Hearing Ou Tiexin's invitation, Yan Liqiang laughed and readily agreed, "Haha, that's exactly what I meant. Even if Lord Ou doesn't say it, I would also like to go and see. Isn't the water-fire machine workshop just in front?"
Ou Tiexin pointed ahead and said, "The workshop that makes this water fire machine is just ahead. We'll get there in a few more steps!"
"Hahaha, Li Qiang, when Tie Xin heard that you and Master Zhang had invented the water fire machine, he had people travel thousands of miles from Pingxi County to buy three water fire machines and asked the escort agency to transport them back. As soon as he came back, he took a group of craftsmen to dismantle the water fire machine, study it thoroughly, and start to imitate it. Tie Xin was full of praise for the water fire machine!" Luo Yutian also said with a smile, and then looked at Ou Tiexin, "Tie Xin, if you have any questions this time, you can ask Li Qiang in person. This is a rare opportunity. Even if other craftsmen camps want to ask Li Qiang for guidance, they may not be able to do so!"
"Hahaha, you're too polite, Brother Luo. I came here today to broaden my horizons!"
Luo Yutian pointed at Yan Liqiang and said, "Humble, Liqiang, you are humble again!"
Yan Liqiang smiled...
"I have a question I'd like to ask Lord Yan. I heard that the water and fire machine was invented by you and Zhang Yourong, the world's number one mechanism master of Lingshan School. I wonder how you came up with the idea of inventing this thing?" Ou Tiexin asked. When he asked this, the craftsmen who were accompanying him all looked attentively, because they were also very curious about this question. It happened that the great craftsman Tiangong came to the craftsman city today, so they wanted to listen.
"At that time, Brother Zhang made a few gadgets by himself and brought them to me for discussion. He wanted to make them run continuously without human intervention. We discussed it together, and one time when we were brewing tea and drinking tea, we saw the lid of the boiling teapot fluttering up and down under the impact of the water vapor. That’s when we got inspiration and found a way to use the power of water and fire to drive things to run continuously!"
"I admire you so much. I didn't expect that such a powerful tool as the water lighter was invented by drinking tea!" After hearing this, Ou Tiexin and the craftsmen looked at Yan Liqiang in amazement. If Yan Liqiang hadn't said it, they would never have thought that the water lighter was actually invented by two great masters when they were drinking tea together and saw the teapot was boiling. What a genius!
"As a craftsman, you must study the world to gain knowledge, observe all things and create works, benefit the world and leave a good reputation for generations to come. You must not underestimate the skills you have!"
Hearing Yan Liqiang's words, Ou Tiexin and the other craftsmen were shocked. They felt that these words were full of meaning and could benefit craftsmen for the rest of their lives. Even Luo Yutian couldn't help but praise him, "Liqiang said it well!"
As the group was talking, they walked for a while and arrived at a large workshop covering dozens of acres. This was a workshop in the craftsman city that made water-fire machines. There were two large chimneys in the workshop, with billowing smoke coming out. Under the chimneys was a furnace for melting iron, with hot steam billowing and molten iron flowing...
When everyone arrived, a group of craftsmen were busy working in the water-fire machine workshop. A man who looked like a foreman ran over with sweat on his forehead, saluted Luo Yutian, Yan Liqiang, Ou Tiexin and others, and then took everyone on a tour.
Led by the head craftsman, everyone walked into the workshop and saw a group of craftsmen busy at work. The most critical parts of the water fire machine were all cast, so the most important process in the workshop was casting.
"Sir Ou, I think this water-fire machine workshop should have just been expanded, right?" Yan Liqiang walked and looked. There was a very basic assembly line production model in this workshop, but when Yan Liqiang glanced, he could still see that the iron-melting furnace and the sand boxes were very new. As for the casting process, let's not talk about it. It looked not much different from that of the manufacturing bureau under his command, but in fact, in such a casting process, some subtle differences are enough to bring huge impacts.
"Your Excellency has noticed that the things produced in the Artisan City before did not require many objects to be cast, so this foundry was not big. However, the previous foundry was not enough to make water and fire machines, so it had to be expanded. The workshop in front of us is the newly expanded one!" Ou Tiexin said while looking at Yan Liqiang, and said directly, "Although we also produce water and fire machines here, the water and fire machines we made according to the appearance of the smuggled machines of the manufacturing bureau under your Excellency's command are not as good as the water and fire machines of the manufacturing bureau under your Excellency's command, and they often have problems..."
"Are there often sand holes on the castings you cast?" Yan Liqiang said casually.
"Ah, sir, did you figure it out?" Ou Tiexin and the other craftsmen looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise. No one expected that Yan Liqiang would find the problem after just a quick look. "It is because there are too many problems with the things we cast here. Only one or two out of ten can be used. This is why the efficiency is low and the cost is countless. It is really a headache. Lord Luo rewarded us with a thousand taels of gold to find a solution, but no one has been able to solve it..."
"They are cleaning the sand mold over there, let's go and take a look..." Yan Liqiang said, and came to the place in the workshop where several craftsmen were dismantling the sand boxes, watching them cleaning the sand mold outside the casting.
As the sand mold was cleaned, the casting underneath the sand mold revealed its original appearance. This casting was the most critical cylinder component in the water fire machine. Such a component could only be formed by casting, and hammering would not work at all.
Yan Liqiang squatted down and took a look. With the naked eye, he could see many sand holes on the surface of the cleaned cylinder body, which greatly affected the quality of the cylinder body. He grabbed a handful of the cleaned sand mold, rubbed it on his hands, and then stood up. The Manufacturing Bureau had encountered such a problem before, but it was later solved by Yan Liqiang relying on the powerful knowledge reserves in his memory.
It is a sad thing about the Han Empire. The casting process is not complicated. The sand casting process has been around for a long time. In addition to this process, there is also a more complicated cavity melting wax casting method. However, these casting processes have been used for a long time, not to improve production efficiency, but to cast various exquisite ritual vessels, such as various tripods, bells, and funerary objects. These things are all cast with copper or silver. To put it bluntly, they are for the powerful and wealthy to enjoy and show their status.
However, there are very few steel objects forged through casting that can improve the production efficiency of the entire society. Accordingly, casting has become forging, and in the end people can only rely on the clanging of blacksmiths to forge something. The productivity of the entire society has not been improved for a long time, and the casting technology has also stagnated for a long time. People who really understand steel casting are extremely rare.
Although there is only one word difference between casting and forging, the social development directions that evolved from them are very different. One is still an agricultural society, while the other is striding forward towards the initial industrialization, and the last one is far ahead...
It is estimated that this craftsman city rarely cast any steel objects in the past, so now they started to imitate the water-fire machine, only to find that although the craft is the same and seems simple and can be mastered, due to some subtle differences, they can never produce the same finished product as the Manufacturing Bureau.
"Sir, can this problem be solved?"
Yan Liqiang dusted off his hands and stood up. "This problem can be solved!"
"Then I wonder where this problem comes from. We, a group of craftsmen, have been thinking about it for a year, but we still can't find the problem?"
"Did you use straw ash and dry sand when you gathered the sand?"
"Is there any problem with this?" Ou Tiexin looked at Yan Liqiang in confusion. "Some of the artifacts cast in the Artisan City were also like this when the sand molds were made, but there were no problems before?"
"Are the objects you forge made of copper or iron?"
"It's copper!"
"The melting point of iron is nearly half that of copper, and the weight of the same volume is also much greater. Although they use the same sand casting process, do you think the sand-gathering materials used in both are the same?"
Ou Tiexin was shocked and immediately bowed to Yan Liqiang, "Please give me some advice, sir!"
"The most important reason why sand holes are produced in iron castings is that the surface strength of the sand mold drops sharply after solidification, dehydration and drying. The surface sand particles are easily eroded by the heavier and hotter molten iron and fall into the molten iron, which will produce sand holes. If you want to avoid sand holes, you cannot use straw ash and dry sand when gathering sand. Instead, you must add clay with higher moisture, or mix it with a little paste. Then the sand mold must be pressed hard into shape. Half an hour before the sand mold is put into the casting box, it must be sprayed with water mist to prevent it from drying out. Remember..."
What Yan Liqiang said was a secret method among craftsmen, worth a fortune. If it were in other places, it would definitely be a unique skill passed down from father to son in a craftsman's family. When Ou Tiexin and the other craftsmen beside him heard Yan Liqiang's solution to the sand holes in the castings, they were overjoyed. They looked at Yan Liqiang with admiration. This master craftsman was really not just boasting. They knew the problem at a glance...
Luo Yutian also laughed, "Li Qiang, in this way, the water fire machine made in this workshop will probably be the same as the one made by your manufacturing bureau, right?"
"Brother Luo, do you want to hear the truth?"
"What truth?"
Yan Liqiang shook his head. "Even if this problem is solved, the water fire machine made in the workshop of this craftsman city is only better than your previous ones, but compared with the manufacturing bureau, there will still be a gap, and this gap is very difficult to make up. The gap may get bigger and bigger in the future!"
Ou Tiexin, who had been somewhat happy just now, suddenly became dissatisfied, "My Lord, I'm afraid you are exaggerating. How can there be such a big difference between the same water and fire machines?"
Luo Yutian also looked at Yan Liqiang with a puzzled look...
Seeing a short hair stuck to the leather apron that Ou Tiexin was wearing, Yan Liqiang reached out and picked up the hair. "In my manufacturing bureau, I require all qualified craftsmen to be able to fully measure and calculate the weight, thickness, and volume of this hair. If you want to use copper and iron to make something like this hair, everyone must draw the same blueprint. People who have never seen this hair can make something exactly the same by following the blueprint. I wonder who in this craftsman city can tell me the weight, thickness, and volume of this hair. You draw the blueprint and let others make it. How many people can make something exactly the same as this hair?"
When the craftsmen, including Ou Tiexin, heard Yan Liqiang's question and looked at the hair in Yan Liqiang's hand, they were all dumbfounded.
Ou Tiexin was the first to react. "Could it be that there are different measurement systems in the manufacturing bureau of the adults?"
Yan Liqiang nodded, "Yes, my Manufacturing Bureau and Lingshan Sect's Qianji Hall have already adopted a new set of weights and measures. Without more precise weights and measures, it will be difficult for the development of mechanical engineering to be greater. For craftsmen like us, everything in the world must be measurable!"
(End of this chapter)