A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 177 Hydraulic Drilling Machine
After being praised by Wang Dou, Lai Yuanlong burst into a smile, the work has achieved results, and everyone is in a very happy mood when he is affirmed and rewarded by his boss.However, this result was not his own efforts. Although Lai Yuanlong designed the prototype, Li Maosen was still responsible for the actual creation, and he both shared the credit.

In addition, after the research on the fire door device, there is another problem.In this era, every artisan's technology is a secret that is not passed on, and there is even a saying that it is passed on to men but not to women. Every bit of skill in their hands is the basis for them to pass on to support their families.

Take the military craftsmen of Shun Township Castle as an example. Although the quality of the firecrackers they make is uniformly supervised by Li Maosen, in fact, the methods of making firecrackers are still different for each of them. Everyone has their own unique skills. It's hard to know, stealing a teacher is also a big taboo.

Lai Yuanlong and Li Maosen shared the technology after researching the fire door device. It may not matter to Lai Yuanlong to announce and contribute it, but Li Maosen must have selfish intentions and is unwilling to agree.Let Li Maosen recruit apprentices by himself and slowly cultivate them?This is definitely not in line with Wang Dou's wishes.

Considering the limitations of the times, it is difficult to force everyone to share their technical contributions.

When Lin Daofu mentioned this question to Wang Dou after seeing the research on the fire door device, Wang Dou thought about it, and said to Lai Yuanlong and Li Maosen: "This gunpowder device that can cover the fire door is bound to be implemented on all fire guns... ...Considering some circumstances...Let's say this, the blueprints and actual objects of this fire door device can be regarded as the official skills of our Shun Township Gunsmith, but you two have made such great achievements, and I will reward you. All craftsmen in the machine factory need to learn how to make this kind of device, and after each device is made, you two will get a certain bonus as a reward to commend your great achievements."

Li Maosen thought for a long time, and said: "My lord is saying that although this skill is owned by the government, as long as someone imitates the little one to make this kind of fire door, the villain will get some bonuses?"

Wang Doudao: "That's right, that's exactly the case, and on the firecrackers of my Shun Township Fort, every firecracker will be equipped with this kind of fire door device in the future."

He smiled and said, "Guard Li, Ambassador Lai, you two will be able to sleep comfortably in the future, and you will be able to live comfortably. Congratulations."

For Wang Dou's income similar to copyright, Lai Yuanlong is fine, but Li Maosen is both surprised and happy. He contributed this technology, but every craftsman needs to pay him a certain fee for the use of the technology, so he doesn't need to work. , you can have a steady stream of income.That's a really, really good deal.

Li Maosen said: "How long...how long will this bonus last?"

Wang Dou said: "Let's start with 50 years. After you die, your descendants will also have a steady stream of income."

Li Maosen was even more stunned, and the craftsmen around were also exclaimed, all of them were extremely envious of Li Maosen.

Even Miss Ji looked at Wang Dou in surprise, then at Li Maosen and the others.

Wang Dou looked at the craftsmen around him and said, "So, the workers of your gunsmiths, just donate whatever skills you have. The dividends will be much more lucrative than if you keep your own and recruit a few apprentices. And there are more skills. You know, you are famous all over the world."

Li Maosen said: "My lord, I have one thing to worry about. If someone steals the skills privately, or doesn't want to share the dividends, what should I do?"

Wang Doudao: "Stealing a teacher is a matter of breaking the rules of the industry. You must be punished. You can discuss related matters by yourself and make a regulation. In short, in Shunxiang Fort, anyone who dares to violate the rules of the industry will be severely punished."

Li Maosen rubbed his hands, excited, and the surrounding craftsmen were also talking about it.

Suddenly Li Maosen said: "My lord, the young one and Ambassador Lai also made a hydraulic drilling machine together. Would you like to take a look at it?"

……

The Shunxiangbao gunsmith factory is located in the northwest of the fort, and there is a river called Yaozi River nearby. , Under the action of water flow, the stone disc drives the drill bit to rotate slowly.

This hydraulic drilling machine looks very simple, but its advantages are obvious. It will never tire when drilling and grinding the barrel, and it can maintain a fixed accuracy and quality, unlike manual operation, where deviations occur due to physical strength and energy.

According to Wang Dou's estimate, the simple hydraulic drilling machine is at least several times more efficient than manpower, and one craftsman can also take care of several drilling machines at the same time.If there is an opportunity to improve in the future, perhaps the efficiency of a hydraulic drilling machine can be increased by more than ten times.

Of course, this kind of hydraulic drilling machine also has disadvantages, that is, the cost is relatively high, and the drill bit often needs to be replaced during operation. Wang Dou estimates that the cost of this hydraulic drilling machine is one-to-one with the work efficiency, but Wang Dou thinks it is still worth it .Compared with the mass production of firearms in the future, these costs are acceptable to Wang Dou.

Moreover, according to Wang Dou's current situation, the demand for firecrackers is huge, and there is also a shortage of craftsmen in Shunxiangbao. The promotion of machinery will not cause the problem of robbing craftsmen of their jobs.This is actually the most fundamental reason affecting the promotion of ancient machinery.

Looking at this huge hydraulic drilling machine, Wang Dou was full of admiration, and he asked: "Guan Li, if you use this drilling machine to drill a gun barrel, how many days can you drill a gun barrel?"

Li Maosen made a rough estimate and said, "My lord, in the past it would take nearly a month to drill out a gun barrel by manpower, but with this hydraulic drilling machine, a single gun barrel can be drilled within six days!"

Daming firecrackers are usually octagonal, with one end thick and the other thinner. The thicker one is used as the belly and the thinner one is used as the muzzle. When the firecracker was first made, it was still a rough embryo, and the inside of the bore was rough and uneven. Naturally, such a firecracker cannot In combat, it is necessary to use a drill to drill the blunderbuss.Drilling and boring skills are relatively sophisticated, and manpower is limited. In Daming, good drills and files are all made of high-quality falling steel. Falling steel was considered to be the first-class hard steel at that time, but in fact, the rigidity is still different from that of later generations. Far away, it is still very difficult to drill the bore of a gun with a falling steel, and it is understandable that it takes a month to drill it.

Moreover, the bore of the blunderbuss is finished if it is drilled, and it is necessary to scrape the inside of the bore with four-edged steel bars, and make the back door of the screw, etc., so it usually takes a long time to make a blunderbuss at that time, and a large number of skilled workers are required. And equipment, the output will not be very high, most of the time is spent on drilling and boring of the barrel.

In fact, at that time, a kind of manual drilling machine was widely used among craftsmen in Ming Dynasty. It used wood as the frame, and used a circular stone plate as the inertia wheel. Compared with the use of manpower, it has improved a lot, but it is still very tiring. After being improved to hydraulic power, it will be even more powerful.

The hydraulic drilling machine in front of Wang Dou is an improved version of this kind of manual drilling machine. The drilling speed has been rapidly increased to six days, and the efficiency improvement can be said to be very significant.

Hearing Li Maosen's words, Wang Dou was also taken aback: "One for six days?"

He walked a few times around the hydraulic drilling machine. With this simple machine, it can drill a gun barrel in six days?
Lin Daofu and the others behind Wang Dou were talking about it, and Miss Ji also looked left and right at the hydraulic drilling machine curiously.

(End of this chapter)