong Kong and Pearl River Basin Squadron.

A large number of shipbuilding and ship repair tasks poured into the shipyard continuously, so Zhou Ke had to request a 12-hour double-shift work system in the shipyard.Originally, they used an 8-hour three-shift work system, but the shortage of workers made it difficult for Zhou Ke to maintain such a labor system.Ask for an extension of working hours.

"Otherwise, three shifts are meaningless. With the current scale of shipbuilding, my workers are not enough to maintain two shifts." Zhou Ke complained when meeting Wu De, "not only must I approve my plan for two shifts, but also You have to recruit workers—even those with little training. At least they can work as laborers."

Wu De said: "Let the workers work continuously for 12 hours, can you ensure that the workers will not have problems in the long run? If a few skilled workers die from work-related injuries, it will be a big loss."

"It is said that workers generally worked 19-12 hours in the 14th century. I don't think our 12-hour work system will have a big impact on maintaining it for a few months. In terms of food, I would like to apply for more food subsidies for workers-especially Free protein rations and sweets. Energy supplements are also handed out.”

Wood agreed to his request, and then he ordered the shipyard to give priority to the labor force who had recently completed "training" from the quarantine camp.The weekly "study work" activities in Fangcaodi are mostly changed to "study labor" in shipyards and other industrial sectors related to shipbuilding.Although these students may not necessarily understand technology, they can at least be able to write and count -- this simplest skill is rarely seen among the workers in Lingao.

(End of this chapter)