In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 378 Steam Turbine Ball and Cracking Furnace

Before boarding the ship, Zhao Yurui said again, the Mongolian Tatars are currently eyeing the Song Dynasty, and the people's homes and relatives need to be protected by the soldiers and horses of the Song Dynasty. After you go back, you must use propaganda weapons and spread more propaganda. , so that people can actively sign up for themselves. After all, forced recruitment can easily arouse opposition. (In fact, many of the soldiers recruited in the late Southern Song Dynasty were forcibly recruited.)
Of course, once selected, the same family cannot be selected again for at least 50 years.

Because Zhao Yurui draws one from every fifty households, and there is no repetition.

For example, in a certain place in Sichuan, the first guarantee is [-] households, which is divided into two waves, each with [-] households, and then lots are drawn.

The winning number will be drawn from another 49 households next year.

In this way, whoever sends troops will have to wait 50 years before participating again.

If the people know this probability, most people will definitely be willing to accept it.

Of course, Zhao and Rui had policies, and the people also had countermeasures.

After Guo Zhengsun arrived in Sichuan, powerful local officials came up with ways to avoid military service.

Rich people give money to others to sign up.

For example, an official went to the home of an ordinary person in the same group of [-] households and gave him money or grain to voluntarily give birth to a son to prevent his son from being drawn.

Within a few years, using money to make money became a good thing for Sichuan.

Many ordinary people are willing to take the initiative to sign up, and they can make a small fortune for their families. This is a story for later, let’s not mention it for now.

Guo Zhengsun's ship quickly left, taking Emperor Zhao Yurui's new policy with him to Sichuan to continue recruiting new soldiers. Next year Sichuan will contribute [-] new soldiers to the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Yurui watched Guo Zhengsun's ship leave, feeling filled with emotion. In this era, the Sichuan Army must be reused.

Not long after Guo Zhengsun's ship left, Zhao Yurui and Quan Yong Niu Bao were chatting on the dock. They were surrounded by a small number of guards from the Imperial City Division, as if they were waiting for something together.

About half a quarter of an hour later, another large row of boats came in, and one of them, a sea-going boat with a cost of about [-] yuan, came to the shore.

As soon as the boat docked, officials and guards came down to greet it, and Zhao Yurui also got on the boat.

This is a new naval warship built by the imperial court. It has a load of two thousand stones. It uses a combination of triangular sails and square sails. The bottom is pointed and can be used for ocean navigation. There are six three-thousand-pound heavy guns on the left and right sides of the ship. The stern and bow There are also two three-thousand-pound heavy cannons.

The relevant craftsman officials explained to Zhao Yurui after they boarded the ship.

This ship made a trial voyage from Lin'an to Wenzhou last month. After the emperor has seen it today, he will officially join the navy.

The biggest difference between this ship and previous naval warships is that it has powerful firepower and strong defense. Of course, its speed is not too slow.

It was the first time Zhao Yurui went to the Navy's ship. There were all kinds of weapons on the Dinghai Navy's ship, most of which were of no use.

Zhao Yurui's artillery in previous years has been used in city defense and field battles.

From now on, there is still enough energy to equip the navy.

Moreover, all the navy ships are equipped with heavy artillery, using fifteen kilograms of shells. If they hit the current ship, they can almost break up some small and medium-sized ships.

The craftsman said that it is best not to fire the cannons on the ship at the same time, but to take turns when firing.

The entire ship is full of 120 and [-] people. In the future, if there are fusiliers, there will be [-] to [-] fusiliers.

The combat effectiveness of such a ship is estimated to be able to sweep dozens of other warships now.

But there is no navy in Mongolia now. Zhao Yurui looked at a ship of heavy artillery with mixed feelings in his heart, feeling invincible and lonely.

Such a good naval warship has no rival in the world.

"Your Majesty, please take a look." Soon inside the ship, a craftsman official asked Zhao Yurui to squat down and look at the seams in the ship.

Waterproofing in ancient shipbuilding mainly involved leakage in seams between boards.

The ancients first chopped hemp fiber and stuffed it into the seams of the ship to "make tendons", and then used tung oil-lime to make putty to smear the seams. After the putty solidified, a strong waterproof adhesive sealing layer was formed in the seams of the boards. This process is completely consistent with Modern bonding and sealing theory.

There is a more detailed description: "When the ash is used to fix the seams of the boat, use tung oil and fish oil to mix thick silk, fine silk and oil pestle to stuff the boat. When used to build stone walls, sift out the stones and use water to make it sticky. In autumn, putty is still used for building wells and paving floors with bricks. For chalking walls, use paper bars to coat the walls. For tombs and storage pools, divide the ash into river sand and loess. Divide it into two parts, mix it with glutinous rice and kiwi fruit juice, and build it lightly and firmly, which will never be damaged. It is called Sanhe soil."

The sealant base materials mentioned here include not only tung oil, but also fish oil, glutinous rice juice, and plant juice.The scope of sealing includes building walls, repairing wells, painting walls, building tombs, etc. It can be seen that sealing technology was widely used in ancient times.Although the performance of ancient tung oil-lime putty is not as good as modern synthetic sealant, it is cheap and easy to prepare, so it is still used by people like Sanhe soil.

But that's not what the Persians and cannibals did. They used asphalt there.

Including "Genesis", which was written in 500 BC, there is also mention of using asphalt to seal the seams of ships.

After Zhao Yurui successfully separated oil, he had already started using asphalt to try to pave roads and waterproof it.

But now there is no mixer, so paving roads is still troublesome. Craftsmen like to use it to waterproof caulking.

With asphalt, many of the above materials can be reduced or eliminated, and the process is much simpler.

Of course, asphalt also has the problem of not being able to withstand high temperatures, so Zhao Yurui basically uses it inside the ship to prevent it from being exposed to the sun.

Then Zhao Yurui ordered the ship to sail out to sea. After sailing for more than ten miles, he asked the navy to test a few cannons.

When the heavy guns were fired, the hull was slightly unstable, but the impact was not significant.

The longest distance of heavy artillery can reach more than two miles, and the actual hit power is strongest within one mile.

However, it is a bit difficult to hit at sea. Usually during a naval battle, both sides fight for several hours, but they may not be able to hit a few shots.

Fortunately, no other country has artillery like the Song Army. The Song Army's navy can get closer and attack, improving the hit rate.

Zhao Yurui took a look at the navy's new ships and new guns, and thought that if Mongolia was solved, maritime colonization could begin.

After landing from the warship, Zhao Yurui was quite satisfied with the warship, but there was no opponent available.

He summoned a few important craftsmen and said to them: "You must study this aspect next."

"The hull should be higher and divided into several layers. For example, the first layer should have ten guns, the second layer should have ten guns, and the third layer should have ten guns or more."

A ship has three or four floors and can have more than fifty or sixty, or even seventy or eighty guns.

The craftsmen listened carefully and nodded from time to time. Some people couldn't help but look around. How many layers of artillery can this ship need? Can this ship survive?Who is it used to hit?Even the craftsmen feel that the current warships of the Song Dynasty are invincible.

After returning to Lin'an City from the sea in the afternoon, Zhao and Rui went straight to the north of Fenghuang Mountain without stopping.

Craftsmen officials at all levels, including the Firearms Bureau, Craftsmanship Bureau, and Machinery Department, are waiting for the emperor here.

Last July, Zhao and Rui determined the barrel and structure, and then asked the Craftsmanship Bureau and the Firearms Bureau to start building the flintlock barrel and bolt.

The barrel of the gun had been built a long time ago. According to Zhao Yurui's requirements, it was divided into reel type and drilled type. Because the drilled type was too labor-economically successful, Zhao Yurui finally chose the reel type first.

However, the progress of the bolt part behind the barrel is difficult, and there are still many problems that often require Zhao and Rui to solve.

Recently, the craftsmen have encountered difficulties again and can only ask His Majesty the Emperor for instructions.

When Zhao Yurui arrived at the scene, he saw two gun machines placed on the table in the factory.

One is made of wood and the other is made of metal, and the wooden ones are all enlarged, about three times the size of a normal gun.

It is enlarged so that all craftsmen can clearly see the parts and operation of the gun.

Zhao Yurui himself is also a half-dabbler. The experiences and memories in his mind are all from reading history online literature in his previous life. He gave a rough outline to the craftsmen, and then the craftsmen figured it out themselves.

"Your Majesty, please take a look." Tang Bo, the assistant minister of the Firearms Bureau, explained to Zhao Yurui at this time.

"This is the trigger, this is the flint clip, and this is the medicine tank. After we fill the medicine, we pull the trigger-"

Someone at the scene was trying it directly with a metal gun, and there was no barrel in front of it.

The ignition rate is a bit low. After ten blows, the ignition was successful two times. The efficiency is extremely low.

Then Tang Bo explained to Zhao Yurui that the gun could not be raised up because the medicine in the medicine pool would fall out.

Zhao Yurui looked a little dazed, feeling that something was wrong.

After a moment, "Ba" Zhao Yurui slapped his head: "I forgot to tell you that there must be other parts above and below the medicine tank."

"?" The craftsmen looked at each other.

"There is something up here - let me think about it -" Zhao Yurui walked back and forth on the spot and suddenly asked: "What did you guys hit with this flint to catch fire?"

"Fire Scythe, Your Majesty said so."

"That's right, the fire sickle cover. There must be a fire sickle cover on top. It can be windproof, leakproof, and waterproof. There must be a fire sickle spring on the bottom -"

"And this fire sickle needs to be made larger with fire steel. It must be big -" Zhao Yurui explained to them.

Usually before the flintlock gun is fired, the flint clip is stuck by the sear inside the gun, and the fire sickle is controlled and fixed by the fire sickle spring, tightly covering the medicine tank.

"When the trigger is pulled to release the sear, the flint clip moves forward quickly and rubs against the steel surface of the scythe. The impact force causes the scythe to move backwards. At the same time, the lid of the medicine tank is opened to reveal the ignition charge——"

The sparks formed by the impact of flint and fire sickle fall into the powder pool and ignite the ignition. The flame from the igniter enters the barrel through the fire door on the side of the barrel and ignites the propellant in the barrel.

The firearms bureau's firing rate is extremely low. First, the fire sickle is too small, with insufficient height and width. When the flint is drawn from above, the effective contact area and time are not enough, and it is not windproof enough.

Think about the matches we used in the past. If the sides of the matchbox were only about the size of a soybean, wouldn’t it be more difficult to light them?The craftsmen seemed to understand but after the emperor said it, they could improve in this regard.

The fire sickle spring under the medicine pool is also a difficulty. Even Zhao and Rui don't know the specific structure.

But Zhao Yurui said that the function of the fire sickle spring is mainly to control the switch of the fire sickle and protect the medicine pool. This is easier to understand. If you study in this direction, it will be easy to create it.

This is Zhao Yurui's third visit to the firearms bureau in the past month.

After he finished talking to everyone, he felt that after this improvement, success would be closer and closer.

After coming out of the firearms bureau, Zhao Yurui led people to the other side.

There is a factory area here that is as tightly guarded as the firearms bureau. It is the industrial bureau where Persian Asir and others deal with oil.

This was the Industrial Bureau newly established by Zhao and Rui. It was similar to the Firearms Bureau and the Craftsmanship Bureau. On the surface, it was under the Ministry of Industry, but in fact it was under the direct control of the emperor.

To the west of the factory area, there is a large river that directly connects to the Qiantang River in the northwest direction. There are about fifteen fortress-like factories along the river.

The factory building is built from a masonry structure, and then a two-meter-thick circle is surrounded by bags filled with sand and soil.

This ensures that even if one factory explodes, it will hardly affect other nearby factories.

Of course, because Zhao and Rui are very careful and Aisil and the others have good temperature control, there has been no explosion so far.

When it comes to refining petroleum, as long as the temperature is well controlled and workers handle it carefully according to operating procedures, the possibility of an explosion is still relatively small.

And because the amount of oil in each factory on site is limited, even the explosion is not powerful.

When Zhao Yurui arrived at a factory, Aisil had already led people waiting outside. Niu Bao took someone in first to take a look, and found that there was no fire inside. Then he checked it again, and then came over to invite the emperor in.

After entering, you can see a huge fractionating tower and fractionator. Many parts are made of glass, which basically represents the highest level of Da Song glass craftsmanship.

At present, all the top glass masters in the country are in Lin'an, and they have the status of officials.

On the right side of the petroleum fractionation tower, there is a new furnace made of red bricks and steel.

Many officials and craftsmen around saw this thing for the first time, as if they had never seen it before when refining oil. Everyone subconsciously knew that the emperor had something new coming out.

"This is called a cracking furnace." Zhao Yurui explained to them at this time.

According to the different raw materials used for cracking and the method of providing the heat required for cracking, they are divided into regenerative cracking furnaces, sand furnaces and tubular cracking furnaces. Among them, the most widely used and technically mature is the tubular cracking furnace.

However, it is difficult to manufacture a tubular cracking furnace. Zhao Yurui currently uses a regenerative cracking furnace.

The regenerative cracking furnace is relatively simple, with a steel cylinder on the outside and refractory bricks and red bricks on the inside.

Then, insulation materials were added between the refractory bricks and red bricks. In later generations, there were various insulation materials, which were relatively rare at this time. Zhao Yurui used the best asbestos felt in the Song Dynasty.

There is a large pot next to the regenerative cracking furnace, which is filled with water. It will start to boil in a while.

This factory is relatively large, with various furnaces, fractionating towers, and large pots inside. Everyone can't take their eyes off it. Many officials and craftsmen from the Firearms Bureau don't know what so many things in this industrial bureau are used for.

Zhao Yurui looked around. He didn't want to explain to these people at first, but after thinking about it, he had to let them know that this was invented by Zhao Yurui, the wise and wise emperor of the Song Dynasty. Those of you who have not gone through the nine-year system Are the scumbags in compulsory education bowing to my admiration?
This must be shown off.

"Let's go and see the steam ball first."

Aixir smiled and quickly turned around and walked to the side door on the right. Emperor Zhao Yurui followed closely, and others followed suit.

There is a small room here with a very simple thing called a 'steam ball'.

The steam ball is the earliest known machine that converts steam into power. It was invented by Hero of Alexandria in 100 AD.

This thing has been around for thousands of years, but it took another thousands of years to really pay attention to it and use it. It can be said that he came up with the concept of steam engine.

The steam-rotating ball mainly consists of a hollow ball and a sealed pot filled with water connected together by two hollow tubes. The water is then heated at the bottom of the pot to boil, generating water vapor. The water vapor then enters the ball through the tubes. , and finally the water vapor will be ejected from both sides of the sphere and cause the sphere to rotate.

At that time, the steam ball was just a novelty and did not have any practical application. After the inventor Hero invented it himself, he quickly forgot about it and did not know what use it had.

Zhao Yurui has now built one and put it in the room. When these officials and craftsmen come in, you use theory to explain the principle of steam to them. It is difficult to explain clearly, but now it is simple and clear, and you can understand it at a glance.

After everyone came in, they were quickly attracted by the scene in front of them.

There is a pot in front of you that is boiling water, and a steam ball is spinning on it, which is very fun.

Some people looked left and right, wondering why the ball kept spinning. No one was moving it, and there was no wind in the room.

Liu Fu from the Craftsmanship Bureau came here for the first time. He saw water vapor spurting out from both sides of the sphere. He thought it was quite funny and subconsciously reached out to touch it.

"Be careful, don't do it." Zhao Yurui exclaimed.

"Hiss" Liu Fu reacted quickly and quickly took it back, grinning on the spot. The steam was quite hot.

"This is called a steam ball. Water vapor drives the ball to rotate."

"You may not have heard of water vapor, but almost everyone has seen it."

"Your family steams steamed buns, and you can see the steam when you take a shower or cook--"

Everyone could still understand Zhao Yurui's explanation at first, after all, many people could indeed see water vapor, but they couldn't understand it at all later.

"Why do we use a sealed pot, and then the water vapor can make the ball rotate? Because pressure is generated, so why is there pressure?"

"Because the boiling point of water is affected by air pressure, the higher the air pressure, the higher the boiling point. In mountains and plateaus, the air pressure is less than 1 standard atmosphere, and the boiling point of water is lower than 100°C, so water can boil at less than 100°C, and eggs It cannot be cooked with ordinary pots. When the air pressure is greater than 1 atmosphere, water will not boil until the temperature is higher than 100°C."

"When we seal the pot, we think of it as a pressure cooker. We seal the water very tightly first. The water vapor generated by the heated evaporation cannot diffuse into the air and can only remain in the pot, which makes the air pressure inside the pot higher than 1 atmosphere creates pressure. Of course, the pressure in the pressure cooker will not be unlimited, otherwise it will explode."

After Zhao Yurui finished speaking, there was silence all around, and most people seemed to be listening to a book from heaven.

However, some of the craftsmen involved in the design and construction of the steam ball could still understand and nodded their heads to express their approval of His Majesty the Emperor's wisdom and prowess.

Zhao Yurui didn't care whether they could understand or not, he would definitely show off his nine-year compulsory excellent education.

"This thing will continue to be improved and invented in the future. If we can build a steam engine, then our Song Dynasty will be invincible."

The people around him finally realized what they were doing, and immediately there was a chorus of flattery. Everyone was vying to say that the emperor was wise and mighty.

Zhao and Rui were scratching their heads, feeling a little bit offended, but there was nothing they could do about it, he was in high spirits, and he was also complacent.

The steam ball was invented thousands of years ago, but no one spread it and used it. Now he uses it first, and he, Zhao Yurui, will invent it in the future. History will only remember his name, Zhao Yurui.

After watching the steamer ball, he took the people back to the room where they were just now.

Continue to explain to them what the various appliances and stoves in this room are used for.

Zhao Yurui said that his regenerative cracking furnace is intended to produce ethylene.

What is ethylene used for?

It can manufacture plastics, synthetic rubber, fibers, polyethylene, plant ripening agents, synthetic ethanol, etc. It has important applications in industry and agriculture.

But Zhao Yurui currently mainly wants to develop into rubber and plastics.

"We extract naphtha (chemical light oil or naphtha) from petroleum. The temperature in this step must be controlled well. The distillation range is about 220°C. As a cracking raw material for the production of ethylene, 70°C~145°C is used. ℃ fraction.

"Then continue processing. First use combustion oil or gas to burn in the regenerative furnace. When the temperature in the furnace reaches the operating temperature, stop burning, introduce water vapor to purge the flue gas, and then add naphtha (together with diluted water vapor). ) for cracking. The heat required for cracking is supplied by the heat stored in the refractory bricks. As the cracking progresses, the temperature in the furnace drops one after another. When it drops to a certain temperature, the feed is stopped, water vapor is introduced to purge the cracking gas, and then the Air and fuel are heated. In this way, heating and cracking are repeated alternately.

During the cracking process, a part of carbon black will be deposited on the refractory bricks in the furnace, but it will be burned out when air and fuel are introduced next time, and the refractory bricks will be heated.The furnace body of the regenerative furnace generally uses checker bricks to divide the gas into fine air flows, which is conducive to the cracking reaction. "

Of course, not many people could understand what Zhao Yurui said a lot. Only the Persian Asil and a few Song craftsmen apprentices who followed him could roughly understand.

Because when Zhao Yurui refined gasoline before, a lot of gas was wasted, so Zhao Yurui thought of decomposing ethylene, which could be used.

In the early stage, the gas is used as fuel for combustion, and then the refined naphtha is added and cracked together with water vapor.

For this reason, Zhao Yurui made several large bags out of sheepskin to hold vinyl.

As Zhao Yurui explained, Asil began to crack.

Near the window on the south side, two workers were holding a large sheepskin bag on a glass pipe.

In the middle, Niu Bao tried to persuade the Emperor to withdraw.

Zhao Yurui thought about it and found that Asil had tested it many times before and it was not dangerous, as long as the temperature and time were controlled.

They didn't measure the temperature at this time, so it all depended on proficiency and different reactions during the process, including the production of carbon black and the amount of fuel.

There will be errors, but there is no danger and it will not explode.

The most dangerous thing is that steam purging is required when the two stages alternate. The purpose of purging after gas production is to recover the cracked gas and prevent the residual cracked gas from mixing with the air during combustion and heating to cause a semi-explosion.

This kind of semi-explosion is not very powerful and basically not dangerous.

(End of this chapter)