The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 438

The action of the Lumi gun has only seven parts, the action of the flintlock has nine parts, and the action of the wheel-wheel gun has 21 parts. This is one of the reasons why the wheel-wheel gun is so difficult and expensive. .

The spring wheel gun has many parts and requires high precision. Ding Yi's accuracy is not up to standard, so he has to replace it after ten shots in a row.

Ding Yi soon came to the workshop of the Craftsmanship Bureau to make wheel guns. A small iron furnace was newly built here, and a large iron furnace was being built. There was still a place beside it that was being expanded in preparation for increasing production in the future.

Li Zhongyi showed Ding Yi a part, which was hand-made by their craftsmen in the early stage according to the European prototype. This is a batch of parts with the highest precision. copper.

If you use such parts to assemble a spring wheel gun, you can fire thirty shots.

But if you do this, the artisans of the whole island have nothing to do, just make spring wheel guns.

"According to the assembly line of adults, suppose 21 people make 21 parts each."

"Each person can build three to five per day."

"But it takes 21 skilled craftsmen."

In the past, the sixteen parts of the Lumi blunderbuss and flintlock guns combined did not use as many craftsmen as here.

Ding Yi now has 6000 craftsmen and workers in total, but the number of people who can really stand alone and make such exquisite parts alone is definitely less than [-]. Besides, all departments of the Craftsmanship Bureau need craftsmen, not just spring wheel guns. of.

It is extremely unrealistic and labor-intensive to build it all by hand, which will greatly affect the creation of Ding Yi's other things.

So they are now using the pouring method (or called the model method), modeling to do it.

They divided the parts of the spring wheel gun into two batches. One batch is purely handmade, which are relatively simple or do not need to be molded, such as: medicine pot cover, flint clip, pot cover lever, main spring, pot Cover reed, etc., a total of nine.

Li Zhongyi arranged for 27 craftsmen to do the same thing every three people, requiring all the same size. Because of the different levels of difficulty, they can make about 200 sets per month on average.

In addition, more than a dozen parts that are more complicated, or suitable for the pouring method: grinding wheel, transmission chain, handle, hook rod, trigger, etc., have adopted the pouring method.

The so-called pouring method is to make parts by hand first, then use two pieces of clay as the die and punch, clamp the parts lightly, after opening, there is a model in the middle, take out the parts, and pour copper water.

Li Zhongyi made a model here for Ding Yi to try.

They used hook bars, twenty of which were pre-made by hand and all of them were made of wood.

There were two large lumps of clay on the table, which had been smoothed out.

The twenty hooks were placed on the clay one by one, and after half of them were embedded, a layer of lime was brushed on one side of the clay, and then covered with the other half of the clay, pressed down lightly, and dried.

Carefully separate them and take out the parts. In the dried soil on both sides, the model of the hook rod has been formed.

At this time, put them together again, take a knife, and cut off the tail with a single knife, just cutting to the hook rod, exposing the mouth, and then pouring copper water into it.

Twenty hook rods were poured out at once.

Then the clay is wet, squeezed a little, and can be used again.

Roughly made, Ding Yi was really confused when he saw the quality of this. The hooks just out of the oven are not standard, and they have to be polished by hand. The key is that the clay is easy to deform in the early stage, so the standards of the hooks are different. , No wonder it will be replaced after ten shots.

The quality is indeed poor, although the efficiency is relatively high.

Ding Yi stared straight at the head: "Is there nothing else as a mold?"

He remembered that the gypsum could be used, it would not deform after cooling, and it could still be used all the time. The quality must be much better than this: "Is there any gypsum?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, as if they didn't know this thing.

Is there no plaster in the Ming Dynasty?Ding Yi is depressed.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd raised his hand cautiously: "Does Master Ding mean medicinal materials?"

It turns out that gypsum was widely used in medicine in Ming Dynasty.

Ding Yi asked Zhao Li to come over while looking at the other parts.

Then he shared his thoughts with Li Zhongyi: "Europeans regard this wheel-wheel gun as a nobleman's toy, so the manufacture is relatively sophisticated. Look at the handle, how beautiful it is, and there are so many patterns on the surface?"

"We want to be practical. The front of the turning handle can be directly flat, triangular, or quadrangular. It doesn't have to be round like him. Round shapes are more difficult to process and don't need patterns, so you pay attention to these. Parts that can be used are made for practical use, and those that are not needed are directly deleted.”

Li Zhongyi and other craftsmen suddenly realized: "Master Ding is the best." He praised from the heart.

All the craftsmen in Dongjiang Town were thinking about how to make it according to the European spring wheel gun, but they didn't expect that many parts and parts did not have to be exactly the same as the European ones.

They mainly focus on practicality and simplicity, and you don't need to have any beautiful patterns on the surface.

Some shells can be changed from round to square or triangular, how simple and how to do it.

This can save a lot of time and labor.

Ding Yi went on to watch the manufacture of the barrel.

In the past, the craftsmen said that the barrel was difficult to make, because the barrel of the spring wheel gun was thinner than that of the flintlock gun, and the caliber was smaller.

In this day and age, the smaller the hole, the more difficult it is to drill. His machine tool was used to drill the barrel of the flintlock gun, let alone the spring wheel gun.

The craftsmen are careful, and the time to make a spring wheel barrel is about the same as a flintlock barrel.

Fortunately the spring wheel barrel is shorter and outlasts the parts.

After Ding Yi looked around, he felt that it would take a lot of time to fully assemble the troops, just like the flintlock guns.

Now he also has 3000 cavalry. According to Li Zhongyi's estimate, it will take at least two years to complete the two cavalry.

His flintlock guns were originally made slowly, but now with the addition of a wheel-wheel gun, it is even far away to completely replace the Lumi guns.

But the Lumi gun is still at the leading level in this era, and Ding Yi is not in a hurry.

Make a batch first for sentry cavalry and officers, and mix it up slowly, Ding Yi finally said helplessly.

After discussing with the craftsmen, he unanimously decided to make small ones that can break armor within ten meters.

The small ones are lighter and can be carried by officers.

And once the pistol is used, it must be close to hand-to-hand combat. It is obviously more difficult to hit at a distance of 20 meters. It is better to use a small one and put it within ten meters.

Not long after, Zhao Li came to the scene. He was the earliest doctor in Ding Yi's camp, and now he is the director of Lushun Hospital and the teacher of the medical class.

He said that Li Shizhen and Zhang Zhongjing all used gypsum to make medicine, and it was used more in pharmacy.

It was also available in the Ming Dynasty, and you can see it in pharmacies. Lushun also often buys medicinal materials. Naturally, they also have them, but not many.

Ding Yi was speechless for a long time, this stuff was medicine in the Ming Dynasty?

Finally, when Ding Yi left, he asked the craftsmen to think about designing a short flintlock gun in the future based on the characteristics of the wheel-wheel gun and the flintlock gun to replace the wheel-wheel gun.

(End of this chapter)