Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 14: Clock Manufacturing on the Right Track

Wang Jiankun went to the morning market to have breakfast early in the morning and bought 10 big meat buns and 5 kilograms of pork, ready for his father to take home to improve his diet.

When they arrived at the first stone bridge from Wangjia Brigade to Fengshan Commune, Wang Jiankun was waiting for his father.

Because when we set out a few days ago, we agreed to wait here this morning and take back the money from selling the air gun.

Although the air gun has not been handed over to Cheng Hongbing yet, Master Quan had already given 350 yuan to Wang Jiankun last night, and he planned to use the money to give to his father first.

Not long after, my father came and I gave him the meat buns, pork and money.

Then I told my father about the clock manufacturing and asked him to go back and ask the carpenter in the team if he could take over the job of making the clock base.

The price is 2 yuan per unit. If you are willing to take it, you can make a few first. Ask your father to bring the drawings now. If you are too late tomorrow, your father can bring them the day after tomorrow morning.

This is a relatively long-term deal, and I estimate there will be several thousand units, so I'll give away a few to try first.

If Master Quan can’t find any cheaper ones in Fengshan, maybe he can hand them all over to the team.

My father agreed, and before leaving, Wang Jiankun asked my father to help cover up, saying that he went to the county town to buy the glass and spring, and to reply like this if Master Quan asked.

But don't go into details, because these are goods that Wang Jiankun got from others, and he can make a profit from the price difference, but it would be bad if Master Quan knew about it.

My father agreed and hurried back with the things.

Wang Jiankun turned back to the blacksmith shop, took three air guns and corresponding bullets and went to find Cheng Hongbing.

Cheng Hongbing was already waiting. When he saw him coming, he didn't waste any time, checked the gun and bullets, and gave him 228 yuan.

Wang Jiankun took the money and said that he would come to hand in three guns every morning from now on. Currently, the materials have been prepared for 3 guns. If there is a need for more, he hopes that he can let him know in advance.

Cheng Hongbing said that after this batch of buyers received and used the product, there would definitely be some more orders, but he didn't know how many there would be, and there would be feedback in a few days.

Wang Jiankun expressed his understanding, said hello and went back to the blacksmith shop.

From today on, I will start making table clocks one after another.

When we arrived at the blacksmith shop, Master Quan came over and asked, "Nephew, have you seen your father? Can we go buy some glass and clockwork today?"

Wang Jiankun replied: "I have seen it. I will go to the county town today to buy the clockwork and glass."

"That's good. Also, please ask your father to help find a carpenter in your team to order the base of the clock."

"I went to find a few carpenters in the community and finally got the price down to 2 yuan per piece. Moreover, I could only deliver 5 pieces a day. I didn't have enough time, so I needed to find more carpenters to do the work."

"Okay, I'll tell my father when I go to get the goods this afternoon, and ask him to bring it over when it's ready."

"That's good. I'll follow your instructions for today. I'll ask Uncle Bing and Yu Jianmin to stop making farm tools."

"Okay, we need two more people to arrange it, otherwise it would be a waste of time."

After Wang Jiankun finished speaking, he went to make arrangements.

Let Cha Xiaoming continue to make wax models, make all 50 sets and polish them.

Let Yu Jianmin use the wax mold to make a sand mold, and Uncle Bing prepare the crucible to melt the molten iron.

Master Quan then went to other production teams to inquire about the house construction situation and see if anyone needed table clocks, and took the orders first.

Wang Jiankun went to the river outside to prospect for minerals, to see if he could collect more manganese and find river sand to turn it into glass.

The 50 pieces of glass were quickly prepared, but it took a long time to find the manganese element. It was almost noon before I collected the required amount.

So Wang Jiankun used the iron, carbon and manganese he had just collected from the river to synthesize 100 springs in a certain proportion.

Hide these springs and glass somewhere first, and take them back in the evening.

I went to Master Quan’s house for lunch at noon and then returned to the blacksmith shop.

At Master Quan's house, Wang Jiankun suggested hiring two more people to help polish the parts, otherwise the few people in the blacksmith shop would be too busy to handle it.

Master Quan then arranged for his two younger sons to come and help, named Cha Gangming and Cha Gangliang.

In the afternoon, because there were two more people, things went a little faster.

Wang Jiankun arranged Cha Gangming and Cha Gangliang to do rough grinding, which was to grind off the burrs and pits on the parts, while Cha Xiaoming was responsible for fine grinding and polishing.

The whole afternoon was spent in busyness.

When it was almost time to get off work, Wang Jiankun went to get the glass and spring back.

In the evening, Wang Jiankun checked the progress and found that 5 sets had been polished, and the size and smoothness met the requirements.

Cha Xiaoming continued to let Wang Jiankun teach him drawing and mechanical knowledge, and Wang Jiankun polished the air gun parts while teaching.

The next morning, I went to the morning market for breakfast as usual. I didn't buy buns and pork today. It was such a hot day that if I bought too much, my family wouldn't be able to finish it. I bought more in a few days.

After seeing my father, I gave the money to him.

My father said that the carpenter in the team agreed to do it, and he planned to hire a few more apprentices to work together.

In the first few days, we could deliver 5 units per day, and later we could deliver 10 units per day.

Wang Jiankun asked his father to tell him to start with a quantity of 200 units, and then see how many orders there are after finishing these.

When my father heard that it was such a large amount, he was quite surprised and asked Master Quan whether he had said how much he was going to give to Wang Jiankun.

Wang Jiankun said there was no need to worry, as he would provide the technology and key parts, and Master Quan would not forget him.

Moreover, once the clock manufacturing was on track, he would use the blacksmith shop to buy large quantities of iron, coal and copper, so as to help the production team build pot-carrying machines for making bricks and tiles and sawing wood.

When his father heard that he had a plan, he went back with peace of mind and said that he would bring five clock bases tomorrow.

Wang Jiankun then went back to the blacksmith shop, took the air gun and gave it to Cheng Hongbing, took the money and left. There was no news about the new order yet.

When they arrived at the blacksmith shop, everyone got busy according to yesterday's division of labor.

Wang Jiankun collected the cast air gun parts and planned to polish them in the evening.

He plans to go to the river again today to look for elements to make glass and clockwork.

If manganese is difficult to collect, then go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some potassium permanganate. I found it on sale last time I went there. Some people bought it to use as pesticide and disinfectant.

When the time comes, I will buy a few kilograms and use it to extract manganese to make clockwork, so I don’t have to spend time looking for it everywhere.

Wang Jiankun found a place with river sand and turned the sand into glass, about 100 pieces in total. He hid them somewhere and would get them next time he needed them.

However, not much manganese was found, so only 40 springs were made.

Next time I won’t look for manganese, I will just use potassium permanganate as the raw material.

I went back around noon and found that I had gone a little faster. I had already polished 5 sets in one morning.

It looks like we can spare someone to learn how to assemble it in the afternoon, and the wooden base should be ready in the afternoon.

After lunch, Wang Jiankun took a short rest. He was a little tired after working non-stop for the past few days.

By the afternoon, we will teach people how to assemble the machine, and then the entire production chain will be connected.

Maybe they will just need his help and guidance in the early stages, and later they can arrange and allocate the manpower for each process themselves.

He also planned to go to the Tuokou road construction site to see the pot-carrying machine and other road construction machines.

Master Quan also came back in the afternoon. He went to several production teams to talk with the team leaders.

I found that every production team had people preparing to build houses and buy clocks. Some of those who had already built their houses were also saving money, as they also had to buy clocks.

After learning about these situations, Master Quan felt more confident.

When he saw Wang Jiankun, he asked, "Nephew, when can this clock be made?"

"Now it depends on when the carpenter will bring the base. The one made by our team's carpenter will not be delivered until tomorrow morning."

"If the carpenter you contact can deliver a few bases today, then a few clocks can be made today."

After hearing what he said, Master Quan quickly went to find the carpenters and asked them to get the base.

After a while, Master Quan brought back three bases.

Wang Jiankun asked Master Quan's youngest son, Cha Gangliang, to learn how to assemble. Since 10 sets have been polished out now, he might as well assemble a few sets first and then slowly adjust the division of labor later.

Wang Jiankun taught him step by step, first assembling the gear set and then assembling the spring assist part.

After the two parts are assembled, apply some engine oil to lubricate them and then rotate them to see if they are smooth.

If it is not smooth, there is a jam or lag, then you need to disassemble it and check whether the parts are defective or the size is not up to standard. If it is smooth, then install the clock face, the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand separately.

The next step is to fix the assembled part to the base with small iron nails.

After fixing it, install the pendulum and adjust the screws under the pendulum to control the speed of the pendulum.

Wind up the mainspring and observe the speed of the second hand. It is best to control one circle within one second.

When you sell a table clock in the future, you must make sure it is properly adjusted before selling it, and write a small piece of paper explaining how to adjust the pendulum speed to adjust the speed of the second hand.

While observing whether the machine was moving accurately, Wang Jiankun taught Cha Gangliang how to install the glass and how to hinge the front cover to the base.

After completing these two steps, the clock is assembled.

Cha Gangliang assembled the next two machines by himself. When he didn't know how to operate them or had any problems, Wang Jiankun would guide him.

At this time, Master Quan was also watching from the side, taking note of some of Wang Jiankun's suggestions so that he could tell others about them when selling.

Wang Jiankun told Master Quan that he would teach all the processes and write out the instruction manual, and one copy would be given for each table clock in the future.

Simple problems like these can be solved by referring to the manual, without having to send the machine here for repair.

Upon hearing this, Master Quan immediately stated that he would never forget Wang Jiankun's contribution and would start paying him 1% of the sales volume once the product was sold.

Wang Jiankun accepted it calmly and expressed his hope that Master Quan could have a good start.

He will develop more products in the future and hopes that Master Quan can support him.

Master Quan also stated that as long as there is a need, the tools, raw materials and people here can be deployed, and only the cost price will be calculated at that time.

If the products are given to him for production and sales, he will give a commission.

So the two parties divided the profits, and since there were only three bases, they could stop working after they were done.

Master Quan gave all three machines to the person who had placed the latest order, and sold a few of them first to make up for the loss.

In the evening, Wang Jiankun assembled three air guns and then went to rest.

The next morning, as usual, I went to the morning market to have breakfast and wait for my father to come.

His father didn't let him wait long and carried the bases of five clocks to the bridge.

Wang Jiankun gave the money from selling the gun and the five bases to his father and asked him to go home early.

His father told him to be careful, that everything was fine at home, and that the kiln factory was producing bricks normally. He just wanted Wang Jiankun to go back in a few days to guide the firing of the first kiln of tiles.

Wang Jiankun said that he might go home in three days and would provide guidance then.

After hearing this, my father went home.

Wang Jiankun put the base back to the blacksmith shop, took the three air guns and ran to give them to Cheng Hongbing.

This time, in addition to receiving 3 air guns, Cheng Hongbing also placed an additional order for 9 more.

Wang Jiankun said that he is now more skilled at it and his speed may be faster. Starting from the day after tomorrow, he can deliver 5 pens a day.

Because Wang Jiankun saw that the carpenters here were busy making clocks every day, he asked his father to ask the carpenters in the team to help make 15 gun stocks and grips, and they could all be brought over tomorrow.

In this way, the carpenter here only needs to hand over 6 more keys, and let them concentrate on making the base of the clock.

Wang Jiankun returned to the blacksmith shop and saw that everyone was already doing their respective processes.

Master Quan was keeping accounts. When he saw Wang Jiankun come in, he said, "My dear nephew, you brought the five bases this morning. I'll give you the money."

"Master Quan, just offset the materials I used to make the airgun with the bill, so you don't have to give money back and forth."

"Since my dear nephew has said so, I will record all the accounts and settle them for you at the end of the month. I will refund you any excess or make up for any shortfall."

"Well, I want to make a total of 30 air rifles this time. If I calculate the material cost of each gun based on last time's 10 yuan, that's 300 yuan."

"That's right, I'll put it down as 300 yuan first. Each base I bring here will be charged 2 yuan. How many bases can you bring every day in the future? I can only get 5 bases per day from here."

"Starting tomorrow, we can provide 10 bases per day."

"That's good. Now many people in the commune are building houses and need to make furniture and decorate. The carpenters are very busy, so if you can do more, please do it. I will accept and pay you."

"Okay, I'll talk to my father tomorrow and ask him to send at least 10 bases every day."

"Master Quan, it will take about two days to finish processing the iron parts for these 50 units. Do you want to prepare another batch?"

"I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't mentioned it. I decided to make 200 units this time. Starting tomorrow, I'll ask them to devote some of their energy to making wax and sand molds."

"This arrangement is good. I think they are starting to become more skilled. We can redistribute the work. If a process is faster, they can go to other processes to help. This way, we can speed things up."

"That's right. I'll wait and see how the next 200 units sell. If they sell quickly, I'll find some more people to help."

"Yes, if you want to sell well, you still need to add people. If you want to sell to other counties, you still need to find a few reliable people to help you transport it out."

"Yes, out of this batch of 50 units, I plan to take 20 to Dexing to sell. If the sales are good, I will bring a few people with me and then sell them to several surrounding counties and Raozhou area."

"Master Quan, you have an amazing business acumen. I will go to Raozhou with you to see what is selling well outside and see if I can make it."

"Okay, I'll definitely call you when I go to Raozhou."

"Okay, it's settled. I'm going to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy some things to go home the day after tomorrow."

"You go ahead and let them do the work here."

Wang Jiankun came to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought 5 kilograms of potassium permanganate, buying all the stock.

The salesperson was wondering why so much was needed, as it was enough for an entire production team. Normally, few people bought this kind of thing.

Wang Jiankun said that the team asked him to buy it and prepare it to be used to kill insects in the fields.

The salesperson didn't ask any more questions and let him pay and take the goods.

Wang Jiankun then bought a flashlight. Since there was no electricity at home, he could use it when he got home.

After taking all the flashlights back to the blacksmith shop, Wang Jiankun went out again, bringing with him 5 kilograms of potassium permanganate that he had just bought, intending to use it to synthesize clockwork.

After searching in the river for a long time and collecting enough iron and carbon elements, he began to synthesize the clockwork. He put the extracted iron and carbon into potassium permanganate powder and activated the super power. The potassium permanganate began to change color, and the manganese element entered the iron block. Then the iron block separated into clockwork springs.

Wang Jiankun took away the 6 finished springs and the remaining 300 grams of manganese. While his superpowers for today had not been used up yet, he synthesized 50 pieces of glass and put them all in the place where he had hidden the glass and springs yesterday.

After lunch, Wang Jiankun told Master Quan that they would go to Tuokou where the road was being repaired to see the pot-carrying machine to see if it could be copied.

Master Quan just told him to be careful.

Fengshan is not very far from Tuokou. It only takes an hour's walk to reach the road construction site.

After passing Tuokou is the territory of Tsinghua University. This time the road was repaired from Tsinghua University, and the section of Tsinghua University has already been paved with stones.

At this time, a truck driven by a pot-camel machine was parked on the side of the road, carrying stones.

Wang Jiankun walked over and used his superpowers to project the entire car into his mind, and asked Zhizi to help analyze whether it could be optimized and decomposed, and optimize the power part and the transmission part separately.

On the way back, Wang Jiankun was not in a hurry.

We walked for a while and then took a break. During the break, I discussed with Chieko how to make the pot-carrying machine, as well as the corresponding mixer and brick-making machine.

Tomoko's suggestion was to let the blacksmith shop make the parts it was capable of making, and use super powers to synthesize the parts it was unable to make, such as the steam furnace, combustion chamber, crankshaft, valves, etc., and tell others that they were bought from outside.

Wang Jiankun asked Zhizi to optimize the pot-carrying machine and the result was achieved. The volume was reduced by one third compared to the one pulling the cart, and the power was increased by 20%.

There are just a few pressure parts that require Wang Jiankun to use his superpowers to form them in one go, which is not difficult to do.

The production team will use it for their own use. I will emphasize to my grandfather and father that we should take good care of it.

I returned to the blacksmith shop and checked the progress of the clock manufacturing. I found that 8 clocks had been assembled today and Master Quan had already taken them out to sell.

Wang Jiankun did not participate in the manufacturing anymore, but started drawing blueprints, presenting the parts of the pot-carrying machine one by one on the blueprints.

As for the structural parts, Wang Jiankun still plans to cast them. For large parts such as flywheels and supporting angle irons, he plans to use wooden molds to make sand molds and then pour molten iron.

I don’t plan to ask the carpenter in this commune to make the mold, but to go back to the production team to make it.

After Wang Jiankun finished making three air guns in the evening, he rested. He plans to find more iron elements tomorrow, because many parts need to be made with his superpowers.

This article is slow to warm up in the early stages, and focuses on developing productivity through farming. Friends who like it are welcome to like, collect, and vote for it!

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(End of this chapter)