Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2052 Instruments and Nanding Port

On March 1689, 3, the westerly wind roared in the sea off Nam Dinh Port, and huge waves were surging.A 25-ton inland/offshore general-purpose small steamer drove into the port with difficulty, flashing lights.

As the sailor lowered the pedal, a man in a thick woolen coat came ashore with a bitter expression on his face.His name is Mo Xingye, the founder of the East Coast Army and the grandson of Mo Ming, a veteran of the army. He is currently the deputy director of the family business Haidiao Instrument Factory, responsible for the development, introduction and production of new products.

Of course, because he is too young and has limited experience, the deputy director is only in name.Those who really do the work are the old people who have been working in the factory for nearly 20 years.These people are familiar with everything in the factory, and there are also some cadres, who are very motivated to work, and Haidiao Instrument Factory is still in their hands.

Haidiao Instrument Factory has a relatively long history. Overall, it has a history of more than 25 years. It was founded by Marshal Mo after he returned from the Far East.In the early days, it mainly produced instruments such as sextants, quadrants, compasses, protractors, and rulers. Now it has also begun to produce instruments such as flowmeters, pressure gauges, and thermometers, which further enriched the product line.

In fact, these instruments and meters mentioned above are quite different from the products with the same name in later generations, and their uses are also very different. They are all relatively advanced precision instruments in this era.Compasses, protractors, rulers, etc. are not only useful in surveying and mapping, but also in navigation. These things are used in almost all operations on the map.The nautical school offered special courses including nautical surveying and geodesy, and trained a large number of qualified staff officers.And these staff officers who have a lot of knowledge are an important part of the combat effectiveness of the East Coast Navy.

Compared with the East Coast Navy, European naval officers certainly have corresponding courses, but the content is much shallower and the equipment is somewhat incomplete.For many years, the Europeans have been trying to import some of these instruments from the East Coast, which are on the non-control list. The quality is much better than that of their own production, and the precision is also higher, so that the East Coast people have made a lot of money.

Although the products produced by Haidiao Instrument Factory are not as good as those produced by the state-owned Dongan Precision Instrument Company (a large-scale leading enterprise after the integration of the former State-owned Scientific Instrument Factory), their products are still in short supply under the huge market demand. Excellent, has become a pretty good cash cow.You must know that the maritime industry is becoming more and more popular in the world now, and the number of ships in various countries is increasing year by year. The gross tonnage of 20 tons and [-] tons of ships has already amazed everyone a few decades ago. , but now there is no [-] tons, you really dare not say that you are a great seafaring country!The popularity of the navigation industry and the sudden increase in the number of ships will naturally make related companies, including Haidiao Instrument Factory and Dong'an Precision Instrument Company, make a fortune.

In fact, there is also a sea eagle watch factory under the Mo family, which specializes in the production of many timing tools including nautical clocks, tower clocks, and mechanical watches. It can be said that it is the only one on the east coast, including the navy. Loyal customers.The sea eagle brand clocks and watches produced in the factory are sold all over the country and overseas colonies, which is another major source of profit for the Mo family and is very stable.

However, after studying the family meeting of the Mo family, they felt that the future of the family is neither the Haidiao Watch Factory nor the Haidiao Musical Instrument Factory, but the Haidiao Instrument Factory. The manufacturer of the instrument.These things are widely used in industry, and the future market demand is very huge. If the development goes smoothly, this alone can make their family prosperous for a long time.

It is precisely because of this that Mo Xingye, the eldest grandson of the family, left his hometown in Xingnan Port and arrived at Nanding Port on a ship of the Messenger Liner Company. This is where the Haidiao Instrument Factory is located, a development boom Medium-sized port city.

Nam Ding Port, later known as the Commodore Rivadavia City of Argentina, is located on the west bank of San Jorge Bay. At present, there is a second-class national road leading to the inland Shuanghu Township and other places. Economically, it is made of woolen textiles and ceramics. Industry, animal husbandry, and fishing are the main industries. Of course, now there are more Haidiao Instrument Factory established by Mo's family here.The reason why the sea eagle factory is located here is nothing more than two main reasons. One is because the chief official here is old with the Mo family, so the factory is located here for convenience; The factory is located in the remote southern cone area to avoid technology leakage as much as possible.Originally, Haidiao Instrument Factory was not able to meet this point, but their factory has also tackled the national heavy equipment such as engraving machine (of course, it is inevitable to "borrow" the technology of Dongan Machine Instrument Company), so it went to After entering the watch list of the Mei agency, the factory can only be set up here.

Of course, setting up the factory here is also the will of the deceased Mo Ming.Marshal Mo is a person of later generations, so he naturally knows that there are extremely rich oil and natural gas resources near the city of Commodore Rivadavia. Like Neuquen, it is the main oil production center in Argentina, and its future development prospects are destined not to be underestimated. , although the surrounding area of ​​the city is relatively desolate and arid.

Therefore, based on this consideration, the Mo family finally decided to set up the factory here, while producing and selling, while quietly researching various instruments and meters used in the oil production process.When the internal combustion engine appears in the future and liquid fuels such as petroleum become popular, their factory will be able to get the moon in the near water and develop one step ahead of others.

Mo Xingye hired a large carriage near the pier, and hurried to the factory.The factory is not far away, just in the city, so it only took about 20 minutes for Mo Xingye to sit at his desk.

"The factory wants to start the metal dilatometer and comparator project? This is forbidden by the precision instrument company. These old hands and legs are really motivated." As soon as the buttocks were firmly seated, the secretary knocked on the door and came in. He handed over a stack of papers.Mo Xingye simply looked through and found that the managers in the factory who were the same age as his father were thinking about enriching the product line again.

In fact, in view of the huge demand for instruments at home and abroad, Haidiao Instrument Factory only relies on the production of the instruments mentioned above, as well as the supply of flowmeters, pressure gauges, thermometers and other instruments to domestic water plants and factories. It is enough to maintain a steady stream of profits.Not to mention that they have now developed such a key basic cutting-edge instrument as the engraving machine. Although the quality may not be similar to that of the East Coast Precision Instrument Company, the market is also very wide, and there is no need to enrich the product at all. Line, do something that looks more complicated.

However, as the old saying goes, if you sail against the current, you will retreat if you do not advance.If Haidiao Factory rests on its previous achievements and does not want to make progress, how can it catch up with the industry's leading precision instrument company?Moreover, once other manufacturers overcome the technical threshold and rise rapidly in the future, it is not impossible for their factories to decline.Mo Xingye could also understand this point, so after seeing these report documents, he did not reject them, but sighed a little, in fact, he already agreed with the opinions of these uncles and uncles in his heart.

"Well, here's another... a feasibility study on launching astronomy series products. This, this, this is going to compete with the precision instrument company for business. It's amazing, it's amazing!" On the second page, Mo Xingye saw another report, and was immediately stunned.

Theodolite, equatorial mount, meridian telescope, reflecting telescope, etc. are the research and development directions highlighted in this report.Some of these products are the products being developed by Dongan Precision Instrument Company, and some are the flagship products of the state-owned Henan Glass Factory. They are all cutting-edge equipment with considerable technical content. an unknown.

You must know that the production of various high-precision lenses required for these precision optical instruments depends on them.In particular, the Henan Glass Factory in Dongfang County produced the world's first large-scale lens that can be used in astronomy a few years ago. The main reason is that they have been able to mass-produce flint glass with stable quality after years of painstaking research and development. .Moreover, their factory manufactures and sells large-scale astronomical telescopes, which are used to observe stars for relevant departments. Now that Haidiao Factory wants to enter this industry, will they sell such key optical lenses?Not too optimistic, I'm afraid.

"Instead of fussing about it, it's better to focus on physical instruments. Ordinary balances, precision balances, scales and other things, the Mint, the Precious Metals Administration, the State Reserve Grain Depot, and even every factory want them. Don't sell them too much. Fire, I’m so envious.” Mo Xingye lit a cigarette, shook his head, and said to himself: “In addition, polarimeters, air pressure pumps, gas meters (to measure the state of gases), microscopes, etc., can all be It’s a place to catch up, why bother to bring shame on yourself. Well, domestic surveys are in full swing now, and various geodetic instruments are selling very well. Dong’an Precision Instrument Company has a lot of money and government channels and connections. Our If similar products cannot be stable in terms of quality and performance, they may not be able to compete. These products, I heard that the scientific instrument factory under the Precision Instrument Company is constantly improving and innovating, and we can’t just rely on our laurels. , scale graduations, vernier and micrometer screw improvements, etc., are all technical obstacles that need to be solved urgently. Our factory spends money on this, which seems to be more reliable than developing any astronomical products. No, I will Go and discuss with them, and you have to fight for what you need to argue. The scale of the business established by my grandfather and father is not easy, so I can't lose it in my hands. I heard that there are several large courtyards in Qingdao County in the north The children have joined forces and want to enter this lucrative industry. They have borrowed a sum of money from Qiang Xiaoman, and they have taken tens of thousands of yuan themselves. They have also dug a few technical backbones from the Precision Instrument Company and the Henan Glass Factory. , it still looks quite threatening, so don’t be careless.”

In fact, it is normal for Mo Xingye to have such worries.The precision instrument manufacturing industry is an industry with high technical barriers on the east coast and even in the world, and also has a large demand for funds. It needs to continuously invest money to improve old products, develop new products, and replace various instruments. It's very fast, and it's normal to fall behind if you don't pay attention.

Moreover, with the increasing economic development of the east coast, the demand for such instruments used in industry, scientific research and teaching is also increasing, and the market size is amazing.Not to mention, now European countries are also learning from the east coast to engage in various standardized production, directly "plagiarizing" various measurement standards on the east coast, and trying to import new or second-hand instruments to improve their industrial level-without these instruments, Precision production is a joke—the market here is even more astonishing when you calculate it carefully. It is also common for people who have money in their hands but no investment direction to be targeted by later generations.

Therefore, Mo Xingye suddenly felt a sense of crisis, and began to think seriously about the future development direction of Haidiao Instrument Factory.Their "old store" with a history of 30 to [-] years seems to be quite beautiful at present, but if there is a deviation in the future development direction, it is not impossible to be surpassed by others, so we must choose carefully.

(End of this chapter)