The most important bearing is made, and the next step is to make the steel balls in the ball mill. Of course, Zhao Zhikuan is not luxurious enough to use steel balls, so he also plans to use cast iron to make these iron balls to smash the materials of the ball mill.

Zhao Zhikuan's original idea was quite simple, to directly use a sand mold to make iron balls, but he didn't know that this simplest step would run into trouble. In fact, it was not a trouble, but the number of iron balls needed was too many.

Zhao Zhikuan was working on a small ball mill, which weighed about five tons, but he forgot that the iron balls accounted for most of the weight of the entire ball mill. Zhao Zhikuan planned to use iron balls weighing five kilograms each. If the total weight of the iron balls was 3 tons, then

Just 1,200 iron balls were needed. In the Ming Dynasty, when the handicraft industry was dominated by this quantity, even if Blacksmith Wang was exhausted, he would not be able to complete 1,200 foundry models in a short period of time.

According to Blacksmith Wang and his son, including ten mature workers, they could only make twenty models a day, and 1,200 would be sixty days. Zhao Zhikuan couldn't afford to wait, so he had no choice but to reduce the number of iron balls. From the previous 1,200

Just cut it in half, but it would also take a month.

In the end, Zhao Zhikuan could only relax the conditions and increase the weight of the iron balls to fifteen kilograms each, so that the completion could be completed within ten days. However, as the iron balls increased, the speed of ball milling would slow down. However, the size of the material could be relaxed, which would also be considered a loss within the embankment.

Make up for it outside the embankment!

After ten days of long waiting, 3,000 kilograms of 200 iron balls were finally completed. Zhao Zhikuan put these iron balls into the already prepared ball mill and sighed: "Whether it will succeed or not depends on this!"

Blacksmith Wang and his son have been very tired these days. They are the only two people on the island who can make sand models. Although there are ten workers to help them, how can they master the ancestral skill of mixing sand with tung oil? So these two

The sand molds for hundreds of iron balls were made by their father and son.

Does Blacksmith Wang know the weight of these iron balls? He looked at the wooden shell of the ball mill and asked worriedly: "Master, can the shell you made of wood work?"

There is no way around this. Of course, the real ball mill uses an iron casing, but the craftsmanship of Mr. Wang and his son in sand-making bearings is already a big step. The big iron barrel that is five meters long, three meters high and two and a half meters in diameter is really made.

It doesn't come out, but in order to ensure the strength of the ball mill, wood can only be used.

In order to ensure that the outer shell will not be cracked by the iron ball, Zhao Zhikuan increased the thickness of the outer shell to five centimeters, and also fixed the outer shell with several layers of iron nails, so there should be no problem.

Under Zhao Zhikuan's instruction, the ball mill was connected to the flywheel of the steam turbine through a connecting rod. Such heavy machinery must use hard connections, and soft connections cannot carry the weight of five or six tons at all.

The ball mill's gearbox is already full of oil. After being connected to the flywheel of the steam turbine, the gearbox changes the speed from hundreds of revolutions per minute to fifteen revolutions per minute. Thanks to the precision-machined gearbox gears of the machine tool, this time

The movement was obviously much smaller than last time.

The ball mill rotates slowly driven by the steam turbine, and the iron balls inside start to rotate, making a clanging sound.

Zhao Zhikuan saw that there was no problem for a while, and then asked the workers to put in the materials that needed to be ground. The first thing they put in was some broken bricks. To make cement, the bricks need to be ground into powder. In addition to bricks, there are also cinders, gypsum, etc.

Because the wood board used in the ball mill was not well sealed, a burst of dust was blown out while it was rotating. Zhao Zhikuan knew that this kind of pollution was inevitable. In the early days of industrialization, it was represented by smoke and dust that blocked the sky and the sun.

Have a handy job

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The progress of the tool was much faster. In half an hour, the ball mill turned nearly a meal of broken bricks into powdery raw meal. The second time, Zhao Zhikuan asked the workers to fill it up and start operating at full power.

As the gearbox changes gears, the speed of the ball mill is doubled, and the rotational speed is increased to thirty revolutions per minute. At this time, the connection between the shell and the bearing begins to sizzle, but it seems that there is no problem. In terms of toughness

Wood is much stronger than pig iron.

The second batch of materials weighed two tons, and it took an hour to finally grind them into powdery raw meal. The workers on the side opened their mouths when they saw this speed. A few days ago, they used animal power and stone grinding, and they grinded it every day.

Only two tons of cement raw materials can be processed, and the big guy in front of them completed the workload of more than 20 people and two cows in one hour.

Zhao Zhikuan calculated that if the machine was not shut down, it could produce twenty-four tons of raw meal per day. Of course, this was a perfect situation. After all, the machinery needed maintenance and could only produce about eight hours a day, so it should be sixteen tons of raw meal per day.

The cement kiln I built can put 20 tons of raw material into one kiln, and after calcination, it will produce about 18 tons of cement. Although the output of the ball mill in one day is enough for the usage of one cement kiln, the cement kiln needs to start from feeding materials to firing.

, the process of discharging and ball milling takes five days, so we need to build three cement kilns to consume the output of this ball mill.

Zhao Zhikuan did the calculation again. If calculated based on four cement kilns, there would be 72 tons of cement every five days, which is 432 tons per month. This rate is far from enough.

Zhao Zhikuan plans to build a cement road around Haidian Island around the island. The circumference of Haidian Island is estimated to be about 30 kilometers, and the road around the island will be about 25 kilometers. According to the manual, if a road with a width of 3.5 meters is built,

A rural non-load-bearing cement road that is one thousand meters long and eighteen centimeters thick requires 150 tons of cement, 250 cubic meters of sand, and 380 cubic meters of gravel.

Zhao Zhikuan was a little discouraged when he thought that his monthly output was only enough to build two kilometers of cement roads. However, this was only the output of one ball mill. Adding more ball mills could increase output. However, there are too many things that need to be done at present. Zhao Zhikuan just doesn't have the energy to focus.

For building cement roads. Others include jaw crushers and mineral concentrators needed by mines, blast furnaces and open hearth furnaces needed by iron plants, and muskets and artillery needed by grandson Zhao Heng. Thinking of these, Zhao Zhikuan's head is a bit big.

Zhao Zhikuan looked at the rapidly rotating ball mill and reached out to call one of his apprentices, Qin Gui. He was the one who made the shell of the ball mill this time. Zhao Zhikuan was very satisfied.

Qin Gui came over and saluted and asked: "Teacher, did you call me?"

"Qin Gui, Master is very satisfied with the shell you made. From now on, this factory will be handed over to you!"

When Qin Gui heard this, he was overjoyed and quickly knelt down and kowtowed.

Zhao Zhikuan is different from the stingy Zhao Fuxiang. Zhao Fuxiang is reluctant to delegate power at all. He wishes he was the boss of all industries. He doesn't believe in anyone except Kong Shouzhen. But Zhao Zhikuan doesn't think so. There are many industrial categories, and he is not a peerless genius.

He could manage all industrial categories in an orderly manner, so as long as Zhao Zhikuan developed a machine and built a factory, he would give the factory to his new apprentice.

This can reduce the pressure on Zhao Zhikuan and at the same time give the apprentices the motivation to learn. After all, once you have learned well, you can become a foreman. Where can you find such a teacher? Of course, Zhao Zhikuan is not just a hands-off shopkeeper. In terms of machine upgrades and maintenance,

It still needs to be managed, but the operation of the factory and the addition of equipment are all decisions made by the apprentices themselves.

Even if the Zhao family in the future

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As his industry has grown, Zhao Zhikuan is not prepared to take back these factories, so just regard them as dividends for these apprentices!

Blacksmith Wang was jealous when he saw Qin Gui getting a factory. He asked: "Master, when can I have a factory?"

Zhao Zhikuan smiled and said: "We will talk about it when the iron factory is built in the future!"

Blacksmith Wang's eyes lit up and he asked: "Teacher, will you give me the iron factory to your apprentice in the future?"

"Then it depends on how much effort you put in!"

When Blacksmith Wang heard these words, he felt so tired from playing with the molds for the past ten days that his muscles ached and immediately lost all feeling. He quickly promised: "Master, please don't worry. As long as the apprentice can use his strength, please give me instructions!"

Seeing Blacksmith Wang like this, Zhao Zhikuan smiled and said: "Okay, since you said so, let's make a cylinder first!"

In order to tinker with the ball mill these days, Zhao Zhikuan stopped all the reciprocating steam engines in his hands. Now that the ball mill is completed, Zhao Zhikuan is ready to pick up the steam engine in his hands again. Although the steam turbine is powerful, it takes up too much space and cannot be moved.

, the reciprocating steam engine is naturally more flexible for daily use.

The principle of a reciprocating steam engine is slightly more complicated than a steam turbine. Steam enters the cylinder from the steam boiler through the steam pipeline and steam distribution device. The piston in the cylinder reciprocates in sequence from one end to the other under the action of steam pressure. This is the reciprocating steam engine.

The principle of steam engine.

When one side of the piston is receiving steam, the exhaust steam is discharged from the other side of the piston. The piston is connected to one end of the connecting rod through the piston rod. The other end of the connecting rod meets the crankshaft. The steam distribution device is installed on the crankshaft of the steam engine.

It is driven by the eccentric wheel on the shaft. When the piston moves to the right under the action of steam pressure, the slide valve moves to the left; when the piston moves to the left, the slide valve moves to the right.

Zhao Zhikuan built a single-cylinder steam engine. This type of steam engine is simple in structure and easy to manufacture. It does not require sealing and can be used in normal pressure boilers. The disadvantage is also obvious, that is, insufficient power. However, there were improved triple-expansion steam engines in later generations, but

That kind of steam engine requires high-pressure steam, and Zhao Zhikuan can't make it yet.

Now that the basic components of the steam engine have been completed, the most critical steam distribution device, that is, the slide valve chamber cannot be manufactured. This thing is the key equipment on the steam engine. The slide valve chamber is connected to the cylinder. There is a slide valve chamber in the slide valve chamber.

The polished flat slide valve surface has three steam paths in the slide valve surface: two on both sides and one in the middle. Steam is discharged outward through the middle steam path and enters the cylinder through the steam paths on both sides. Slide valve

The eccentric can make reciprocating motion on the slide valve surface along the longitudinal direction of the slide valve chamber.

Because the slide valve chamber and the cylinder are a whole, it is impossible to create it with Zhao Zhikuan's current technology, but the drawing only has a basic structural diagram and does not say how the cylinder is manufactured.

Blacksmith Wang looked at the drawings. He had learned a lot about sand modeling these days. After looking at the drawings, he asked: "Master, how about we use casting?"

Later generations of castings could cast parts with precision pipes inside, but Zhao Zhikuan didn't know how. He asked Blacksmith Wang before, and he didn't know how. Now that Blacksmith Wang wanted to try it, Zhao Zhikuan asked, "Didn't you say no before?"

Why is it okay now?"

Blacksmith Wang smiled and said: "Master, my apprentice could not do it before, but in the past ten days I have made more than 200 models, and I have become a proficient expert. If my apprentice wants to cast hollow castings, there should be no problems!"

Zhao Zhikuan became more energetic after hearing this and said with a smile: "Okay, there are still seven or eight hundred kilograms of pig iron left. Let's try precision casting in the next few days!"

(End of chapter)
Chapter completed!