Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1805 Central Valley ([-])

On October 1679, 10, the expedition continued, and the chaos gradually subsided.In the swampy area of ​​the Lake District to the east of Xinchu Township, a group of farmers on the east coast gathered around a few sweaty workers, chatting and laughing while watching the excitement.

Several workers came from the township agricultural technology station, wearing sky-blue denim overalls, holding various tools in their hands, and working on a small steam pump.This water pump is used to drain the swamp water into Lake Puyehue. It is small in size, but its power is not small, with a full 7.5 horsepower-so far we understand that this is what is happening in the East China Sea today. The 7.5-horsepower steam engine that has been very popular on the shore is very popular in agriculture, transportation and other departments because of its small size, light weight (relatively), and high power. At present, the state-owned Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory that manufactures this type of water pump has accumulated nationwide. More than [-] units have been sold, achieving amazing economic benefits.

For example, this remote, desolate, and poor place in the Central Valley of southern Chile has actually purchased one and used it in the swamp water drainage project around the lake area. It didn't take long for it to break down, which made several workers in the township agricultural technology station who worked full-time on the machine sweat profusely.

"There is something wrong with the seal of the cylinder, maybe it's the ring, maybe it's the piston, I'm not sure." A young man who looked like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old apprentice said blushingly. It's greasy and dirty.

"Of course I know that there is a problem with the seal of the cylinder. The air leaks so badly, as long as it is not right now, is it difficult to draw this conclusion?" A middle-aged bearded mechanic with a pipe in his mouth came over, mouth Li also cursed: "Why do you think I brought you, a stupid apprentice? Why is it so difficult to do something? No matter what is wrong with the cylinder, we don't have spare parts. Could it be that you want to grind one out by hand? Go, go to the mining area across the lake to borrow some spare parts, yes, just go by boat and report my name. Also, Xiao Liu, check the other parts to see if there is any problem."

"Understood, station master." The mechanic called "Xiao Liu" responded, and then carefully picked up the machine in front of him. From the cylinder to the connecting rod, from the crankshaft to the pump body, he checked very carefully and very carefully. major.

The parts on this equipment are all produced by Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, Second Heavy Machinery Factory, Shipu Branch of Dayuhe Arsenal, Tieling Special Steel, and Meilin Railway Machinery Processing Factory, involving various materials, sizes and The shape and processing precision are also very high, reflecting the latest level of industrial manufacturing on the east coast.At this time, when Europe was still using pedal machine tools and hydraulic machine tools to produce iron parts and even wooden parts (only the United Kingdom began to try to use steam engines to drive machine tools to process objects), the east coast had already begun to popularize steam machine tools on a large scale, because of its It has the characteristics of small vibration, so the machining accuracy can reach a very high level.In addition, Dongan people have made many breakthroughs in material science in the past ten years, and many new materials have begun to be applied, such as manganese steel cutter heads in machining, which makes the machine tool speed reach a higher level, and the stability , Machining precision doubled.Not to mention, people from the east bank also invented the engraving machine, a national treasure-like artifact, which made large-scale standardized production possible (in the past, only part of the standardized production was possible, and the interchangeability of parts was poor), and the cost of industrial production was further reduced. , and the accuracy has been further improved, which have greatly promoted the spread of mechanical equipment throughout the country.

Just like the 7.5-horsepower steam engine in front of me, it is actually quite different from the early production, which is only related to the level of industrial processing.For example, if only 30% of the parts of the steam engine in the early days were interchangeable, by now, [-]% to [-]% could be replaced.And even if it is not interchangeable, it may be able to be used after a second manual processing, which will undoubtedly greatly reduce maintenance costs.

On the other hand, mechanical equipment in Europe, because of the lack of universal measuring tools (there is no engraving machine, cannot be reproduced on a large scale), the parts they process are not very versatile, because they are still using the ancient quintiles, tenths, etc. There may be inconsistencies before and after the raw materials are graded and processed by the division method.If the machine processed with this kind of parts is damaged, it is necessary to go to the original factory to find the parts, and the found parts may not be usable, because there may be slight differences in size, and secondary processing is required.This kind of cost is indeed very high, unless the steam engine clearly has a huge advantage, otherwise the cost of using it may not be much lower than that of mules and water power.

So, you can see that over the years, with the increasing use of mechanical equipment exported from the east coast in European countries, the export of mechanical parts has gradually become a large-scale industry, and the growth rate is increasing. The bigger the trend.The reason is that due to the high versatility and interchangeability of mechanical parts on the east coast, the cost of maintenance is low, which indirectly promotes the degree of mechanization of production in European countries, and of course also suppresses the progress of the mechanical processing industry in European countries.

This 7.5-horsepower small steam engine is now mainly used in the prairie, river and duck lake basins on the east coast. Due to various factors (mainly quota restrictions) in the remote areas of southern Chile, it has not been introduced much, especially in Boling County. As an example, we purchased one for trial use in the lake area. Together with those mule-horse pumps and large steam pumps (fixed, very difficult to move), they drained the swamp water and played a role in local agricultural development.

Along with these water pumps, there are also steam hoes and steam plows for digging ditches.With the help of these machines, using natural ponds, lakes, and swamps to transform them into reservoirs, and then digging irrigation canals, becomes a much easier job.Even, I heard that the County Agricultural Bureau has sent a special person to the Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory in Xihu County, planning to snap up a steam tractor and come back to see how it works. I heard that this tractor is used a lot in Patagonia. Very often, whether it is pulling goods or pulling other things, the effect is very good.

Of course, no one in the county pointed out that this steam tractor with a power of 25 horsepower and the steam corn harvesters, wheat harvesters, soybean harvesters derived from it (replacing the previous horse-drawn harvesters) ), because of its heavy weight, it is only suitable for use in parts of Patagonia and the Pampa Plain where the soil is relatively dry and hard, otherwise it may greatly damage farmland and roads, causing considerable losses.

In southern Chile, because of the humid climate and abundant precipitation, the soil is soft like many areas in the Brazilian plateau.When the heavy steam tractor comes, it will destroy the field so badly that the farmers have to spend a lot of energy to repair it later, it is better not to use it, and save some effort.

This kind of argument is naturally justified, because the Hejian area, known as the water town with criss-cross rivers and abundant precipitation, has proved how the use of 25-horsepower steam tractors and various derivative machinery failed on farms.However, the attitude of the County Agricultural Bureau is also quite clear. They believe that in the relatively sparsely populated southern Chilean region surrounded by mountains and dense forests, even if this kind of steam tractor cannot be used for farming at all, it can also be extended to forest farms and mines. .Those places are not very afraid of you destroying the land. The only thing to worry about is that the roads are muddy due to rain and snow, making it impossible to walk.

Of course, in addition to firewood or coal-fired steam engines, in southern Chile where the industrial base is relatively weak, the use of traditional wind energy and water energy is naturally very common, so as to reduce the dependence on new machines and improve their productivity.For example, on the opposite side of the lake where the technicians of the agricultural technology station will go, there is a large steam engine that uses water energy, with a total horsepower of more than 150. The advantage (providing water for the Palace of Versailles) is almost the same. The maximum power of the latter reaches 1682 horsepower, which should be the power equipment with the highest output power in France at that time.

To be fair, due to the humid climate, abundant precipitation, and many rivers and lakes, the foundation for using hydraulic equipment in southern Chile is very good.Especially those wood processing factories, sulfur mines, limestone mines, etc., do they really need steam engines?Do they require high machining accuracy?No need!Like those sledgehammers used to crush ore, hydraulic equipment is sufficient, because its deviation has no effect at all.Even because the water source is not enough—in some places, because the water flow is too slow to drive large mechanical equipment, it is necessary to send the water to a high place with a water wheel, and then drop it to drive the water wheel. In this case, the hydraulic mechanical equipment cannot operate for a long time— — And the stoppage in the middle has no effect at all. This is very different from the mechanical processing industry, so we see that the state has invested funds to help the state-run sulfur mines, quarry mines and stone mines in the south of Chile and Boling County east of Lake Puyehue. A large-scale water energy utilization system has been built on the mine, with a potential power of 150 horsepower, which can drive a variety of equipment including hydraulic forging hammers and hydraulic breaking hammers, which is very good to use.

The system of the people on the east coast is naturally very different from that of the French. The main differences are reflected in the design, size, reliability and service life.Needless to say, the design, with the support of a large amount of theoretical knowledge, is very different from the design of traditional European hydraulic equipment, with smaller size and higher efficiency.In terms of performance indicators, it is naturally far ahead. First of all, it has high reliability, unlike the French who have a high failure rate and shut down at every turn. This mainly depends on the design and parts processing precision. Second, the service life is also longer than others. A lot, of course, thanks to the leading design and component materials, which is not comparable to the French hardwood and cast iron equipment.

Therefore, although the power of the two hydraulic equipment is not much different, there is a big difference in actual use.If the time span is longer, it would be great if the French system can use half the power of the people on the east coast. Although this is already a very eye-catching hydraulic equipment in Europe, you must know that it belongs to the king's property , the average person does not have the financial resources to build such a magnificent device.

All the Europeans can have now is the imitation of various early east coast steam engines.As for the more advanced ones in the later stage, even if they use various channels to piece together the real objects, they cannot be copied, or the cost of copying is extremely high, the reliability is very low, and there is no use value at all.

As far as this is concerned, in areas with relatively developed technology such as the United Kingdom, the United Provinces, and North Germany, the steam engines used in some backward countries such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy—some of which are hard to tell whether they are steam engines— Still very raw.This is not only due to the lack of mechanical processing and material science, but also the obvious backwardness in theory.For example, Europeans only had a certain degree of understanding of the concept of air pressure nearly 30 years ago, let alone in-depth research on it, and this was only achieved when the knowledge of civilization on the East Coast was spread overseas. Savery and New Kaimen, who have made major improvements, are still young boys at this time. It is more reliable to find a way to obtain from the people on the east coast than to study their own theoretical progress in Europe.

Of course, this does not mean that Europeans cannot make progress. In fact, if the steam engine researchers in the Anglo-Dutch region continue to develop along the current path, with sufficient funds, they will develop slowly sooner or later and continue to improve the steam engine. , to a very high level.But how much time does this actually take?

You know, the people on the east coast didn't stop to wait for you.With the advancement of basic industries, people on the east coast have been able to design steam engines that are lighter in weight, smaller in size, higher in efficiency, and higher in power, and continue to innovate and apply them to ships, trains, factories, mines, and farmland.Moreover, the reliability of some relatively mature steam engine models has reached a very high level, and the average trouble-free working time has risen again and again. I collected the relevant materials of the all-steam-powered ships of the year, set up a research group, and started to do some preparatory matters, and waited for the Central Ministry of Communications to issue relevant instructions.

In addition, the people on the east coast have developed the electrical industry for decades, and now they have made some achievements.The Institute of Electrical Sciences of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Second Heavy Machinery Factory have been cultivating for many years by the Nanzui Xuefeng Lake, produced a large number of electrical instruments and meters, and trained a lot of related talents. These have undoubtedly greatly consolidated the foundation of this science. .For example, the electrolytic saturated brine industry developed by the Pans and his sons is already quite interesting now. What they are thinking now is to find a site to build a small river on a river with a large drop and a fast flow like the Huangyang River. The power station, while being built, confirms various theoretical knowledge studied before, laying a solid foundation for future large-scale development.

Therefore, what is most likely to happen in the future is that when the Europeans have spent countless costs to make a major breakthrough in the field of steam engines and invest huge sums of money to fully spread out (this means that the cost of turning around in the short term will be very high), domestic The electrical preparations have been gradually completed, and then electrical equipment such as electric motors are launched in one fell swoop, once again widening the gap with it.And this time, unlike the steam engine, which has a simple principle, is easy to understand, and has a certain foundation, it may be more difficult for European countries that have never dabbled before and are at a loss to catch up.

(End of this chapter)