It seems that there is no hope in a short period of time to cast cannons, but Hong Tao is not giving up. He feels it is very unsafe to rely on crossbow arrows alone, and his destructive power is too weak. ￠￡ Bronze cannons have no hope, so try the wooden cannon! Can wood be used as cannons? Must be used during the Anti-Japanese War, such wooden cannons were used, usually stuffed with a bunch of stones as shotguns, with a bad range and power. But now it is in the Song Dynasty, and I am not facing the Japanese with live ammunition, and they are used at sea. The range is not far away, and Hong Tao can tolerate it. Hong Tao has a way to transform it, as long as it can be used!

How to do it? Since Hong Tao had whale arch paper, he would write down what might be helpful to the present in his memory. Among them is a howitzer he saw in the American Museum in his previous life. It was a weapon during the American Civil War. It fired a shell called the Hodgekis grenade. The thing has a detailed introduction and is very simple to make. Hong Tao also made it on the Superman of the Mouse. It jumped out more than 200 meters away and could explode, or even explode in the water. It was very fun. At that time, Hong Tao used it to blow up tunasties, and you could often hear bangs and bangs near the sea of ​​Belize.

This kind of short-barrel howitzer and Hodgekis grenade are weapons and equipment that Hong Tao wants to do but thinks are feasible. Howitzer and cannon are a pair of opposite types of guns. The howitzer barrel is short and the initial velocity is small. The launch ammunition trajectory is parabola, the cannon barrel is long and the initial velocity is large, and the launch trajectory is even straighter. The cannon painted by Hong Tao is called howitzer. In fact, that thing is a mortar with a diameter ratio of only 5, short and thick, just like a cannon saw off the front barrel and leaving only a small piece of the tail behind it, which looks funny. But don't underestimate this ugly thing, it has many advantages. For example, the low bore pressure, large caliber, and can bending, is a powerful weapon for siege. It has many disadvantages, with a short range, small accuracy, and weak penetration ability. In fact, it is the prototype of the mortar.

Another advantage of using this kind of gun is that it can be used with relatively simple and rough flowering shells. Why are the ancient shells solid? Why haven't they changed for hundreds of years? The reason is very simple, casting and gunpowder technology are not up to standard! If the shells want to be accurately and far, they have to lengthen the cannon barrel, strengthen the sealing of the cannon barrel, and increase the amount of fired medicine. However, the cannon barrel is long and sealed, and there is too much fired medicine, which brings another problem. The chamber pressure is too high. The shell skin is thin, and it can't withstand the chamber pressure during launch, so it explodes directly in the cannon barrel. The shell skin is thick, and the charge is less. If it blows two petals, it is not as powerful as the solid shell.

Therefore, before the manufacturing process of shell shells was solved, flowering bullets had been invented, but there were many restrictions on use, especially in naval warfare, cannons were generally fired to damage the opponent's hull structure. This situation did not change until the 19th century, which also caused the transformation of wooden sail warships to steel shell warships, because the wood could no longer withstand the blow of flowering bullets.

In addition to the gun barrel, there is another big problem with using a flowering bullet, which is the fuse. That is to say, if you let the flowering bullet explode when it hits the target? Before the ** is invented, you cannot make a **, and you cannot make a impact fire device. When the shell is shot out, how to make it explode becomes the key. There must be a reliable fire device. At first, people used a medicine twist as an ignition device, but the burning speed of the thing is unstable. Some exploded as soon as they were out of the bore, and some were shot out for a long time and had not exploded, and they fell to put out the fire.

Later, someone came up with a solution, which was to use a cork stick to create a curved passage in the middle, stuff gunpowder into it, and calculate the combustion time. After many tests, calculate the relationship between the flight distance of the shell and the speed of the gunpowder burning, and mark different marks on the cork stick, such as one hundred meters, two hundred meters, and three hundred meters. When it is necessary, first visually measure the shooting distance, then cut the cork stick short according to the mark on the cork stick, and then stuff it into the fuze port of the flowering bullet. When the shell is fired, the high temperature in the barrel will directly ignite the gunpowder in the cork stick, so that the shell can explode in a delayed manner. If the time is accurate, it can barely replace the triggering fuse.

But this is not enough. Why? Because the temperature inside the barrel is very high when it is fired, it may ignite the gunpowder in the cork and will still explode in the barrel. So people have summarized the experience and lessons and found that if the cork is put at the muzzle, the chance of the explosion will be smaller. But this is not enough to ensure the safety of the gunner. Later, during the Civil War, a thing called the Hodgekis grenade appeared. It is still a round flowering bullet, but it is sitting on a cork bracket. This can ensure that when the shell is stuffed into the barrel, the position of the cork bracket can be used to determine that the cork must go outward. Moreover, this cork bracket can also prevent the launching medicine in the barrel from igniting the gunpowder in the cork too early, and it is very reliable.

So can Hong Tao make these two things? Or can it be made by relying on Jinhewan's current technical level? Hong Tao thinks it can be tried. The bronze gun barrel is replaced by hardwood, and the copper hoops are wrapped around the outside. It can be done with solidity. It is not afraid of being bulky. Anyway, it is placed on a sailboat without anyone running around. Making a rail-mounted cannon truck can also reduce recoil.

The shells are even better, so I use ordinary pig iron to cast a hollow sphere, and then fix a pile of broken iron sheets into the sphere with soft wax, and install a ** in the middle. As for **... If this thing cannot be created, Hong Tao should not be mixed up. In fact, it doesn't matter if it can't be created. Just go to a big city like Guangzhou to find a master in a fireworks workshop and grab it and make it OK. However, the formula ratio is adjusted according to the standards of later generations, and then add whale oil to press it, and then crush it into particles after drying. Hong Tao did this. He doesn't want to test this thing from scratch. If it blows up, it's not that he is unlucky. Why don't he use it if there are ready-made people? As for the arrest, the people he cheated are reliable and reliable, because Hong Tao even cheated them, and they all dare to play tricks and die!

It is not enough to just cast shells with pig iron. Pig iron is too brittle. Even if the chamber pressure of the mortar is low, it can't help it. Just calculate the chamber pressure of the mortar, there are 50 megapas. One megapa is about 10 kilograms per square centimeter. 50 megapas is half a ton. A hollow pig iron ball weighs half a ton of things, and it will be cracked in minutes.

"Hehe...it's my turn to be my major! Hahaha!" It's Hong Tao's turn to take action at this time. After all, he is also studying metal heat treatment. Even if he is more involved, he can remember the simplest pig iron toughening process. Because this question is taken every year, why? It was invented by Lu Da, a military expert in the Eighth Route Army. In the liberated area, he used this method to make grenades and shells. The things invented by his own family must be written into textbooks, and the key points are still needed.

Hong Tao's method is very, very simple. He burns these pig iron balls red, puts them in an iron box and seals them, and sprinkles whale oil in it. This is called spherical heat treatment annealing. After these hollow iron balls naturally cool down, the pig iron becomes black-hearted tough cast iron. This cast iron is very tough and has the characteristics of self-lubricating tooling, which is convenient for processing. For example, drilling a hole, etc. The same thin black-hearted tough cast iron is several times more compressively than pig iron.

"Sir! Take me as your disciple. I won't go back, I'll keep working here!" Seeing Hong Tao like a magic trick, he turned the cast iron ball that was smashed on the ground into a black iron ball that was rolling on the ground, but it was not broken. The blacksmith, who had just been cheated back, was directly convinced.

"Get out of the way, it's not your turn to accept disciples. I've been here for half a year, so I should accept me first!" Although Qi Zu joined the board of directors, he never regarded himself as a manager. He still accompanied the blast furnace every day to melt the iron ore mines and create various iron and copperware for Jinhewan. He had been in contact with Hong Tao's knowledge of metal smelting, but he was embarrassed to say it out. Now he saw that someone was going to rob the master, and he immediately became anxious.

"I can't teach you this skill without getting to be a disciple. I only know some tricks, and it depends on you if I do it. I will write down these things and send them to each of you. Everyone has them. But you have to go to school to learn to read, otherwise you won't understand them even if I write them, right?" Hong Tao did not have the hobby of being someone else's master, but he had the interest in imparting knowledge. Writing books has always been his dream realm.

With the shell shells that can be used, the next thing is easier to handle. There are so many corks. This thing is a specialty of Southeast Asia. When carving lines in cork sticks and calculating the loading and burning time, Hong Tao handed over to Chen Mingen, asking him to take the children from the school to do it. These children not only have to study, but also choose one or two learning directions according to their preferences. They have to learn handicrafts with their masters every day, whether it is farming, shipbuilding, iron smelting, or oil refining. Anyway, you choose at least one of them, and your hands-on ability is not weak. As for how they do it and how they do it, Hong Tao does not participate, and only makes a request for them, and they will explore the process by themselves. Not only do they have to explore, but they also have to record the entire process. Maybe it will be a ready-made textbook in the future.
Chapter completed!