Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 14 Luxury Cars
Yang Chao had to build a carriage, and it was a unique carriage.

It is very common for later generations to give away cars. Giving all kinds of luxury cars to people in power can often reap a hundredfold return.

Yang Chao also plans to build a car. Although it is not a famous car in later generations, it must be a luxury car.

And it is a luxury car built by hand, purely handmade.

Yang Chao doesn't know how to build a car himself, but it doesn't bother him, someone can build it.In the Ming Dynasty, there were craftsmen who made cars, and there were dealers who sold cars in the market, but the cars that were available in the market were not sold.

Yang Chao first went to a chariot and horse shop and bought an ordinary two-wheeled carriage. This kind of carriage can be pulled by a single horse, and it is the most common kind.In fact, there is also a four-wheeled carriage, but it is generally used to pull goods and is pulled by oxen.

In the Ming Dynasty, people's carriages were generally two-wheeled, and even the emperor also took two-wheeled carriages.Of course, the emperor usually sits in a sedan chair.

Of course, Yang Chao didn't buy this carriage to give Shi Kefa, but to use it for reference.

Because Yang Chao didn't understand the structure of a carriage at all, this was actually a prototype for reference.

Yang Chao told his father that someone asked him to help build a car, and he was willing to pay a high price so that his father could help find some craftsmen.

The craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty covered almost all kinds of masters, and many of them were the most skilled carpenters.

The next afternoon, Yang Yong invited two carpenters, one surnamed Gao and the other surnamed Song.

The carpenter surnamed Gao was good at carving beams and painted buildings, while the carpenter surnamed Song was a veteran at chopping wheels.He promised the two carpenters ten taels of silver each, and it would not exceed one month. They were very satisfied and agreed to listen to Yang Chao in everything.

Yang Chao first asked two carpenters to use the carriage he bought for nearly a day before dismantling it.

The structure after the carriage is dismantled is almost a carriage, two wheels, and a shed.

Among them, the car plate is integrated with the axle, and the wheels are set on the axle, and there is no separate suspension system.

The car shed is too simple, Yang Chao plans to change it into a square sedan chair shape.

The floor of the car should also be improved, and it should be separated from the axle separately.

The axles and wheels were also improved.

A shock-absorbing system should be installed on the axle. Without a good shock-absorbing system, the carriage would be very bumpy and uncomfortable, so the wealthy people in the Ming Dynasty would rather make a sedan chair than a faster carriage.

As for the wheels, the wheels of the Ming Dynasty were directly set on the axles, without bearings in the middle.Such wheels are not durable, because they tend to wear out the axles, so it is impossible to travel long distances, and if you want to go long distances, you have to prepare several wheels.

After a day of analysis, Yang Chao felt that he needed to improve a lot.

The carriage and wheels had to be a new one. Yang Chao was very efficient and gave the design dimensions to Carpenter Song and Carpenter Gao the next day.The outside of the carriage should be ordinary, but the inside must be careful, so a carpenter like Gao Carpenter who knows how to carve is invited.The wheel should also be according to your own ideas. Ask carpenter Song to make a new one with the best wood, and reserve the position for the bearing.

The most important thing in the design is the bearings and shock absorption. Yang Chao doesn't plan to hire anyone. His father, Yang Yong, is the most skilled blacksmith. I dare not say that Nanjing City is the best, but it is definitely first-rate.

The craftsmanship has been handed down for hundreds of years, many of which are unique skills.

Of course, let his father do it with him instead of hiring others. It's not that Yang Chao is reluctant to pay. Compared with the money Wang Xiao gave, the money for hiring someone is really nothing.

When breaking up with Yang Chao, Wang Xiao even prepaid 100 taels of silver in advance, enough to make a carriage.

He even promised that if he succeeded in giving the gift, he would give Yang Chao a thank-you gift of 1000 taels of silver.

The reason why he and his father had to do it in person was because Yang Chao believed that bearings and shock absorption would be the most important parts of this car, they were considered core technologies, and he didn't intend to be known.In the future this car will be a unique carriage due to bearings and shock absorption.

After Yang Chao helped feed the work of the carriage and wheels, he handed it over to two carpenters, who would do it at their respective homes.

Bearings and shock absorbers are manufactured in Yang's blacksmith shop.

The structure of the bearing looks very simple, it is just two rings on the outer ring and inner ring, and a ring of balls in the middle. Yang Chao still knows this.

But what Yang Chao didn't expect was that making bearings was much more difficult than imagined. First of all, Yang Chao discovered that it was almost impossible to make spherical balls.

Forging a steel ball by hand, even the most skilled blacksmith cannot do it.

Finally, after thinking all night, Yang Chao could only change the design and replace the balls with rolling needles that are easier to make.

The rolling needle is actually just a short round iron stick. Although it is not easy to make, it is at least much easier than a steel ball. After forging and grinding, it can be made.

The inner and outer rings of the bearings are cast, and the cast iron is strong enough to bear the pressure. My father doesn't know how to cast, so he asked a craftsman from the Bingzhan Bureau to do it.

But when the two cast iron rings were brought back, Yang Chao found that the roller needles couldn't fit into the rings no matter what.

There is absolutely no problem with the design, and there is no problem with the casting. The space between the inner and outer rings is just enough to accommodate the needles, but in the design, in order to prevent the needles from falling out, the edges are raised at [-] degrees, so the entrance is It is narrower than the inner raceway and narrower than the diameter of the needle roller, so it is theoretically impossible to install it.

This made Yang Chao almost give up the design of using bearings, but that night, he was suddenly upset, and took the bearings home and left them outside the door indiscriminately.It was only at this time that Yang Chao realized that this was the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction.

Because after being frozen in the cold night, the inner and outer rings shrank inward, and even the diameter of the rolling needle shrank, so it passed through.

The rolling needle went in, but then a new problem came.

When the inner and outer rings are sliding, the needle rollers will touch together. No matter how much oil is poured, it will not help. After the two needle rollers are twisted together, the friction force is very large, and the bearing is easily stuck.

Only then did Yang Chao realize that there is another structure in the middle of the bearings of later generations, the cage, which is a sleeve connected together one by one, separating the balls and needles, so that the balls and needles can roll in the sleeves obediently.

Yang Chao hastily changed the design and added a shaft sleeve made of iron sheet, which was placed between the bearings, and finally solved all the problems of the bearings.

At this time, I couldn't help but be surprised that such a small design is so difficult. It is said that bearings existed very early in ancient times, and they were made of wood.

Yang Chao felt that if he used his own method to make bearings, he might be able to make them himself, and not many people could afford them.

No wonder the ancients didn't invent bearings, not because they couldn't be made, but because there was no market.

After the bearing is shock absorption. The key to shock absorption is the spring. At this time, coil springs have appeared in Western countries. Although they have not yet been industrialized, they have been applied to carriages.

However, China's carriages are very underdeveloped. Some people may have made springs, but they have not been popularized. Yang Chao can't find them in the market at all, so he can only make them himself.

At this point, Yang Chao felt that he couldn't help his father, so he first hit the iron rod with a round body, just as thick as a finger.

Then Yang Chao drew a spiral line on a thick iron rod, and asked his father to wind the fine iron rod into a spiral structure according to his own engraved line.

This work was done in less than three days.

Yang Chao didn't install it hastily, but started to test, the result of the test was not good, the elasticity of the spring was not good.

He had to do it all over again, let his father forge it many times, and the spring he made finally met Yang Chao's requirements. This kind of iron is actually a hundred-smelting steel, and its performance is naturally good.However, it takes four or five days to make one spring of this kind, and it took 20 days to make four of them.

Two carpenters also finished the wheels and carriage.

Carpenter Song made the wheels earlier than the carriage, and he had already finished the carriage floor by the way.

However, there is no axle installed on the bottom plate of this carriage, which made the carpenter of Song Dynasty very surprised. The axles of the Ming Dynasty were all set on the bottom plate.

Then Yang Chao asked him to make a very thick axle, almost a whole log split into a square, fully four inches thick.

There is also a wooden board thickened to three inches on the bottom of the car, which is mortised and tenoned with the bottom of the car, and the position is exactly in accordance with the position of the axle.

Carpenter Song's wheels had long been sized, so it was not difficult to install Yang Chao's bearings at this time. After the inner rings of the bearings were inserted into the axles, it was hard to see any difference from other carriages.

But it turns very lightly, and there is a light rattle sound when the oiled bearing turns.

The connection between the axle and the carriage is also very delicate.An iron rod was placed in the middle of the spring designed by Yang Chao. One end of the iron rod was directly driven into the axle, and then the spring was installed. The other end was movable and inserted into the round hole punched in the frame.Because there is a spring in the middle, one end is fixed and the other end is movable, so the vibration of the carriage can be cushioned to play the role of shock absorption.

However, out of safety considerations, Yang Chao also used hemp rope to tie the axle and the reinforcing plate on the bottom of the car together, and wrapped it many times. The area around the few springs was even denser, and even the springs were hidden. stand up.

After the car was installed, Yang Chao sat down and felt it.

The effect of the four springs is very good. Although the carriage is still a little wobbly when it walks, it is not bumpy at all.And it is very easy to exercise, and one person can pull it away, so a horse is no problem.

Just looking at the carriage, Yang Chao always felt that there was still something missing.

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(End of this chapter)