I want to be emperor

Chapter 70 Unified Metrics
Regarding plate armor, Luo Zhixue had some ideas, but they were just some small ideas.

But compared to plate armor, he actually pays more attention to the mass production of steel and the processing technology itself.

If steel can be mass-produced, even if it is only a small-scale mass production in the modern era, and can be processed on a large scale, then it will be of great use.

Whether it is mechanical or military or many other aspects, it can be greatly promoted.

It's just that it is too difficult to directly produce steel on a large scale like modern industrial countries. What is needed behind this is a complete industrial system, which is far inferior to what Luo Zhixue can do now.

So Luo Zhixue also set his sights on some steelmaking methods commonly used by people today, such as the steelmaking method used by Blacksmith Song and the others.

Luo Zhixue has seen that they made steel in Sanshui Village before. Generally, they used wrought iron as the raw material and put pig iron on it. The high temperature melted the pig iron and infiltrated into the wrought iron to obtain crude steel.

The whole method of operation is actually quite simple, just set up a stove and bellows to do it.

However, the output of this indigenous method of steelmaking is very low, at least it has nothing to do with the large-scale mass production of steel in Luo Zhixue's mind.

And low output means high price, which makes it difficult to promote large-scale use.

Luo Zhixue intends to ponder over it later with blacksmith Song to improve the existing iron-making and steel-making technologies and processes, and strive to further increase steel production capacity and reduce costs.

If the cost is reduced to a certain level, Luo Zhixue doesn't mind directly using steel trained by traditional methods to make knives, spears, plate armor and other weapons and equipment to equip elite troops.

-

After seeing the production of armor, Luo Zhixue took people to inspect the arrow factory and the ammunition factory. There was nothing to say about the arrow factory. It was the place where the arrows were made, and there was no special advanced technology. Some primitive machines are used for processing.

These are mainly to save manpower, and are used in processes with high repeatability and low force, such as grinding, drilling and other processes.

The ammunition factory mainly produces solid shells, shotgun shells, and lead bullets. It is also trying to manufacture gunpowder by itself, but the raw materials for self-made gunpowder also need to be purchased, and saltpeter and sulfur are very expensive. The only thing worth noting is , Luo Zhixue slightly improved the black powder formula.

What about the purification of raw materials, gunpowder granulation and other processes, the Ming Dynasty has actually been very perfect, and it is similar to the same period in Europe. The only difference is that many European counterparts use hydraulic machinery for processing, which improves production efficiency. Most of the craftsmen are still in the human stage.

In the future, if the production demand is large, the ammunition factory at Baoxiangying can also install hydraulic machinery in the gunpowder production link.

There is no difficulty in technology, it just depends on whether there is a need. The main reason is that building a complete set of hydraulic machinery for gunpowder production is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the cost is not low. If the demand is not too urgent, it is better to do it manually.

But now the gunpowder production here in Baoxiangying is naturally a small workshop among small workshops. There are not many raw materials, and there are not many people who need it. Now it is very good to be able to produce several hundred catties of gunpowder in a month. Hydraulic machinery, direct manual production, at most get some auxiliary mechanical tools and it's done.

After seeing the production of arrows and ammunition, Luo Zhixue did not stop, but continued to go to the artillery factory. However, there is nothing to see in the artillery factory now. After all, the production of artillery is usually a few months, and now it is still in production The stage of the mold.

Luo Zhixue just went for a stroll, once again emphasizing the need to maintain the quantity of casting gunpowder, and then turned around and went to the gun factory.

The gun factory is the highlight of Luo Zhixue's inspection of the weapon workshop today.

Because according to Luo Zhixue's reform of the infantry, the demand for muskets will be very large in the future, and an infantry post needs [-] muskets.

If the existing five infantry posts are completely reformed and reequipped, they will need [-] muskets.

But now there are only more than 50 bird guns seized in Baoxiangying, in addition to more than a dozen muskets that have been tried to build in the past few months.

However, most of the dozens of muskets built by themselves are used for various tests, and there are even several calibers.

Blacksmith Song was still explaining in front of Luo Zhixue: "After comparing and testing more than a dozen firearms we built in the early stage, we finally selected a medium-sized firearm for production."

Luo Zhixue is no stranger to this. In fact, he personally finalized the final selection of the musket, and the most important data is the caliber of [-]mm.

The calibers of the bird guns used by the Ming army in these years are different, the small ones are only [-] mm, and the large ones are about [-] mm. mm or so.

Luo Zhixue, after the comparative test in the early stage, believed that although the caliber is too small, although it has a high muzzle velocity and can shoot far, but musketeers fire within [-] meters in combat, so it is meaningless for a musket that can shoot hundreds of meters.

And those heavy matchlock guns with longer barrels are not very meaningful to the Baoxiangying. If you have the skills to play heavy matchlock guns, it is better to just push a few [-]-jin light guns over. next slice...

In the end, Luo Zhixue chose an [-]mm matchlock gun, not a long barrel like a heavy matchlock gun, but about the same size as a single-soldier blunderbuss, just with a larger caliber.

After all, when the size and weight are acceptable, it is better to have a larger caliber, so that the armor-piercing ability within the effective range will be more powerful.

This kind of musket can penetrate all kinds of armor in East Asia within [-] meters, no matter if it is European plate armor, East Asian armor, fish scale armor, cloth face armor or some cotton armor, as long as it is not too abnormal, Armor that is so thick that soldiers can't wear it, in short, every time a hole is punched, and then there is still a hole...

During the actual test, within [-] meters, this kind of musket directly penetrated a piece of steel armor made of steel materials made by Baoxiangying with its own method. Still can't bear it!

Luo Zhixue still attached great importance to this new matchlock gun. In order to mass produce it as soon as possible, Luo Zhixue gave almost unlimited support to the gun factory.

The limited supply of iron materials is limited, and water hammer is used first. Excellent craftsmen are also transferred directly. In addition, a group of young and strong workers are recruited to work. There is no need to pay any wages, and there will be a lot of young and strong for food.

He also personally designed a lot of auxiliary mechanical equipment with Song Blacksmith and Huang Carpenter, and distinguished the various processes of making matchlock guns, and arranged different people to be responsible for different processes.

In order to ensure that the parts manufactured by the division of labor can still be used in common use, it has formulated a set of strict unified measurement standards and tools in person.

It can be said that the things i used in other branches of the weapons workshop were originally made by Luo Zhixue for making matchlock guns.

This is especially true for all kinds of auxiliary mechanical equipment. These wood and iron as the main structure, various lathes, boring machines, etc., which only have the most basic processing capabilities, are actually designed specifically for making guns.

The reason why the production of other ordnance weapons can also be used is purely a free ride.

The musket production, which took Luo Zhixue's great energy, went through the stages of experimentation, testing, design tools, and design process flow in the Sanshui Village period.

Eventually, the first dedicated musket factory was established in Songshan Village.

Luo Zhixue looked at the dozens of different types of original mechanical equipment, and then at the dozens of craftsmen and ordinary people who were busy working in it, the corners of his mouth could not help but play slightly.

He has spent a lot of thought in order to toss out this gun factory, and now it is finally in its infancy.

Now all he needs to do is wait!
Blacksmith Song also saw the joy on Luo Zhixue's face, and immediately stepped forward and said, "General, we have already begun to try to use the assembly line method you mentioned to divide the labor to build muskets."

"Although the craftsmen are not yet proficient and the speed of building is relatively slow, it is far better than our old way of building."

"Moreover, this method has much lower requirements for craftsmen. You don't need to learn all the processes from beginning to end, you only need to specialize in one of the processes. Even if you are not a craftsman, just ordinary folks can do it after a short period of training. competent."

Luo Zhixue nodded slightly: "The flowing water method is certainly good, but you must pay attention to it. You must ensure the error and measure it uniformly."

There is nothing unusual about the assembly line itself, but after splitting up many processes, let the workers specialize in one of them, and then improve their proficiency and efficiency.

But there is also a big problem here, and that is error.

If the error is too large, the parts made in separate processes cannot be assembled...

So for the current so-called assembly line production, the disassembly process is not a problem, the key is to control the error, otherwise it is easy to produce a large number of parts that cannot be assembled, so unified measurement is very important.

Blacksmith Song said: "Don't worry, General, you have focused on this issue before, and the humble job is to focus on it. Now all the rulers used in the factory are re-engraved from the set of rulers I used before, and there will be no delay Yes."

It doesn’t really matter whether the measurement standard is metric or the traditional city system, but a unified standard must be formed, and a certain length measured in all rulers must be consistent.

Can't make this one longer and that one shorter!
Luo Zhixue said: "That's good, Master Song. Now that the firearms factory has been built, how many firearms can it produce in a month?"

(End of this chapter)