Not long after we boarded the ship, the steamer blew its whistle. Woohoo!
As the chimney emitted billowing smoke, a large amount of white water vapor escaped from the piston. For a time, the mist evaporated.
This experimental shallow-water heavy gunboat, the first of its kind, shook violently. It was somewhat similar to the rocking back and forth of an honest steam engine train when it started.
Then, as the transmission device started, the whole ship trembled slightly. From the deck under your feet, you could clearly feel that the whole ship was shaking.
Zhang Fengyi's little face flushed with excitement, she clapped her hands and said: "Let's sail the boat, let's sail the boat."
This was her first time on a steamship.
Last year in Hangzhou, although I also boarded a clipper ship, it was moored on the shore and did not go to sea at that time. Because it was the first trial run of the steam engine, many problems occurred, and it was moored for maintenance at the time.
This time, it was the first time to ride on a steam-powered ship.
This ship is different from the previous clipper ship. That ship was converted from a sailboat. But this ship has no sails at all and is a pure steamer ship.
At that time, because of the Hukou Falls, it was impossible for ships on the lower reaches of the Yellow River to sail above the waterfall. Therefore, the hull of this ship was made of cement.
This is actually not a wooden boat. It is a cement boat made of reinforced concrete.
At that time, steamboats and tugs were used to transport a large amount of steel bars and cement, as well as steam engines, transmission equipment, propellers, and various components to the waterfall.
It was then transferred to a caravan and transported upstream, where a shipbuilding workshop was built.
The skeleton is first built with steel bars, and then poured with plywood and cement.
This is the result of repeated weighing by the Shipbuilding Research Institute. Only this way is the most economical. At the same time, the construction speed and difficulty are also relatively better.
The world's first cement ship was built by Frenchman J.L. Lamport in 1848. Cement ships were popular before steel ships were put into large-scale use.
Cement ships are corrosion-resistant and durable. The advantages are that cement ships are cheap to build, materials are easy to obtain, construction equipment and construction techniques are simple, maintenance costs are low, and wood and steel can be saved.
The disadvantage is that it is heavy and has poor impact resistance, so it can only be used within a certain range. It is easily damaged when a ship collides. But this is compared to a collision with a steel ship. If it collides with a wooden ship, a cement ship will definitely be stronger.
The biggest trick of Yang Fan's men is that they can obtain materials and technical information for future generations from the master.
They learned from the information that cement ships mainly include steel wire cement ships and reinforced concrete ships.
Whether it's steel or cement, they can find it. It's not difficult to build a cement ship. What's more, cement has already been used on a large scale in Yang Fan's system.
A steel wire cement ship is a ship made of steel bars and steel wire mesh forming a skeleton, and the inside and outside are coated with cement. It has the characteristics of corrosion resistance and durability, and can be used as agricultural boats, fishing boats and transport ships.
When Huang Hao was in charge of the Water Transport Department, he strongly supported the replacement of old wooden canoes with cement ships. This achieved good results, saved maintenance costs, provided a large number of ships in a short period of time, and satisfied the transportation link's support for the war several times.
Steel mesh cement ships are cheap to build, materials are easy to obtain, construction equipment and construction techniques are simple, maintenance costs are low, and wood and steel can be saved.
Reinforced concrete ships are ships that use reinforced concrete as the hull structure material.
Compared with reinforced concrete ships, steel mesh cement ships have thin hulls, light weight, are easy to form, and have greater crack resistance and elongation due to dispersed reinforcements.
After carefully studying the advantages and disadvantages of these two types of ships, the Inland River Ship Research Office of the Naval Ship Research Institute finally decided to use a steel mesh ship as the solution. After all, this ship must be equipped with cannons and must retain sufficient load capacity.
Steel wire cement ships can be used as agricultural ships, fishing boats and transport ships. Reinforced concrete ships can be used as engineering ships and barges that have low dead weight requirements, fixed berths or less movement.
This 200-ton inland river gunboat was actually a cement boat. This surprised Zhang Wudian.
Because he was close to Yang Fan, he sent his family's housekeeper to take the camel team to the new city to purchase a lot of new gadgets. Although he is over seventy, his love for science and technology is no less than that of young people.
Especially this time, the installation of the Newcomen steam engine for water pumping required the use of cement and masonry to fix the well position.
He knew the benefits of cement. Those newly drilled wells required large-diameter cement pipes. However, in addition to building walls, this thing could also build ships, which really shocked the old man.
"Uncle Dingyuan, is this kind of cement ship strong and durable?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Zhang, cement is corrosion-resistant and not as easy to rot as wooden boards. It also doesn't breed insects. There will be absolutely no problem if it is used for more than fifteen years, and it can still be used after thirty years of repair. The main reason is that the construction speed is fast, and it can also be used."
There is no need for total maintenance. Although steel bars and steel mesh are more expensive, in terms of the entire life cycle, they are still more cost-effective than wooden boats."
Zhang Wudian nodded. He is one of the few scientists in this era.
The old man is proficient in mathematics and has done research on various machines. He is a natural science scholar like Xu Guangqi, Song Yingsheng, Yuan Yingtai and others.
He also studied water conservancy technology with Yuan Yingtai when he was young, and now he is responsible for the construction of many irrigation canals in his hometown. This is also the reason why several counties around Zhangjiabao have been able to maintain stability despite successive years of drought.
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Now, he is using steam engines to pump water on his 57,000 acres of dry land. He has seen the benefits and is very interested in promoting this new type of machinery.
He also has research on shipbuilding. Wooden plank ships will rot and need to be replaced every few years. At the same time, whether it is lap jointing or splicing, waterproofing, that is, caulking is required.
Every two or three years, the boat needs to be pulled into the dock or ashore and the seams re-caulked. Otherwise, water will leak.
Ships at sea are even worse. There is a kind of shellfish in the sea called shipworm, commonly known as shipworm.
It can drill into wood to make a nest, and in a few years, it can make the hard hardwood ship planks full of holes. It looks fine from the outside, but when you remove the ship planks and saw the cross section, you will see that there are holes inside.
, the wood was rotten.
It is very easy to be broken when encountering big waves, causing a shipwreck.
This cement ship is definitely something shipworms don’t want to eat. Cement is stone, not wood, and shipworms can’t digest it. Cement ships don’t need frequent maintenance alone, which saves a lot of money.
"Brother Yang, I saw that the deck of this ship is not made of cement, but is covered with wooden boards. Why is that?" Zhang Fengyi asked like a curious baby.
She had discovered long ago that the interior floors of this ship were all made of wood. They were painted and polished to a discernible shine.
"That's because the cement is too hot when exposed to the sun. It conducts heat very well. In the cabin, especially the engine cabin, there is almost no room for people in the summer. However, these equipment must be guarded and maintained by someone below, and they must be based on the cockpit guidance.
The operation is carried out according to the commands transmitted by the sound tube. In order to cool down, it is better to lay a layer of wooden boards on the cement on the deck and top of the ship."
In fact, the aircraft carriers and battleships in World War II also had teak decks. There was no air conditioning in that era, and when the steel was exposed to the sun, the cabin became a steamer in summer.
At this time, the chef came in with a cart.
"Sir, the supper is ready."
This chapter has been completed!