There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 80 Research on motivation issues (seeking further reading)

In the late Ming Dynasty, the most indispensable thing was people.

Affected by the bad weather of the Little Ice Age, the weather in Shaanxi in recent years has either been extremely cold or severe drought. The land is often bare and hungry people are everywhere.

As long as there is food, it is very convenient to recruit people.

However, Lin Feng has decided that he will develop in a low-key manner in the near future, so he cannot recruit people on a large scale to avoid being suspected by the court and attracting the murderous attention of Hong Chengchou and other bandit-suppressing bosses.

Besides, no matter how many people we recruit, we can't compare to Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other masters of this era who can easily recruit tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops.

So Lin Feng thought over and over again and felt that he still had to take the road of elite soldier development. Don't compare with them on quantity, but on quality.

Building elite soldiers depends on excellent equipment.

At present, the electric-powered Type 1 fire blunderbuss manufactured by Sitong Ordnance Factory is still good, but the output is too low. The bottleneck is that there is no suitable equipment for drilling barrels, and the efficiency of relying entirely on manual labor is too low.

Lin Feng thought for a while, then entered the passenger plane space to read some related books, and decided to study and solve the power problem of ordnance production.

To the north of Fugu City is Sitong Village.

Lin Feng braved the severe cold and came to the cottage. Fortunately, the forged iron stove in the ordnance factory was burning brightly, so it was still very warm inside.

"Sir, why are you here in such a cold weather?" Zhao Zhixin saw him and hurriedly came up to him.

Lin Feng walked in and took off his coat and said: "Zhixin, I haven't had anything to do lately, so I came to the village to look around. You gather a few technical backbones, and we will study and discuss a technical problem together."

"Okay, I just want to hear what you have to say." Zhao Zhixin is a technology geek. As soon as he saw that there were technical issues that could be discussed, he immediately went to find someone.

Everyone in the ordnance factory was in the large workshop. Soon Zhao Zhixin called two craftsmen and introduced him to Lin Feng first. One was named Kong Bin and the other was named Li Yingyuan. They were both recruited from the refugees and had read books. , understands technology, and is now the backbone of Zhao Zhi’s small new technology team.

After the introduction, Zhao Zhixin asked expectantly: "Sir, have you mastered any new technologies over there?"

"Zhixin, whether it is forging iron or making fire guns, it requires repeated hammering. If this power can be achieved mechanically, do you think it will improve the efficiency of making?" Lin Feng asked.

"Sir, are you talking about mechanical devices like waterwheels?" Zhao Zhixin is indeed a technical expert and immediately thought of related machinery.

"Yes, the waterwheel is a tool that uses water power, that is, the power of water." Lin Feng replied.

"But there is no water power here, and even if there is, the power of the water flow is very unstable and difficult to use." Zhao Zhixin has obviously considered this issue.

"Then have you ever considered using other powers?" Lin Feng asked.

"Other forces? Or wind power." Zhao Zhixin went on to say that water power and wind power were natural forces that were commonly used by ancient people.

"Where are you guys?" Lin Feng asked the two technical backbones.

"Except for the power of wind and water, there seems to be no other power. Or is it the suction of magnets? But this power is too small." Kong Bin replied.

Li Yingyuan also shook his head, indicating that there was nothing else.

Lin Feng smiled slightly after hearing this and saw a coal cake stove burning in the workshop, with a teapot making water on it. Then he said to Kong Bin: "Go and move that stove over."

The briquette stove was not heavy, so it was quickly moved over. At this time, the water in the tea was boiling.

Lin Feng stood up, picked up a rag and blocked the spout of the teapot, and then said to Zhao Zhixin: "Put your hand on the lid and feel it. Be careful of the steam scalding your hands."

Zhao Zhixin immediately put his hand on it carefully, and after a while he felt that the lid of the pot was about to jump. “Let it go.” Lin Feng said.

The lid of the pot was pushed open instantly.

Zhao Zhixin looked at the lid of the pot, touched his hands again, and asked curiously: "Is this also a kind of force?"

"Yes, this is steam power, which can be obtained anytime and anywhere." Lin Feng replied.

"But this kind of power is very small. What can it be used for?" Li Yingyuan continued.

"The steam force in the teapot is of course very small, but the size of the steam force is proportional to the amount of steam, that is, the more steam, the greater the force. It is also directly proportional to the area on which the force is exerted. For example, use a larger lid, The force you receive will increase." Lin Feng said.

"Sir, if you build a very large teapot and open the mouth of the teapot a little wider, can you get a lot of steam power?" Zhao Zhixin was good at applying theory and immediately deduced his conclusion.

"Yes, if we build a big, straight bucket and increase the sealing of the lid, we can create a lot of power." Lin Feng replied.

"Sir, how should this force be used? Water vapor has only one force to push forward. If it is pushed away, the air will disappear." Zhao Zhixin raised a key question.

Lin Feng picked up a thin iron rod and said while gesticulating: "This is the key problem we want to study and solve. Through such a connecting rod, connect a runner to convert the forward force into a more stable rotation force, so that It can be used for many purposes and do many things.”

"My lord, this idea is really ingenious. When the wheel turns back, the lid can be restored and lifted up by the water vapor again, so that you can get a steady stream of power." Zhao Zhixin said with his eyes lit up.

"Yes, that's the basic principle. But there are also many technical problems, especially the lid, which will no longer be called a lid from now on, but will be called a piston. Its sealing is a big problem. If the seal is not tight, Even if the water vapor has escaped, the power will be far less powerful." Lin Feng inspired.

"The connecting rod and the runner have to move repeatedly, which requires high strength. We need to think more about ironmaking."

"The piston and the cylinder wall need to fit perfectly, otherwise the friction will be too great and it will be easily damaged. Fortunately, we now have accurate weights and measures. If you are careful, you should be able to do it."

"This wheel needs to solve the problem of how to rotate quickly."

……

These few people are worthy of being technical backbones, and they quickly raised a series of technical difficulties.

These difficulties can be summarized into three main points.

One is the sealing issue. This problem can be easily solved in later generations by using rubber sealing rings. However, it was not easy to do in the Ming Dynasty. Oilcloth was generally used for sealing, and the sealing effect was not very good.

After Lin Feng checked the knowledge about local methods of rubber extraction in "Fun Chemistry Knowledge", he decided to use the medicinal material Eucommia ulmoides to extract it.

Eucommia gum can be obtained by soaking and grinding the leaves of Eucommia ulmoides, and then soaking them in lye. These two main raw materials are easy to obtain. As for how to extract them, it requires trial and error.

The efficiency of refining Eucommia gum is definitely much lower than refining it from rubber trees, but where can we find rubber trees in the northwest, so we can only make do with it first.

The second problem is the strength of the connecting rod. This is easier to handle. Let the blacksmith shop test it repeatedly until the connecting rod meets the requirements.

The third problem is the runner problem. The key is the bearing in the rotating part. In ancient times, hardwood and lubrication were generally used to achieve this, but the strength was definitely not enough, so ball bearings had to be developed.

As soon as Lin Feng raised some difficult issues, Zhao Zhixin and others suddenly realized, and the eyes they looked at Lin Feng were different, just like future generations of college students seeing a master in the scientific world, and their admiration was beyond words.

After theoretically proposing ways to solve the technical difficulties, Lin Feng led them to draw a sketch of a steam engine model and told Zhao Zhixin and others to develop a prototype as soon as possible.

　The technology tree still needs to be climbed.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)