After Xu Wei had enough funds, he began to forge various parts of the steam engine regardless of cost. But the gears, pistons, piston rods, piston joints, load-bearing shafts, bearings, pins, crankshaft bodies, springs, crankshafts, and gaskets of the steam engine
These things are easy to forge, but the biggest problem is the steam engine cylinder that stumped Xu Wei.
Xu Wei initially planned to get it right in one step and directly use the strongest steel to make the cylinder. After all, this is the most durable. But reality soon hit Xu Wei in the face. The steel was too strong, which made it difficult for craftsmen to polish the cylinder into shape.
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After all, in addition to being strong, the cylinder must also be as smooth as a mirror, so that it can fit tightly with the piston and prevent air leakage. However, steel is too hard, so Xu Wei does not have tools hard enough to polish the cylinder.
At the beginning, Xu Wei had a lot of money and felt that the initial breakthrough was the most important, so he used 12 top polishing craftsmen to polish the cylinder of the steam engine step by step. It was these top craftsmen who polished the cylinder for more than half a year, and finally reached the point where the cylinder reached Xu Wei's level.
Meeting the exacting standards required, he then created the first steel steam engine suitable for this world. Of course, the cost of this steel steam engine exceeded 100 million.
But when Xu Wei showed the finished product to these businessmen, he saw that the steam engine was continuously providing power to the textile machine in front, and the shuttle speed of the textile machine was more than ten times faster than that of manual labor. Right in front of them, a foot of cloth
They were really amazed by the ingenuity of Xu Wei's steam engine. With the steam loom, all the water conservancy looms in the world would be useless. They even saw large sums of gold and silver waving to them.
But when I heard that it took more than 100 million yuan to make such a thing, my heart suddenly became cold. Why would they use a steam engine if it really cost 100 million yuan?
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Xu Wei immediately explained: "It is a scientific research product, so it is a bit expensive, but if it is mass-produced, the price can be reduced!"
The businessman immediately asked: "How much does it cost to mass-produce such a steam engine?"
Xu Wei said: "It can be polished so perfectly that only a top craftsman can do it. In addition, it takes more than half a year to polish it. According to my budget, I can take away this steam engine with about 10 million!"
There is no way, the monthly salary of the top craftsmen working in Da Da is not low. The monthly salary of these top craftsmen who follow Xu Wei is 100,000 yuan. This is just for Xu Wei's sake, and now the other parts of Xu Wei's steam engine
Although the price is high, it is not unaffordable. The only thing is that the cylinder requires top craftsmen to polish it bit by bit to be as smooth as a mirror, and it takes more than half a year. This greatly increases the price of the steam engine. This may be a black technology.
It’s a price!
But this price has made everyone lose the idea of using a steam engine. In this era, you can build an extremely large textile factory with 10 million yuan, and you can usually pay back the money in three to five years. No matter how powerful the steam engine is, it will never be possible
Earn 3 million a year! In the big money, the price of a cow is more than 4,000 yuan. Can a steam engine have the efficiency of more than 2,000 cows?
These businessmen don’t think that this steam engine can do what 2,000 cows can do. Even if this steam engine can really be used on textile machines, it is still an expensive waste!
At this time, a sharp sound sounded, and they watched the steam engine continue to emit steam, and soon the place was filled with white water vapor.
Xu Wei said loudly: "Turn off the steam engine, open the valve, and release the steam!"
These businessmen looked at this scene in horror, the unknown is scary!
Xu Weiyou said to these businessmen: "After all, it is a new thing, and there are still some imperfections. It will take a while to run and need to be repaired, but it will be fine soon!"
But these businessmen have given up hope, spending 10 million dollars to make such an easy-to-break thing!
Although Xu Wei's first-generation steam engine was advanced, its cost was too high and no one could afford it, so it failed.
This disappointed the businessmen who had confidence in Xu Wei. In order to restore everyone's confidence, Xu Wei also created a low-end version of the pot camel machine, which reduced the smoothness of the cylinder, the pressure on the cylinder and the accuracy of the piston.
, so that a qualified tool can grind out the cylinder.
Of course, this defect is also extremely obvious. Due to air leakage, the horsepower of the pot camel machine is a little smaller, probably only about one horsepower. However, the price of such a simple version of the pot camel machine has become extremely low, not counting the cost of research and development.
Just counting the cost of casting, it's about ten thousand or twenty thousand.
But even for such a pot camel machine, businessmen are not willing to buy it. It costs 10,000 to 20,000 yuan to build such an iron lump. It is not as strong as a bucking horse. The price of a bucking horse in Daqing generally does not exceed 5,000 yuan.
, while horses eat grass, this iron lump eats coal.
Therefore, in the eyes of businessmen, the new Guotuo machine is high in price, low in power, and expensive. It is also often prone to problems and strikes, and senior craftsmen are required to come over for repairs. The competitors of the Guotuo machine opposite Niu Ma can be said to be weak in all aspects.
Yu Xiafeng can be said to be a waste! No businessman is optimistic about this camel machine.
Only Niu Ming bought a camel machine from Xu Wei and used it in the mine. Using it to pump water can solve many problems. In addition, the most indispensable thing in their mines is coal and blacksmiths. On the contrary, cattle and horses are prone to illness when they go to the mines.
.In terms of cost-effectiveness, there was not much difference, and Xu Wei could barely save his face. After many farm directors in Daqian learned about this, they also followed Niu Ming's example of spending money and purchased several small pot camel machines one by one.
So in many farms and mines in Daqian, you can hear the sound of the pot camel machine in Dududu, and then you can see a water pipe next to the machine continuously transporting water from a low level to a high level, or out.
Mines, not to mention, this pot camel machine feels good after being used. Although it is extremely simple, the efficiency of pumping water is not low. The fuel of the pot camel machine is generally straw, wood and other items that are easy to find in rural areas. Repairs
It is also extremely simple to build. As long as it breaks, just find a blacksmith and smash it twice.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Relying on internal digestion, hundreds of pieces of this first-generation steam engine product have been sold, which can be regarded as bringing the world into the steam age.
Private individuals generally cannot afford this kind of product, so the market is not extremely vast. After all, the average household only has 100 acres of land, and a family taking turns using a water press is enough to irrigate their own farmland.
Xu Wei also persuaded local farmers to buy a camel machine to reduce labor force. After all, in addition to irrigation, the camel machine can also be used to thresh and grind wheat. It can be said that it has a wide range of uses.
But the local people said: "What the pot camel machine can do can be done by manpower. Don't you need to buy such an expensive machine? If I really have this money, I might as well buy 4 cows and horses. This can not only cultivate the fields but also
Use it to pull goods! It’s more cost-effective.”
These words made Xu Wei realize that his first-generation steam engine was not only not competitive enough to compete with cows and horses, but even humans. The scene was really quite exciting. Unless the price is reduced by 10 times, ordinary farmers can only use it.
Build a steam engine like this!
Therefore, from the perspective of investment efficiency, the first generation of steam engines cost investors nothing, and even hundreds of boiler machines would not be able to recover their capital.
In order to repay his money, Xu Wei even got some original steam train toys, and then used a sandbox, and a huge Lego world appeared. This was Xu Wei's way of getting it for the children of wealthy families to use it to repay his money.
But they didn't expect to be seen by big businessmen like Zhen An. They then saw that the steam engine had a bright future. It could not only be used for textiles and pumping water, but could also completely change the way of transportation.
As a result, Xu Wei's steam trains were purchased by a large number of businessmen. At the same time, they regained their confidence in Xu Wei and continued to invest 200 million in Xu Wei, hoping to see practical steam engines come out.
There are even many ambitious businessmen who bought model trains and then spent huge sums of money to set up a laboratory of their own, hoping to come up with a practical steam engine before Xu Wei, so that even if they receive the patent, they can also issue it.
A huge fortune. So in this trend, dozens of laboratories were built to manufacture steam engines. Finally, Xu Wei was not the only one to do this scientific research competition.
When Xu Wei learned the news, he was also pleased. After all, he cannot rely on him to develop technology alone. With so many like-minded people, he might be able to enter the era of electrical appliances and telephones in his lifetime. He didn't dare to think about it, but TV
It would be nice to watch the movie again.
After being under pressure, Xu Wei also began to reflect on himself and felt that he could not be too ambitious. After all, it seemed to have taken hundreds of years from the emergence of the steam engine to the time it actually became a practical model in Watt's hands. But he wanted to get it done in one step.
It is too difficult to build a steam engine that can make trains. No wonder it failed.
So Xu Wei tried to reduce the difficulty of making a steam engine and created a second-generation practical steam engine. Since steel is too hard, he had to find a way to make something relatively soft and easy to grind smooth to make the cylinder.
, After thinking about it, Xu Wei thought of bronze again. After all, compared with solid steel, bronze is softer, and Daqian craftsmen have thousands of years of experience in polishing bronze!
Based on the experience of the last failure, it was much faster to use bronze as the cylinder this time. Six top craftsmen polished it for half a month and the finished product was produced.
Later experiments also found that because the bronze cylinder was tightly fitted, the horsepower was instantly increased to 5 horsepower. Although it is not too large, it is already somewhat practical, and the cost has been reduced to about one million!
Of course, Xu Wei's second-generation steam engine is still not used by many businessmen. The reason is that the price is too high. More importantly, when the latter steam engine was handed over to Jixian Textile Factory for use, it was discovered that the texture of the bronze was too soft.
Not only will it leak after being used for a period of time, but other parts will often have problems. Sometimes they break down three times a day. Even if it lasts for a long time, it will take three days to replace the parts with new ones.
Such a frequency of damage is like asking an ancestor to arrange a special craftsman to take care of this steam engine. Not to mention the high price, not many people are willing to use such a frequency of damage. So Xu Wei's third
The second generation steam engine also failed!
Moreover, Xu Wei also discovered that if we continue to use top craftsmen to manufacture steam engine parts and grind cylinders, no matter how low the cost of the steam engine is, it will still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but with this money, we can buy hundreds of thousands of dollars in Daqian.
Horses, these horses can provide 100 horsepower.
It is absolutely impossible for Xu Wei's new steam engine to have such horsepower. In other words, in terms of cost performance, Xu Wei's steam engine completely failed. He had to find a way to reduce the price of the steam engine to tens of thousands, or even thousands, so that he could have it.
Businessmen use steam engines because they want to continue to spend a million dollars on a steam engine. Even though the steam engine is the black technology of this era, it is just an expensive decoration!
If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. Xu Wei's manual polishing is the wrong route. If he wants to reduce costs, he must use a large number of machine tools and machines to replace manual work.
In Daqian, the top grinding craftsman's annual income is one million. If you use a top craftsman to grind the cylinder for a year, even if the finished product comes out, the price will be more than one million, and no one can afford it.
Only machines can be used to grind cylinders, so that the cost can be reduced. Daqian already has relatively primitive industrial machine tools, which can even be said to have a long history. When Xu Wei was in Jizhou, he came up with a machine for grinding arrow shafts.
Most of the machine tools are made of wood, using steel tools in the most critical places. That's why Xu Wei was able to provide the Yellow Turban Army with a million long arrows and a dozen spears.
Now Daqian has developed more than ten years ago, and there are more and more types of machine tools. Unfortunately, most of these machine tools are made of wood, and the things processed are generally made of wood. It is enough, but now Xu
What Wei wants to make is a cylinder. Obviously, a wooden machine tool cannot be used.
Instead, we need to make a steel machine tool, at least a boring machine and a grinder. We need to use a strong iron rod to drill out the cylinder bit by bit, and then use a grinder to polish it smooth.
So Xu Wei has been researching various tools to reduce labor costs for the past six months, and has achieved a lot. At least the cylinder no longer needs expensive craftsmen to grind it, but a boring machine, which is even more efficient.
Improved dozens of times.
Now Xu Wei's third-generation steam engine not only reuses cylinders made of steel, but its price has also plummeted, and its production efficiency has increased dozens of times. As long as the problem of easy breakage of steam engines is solved, a practical steam engine will be The development was successful.
It is because Xu Wei's steam engine is about to be successfully developed that Bingzhou businessmen are so concerned. They all understand the value of the steam engine. This is a powerful tool that can change the entire Daqian textile industry, and it is also an artifact that changes the transportation industry. They want to become The first customers of steam engines!
But Liu Shi shook his head and said: "I have also read it. The current technology of steam engines is not too mature yet, and the price is high. Not to mention, the key is that it is not durable yet. As long as it runs for a period of time, problems will occur. One time even A cylinder explosion occurred, injuring several craftsmen. The governor said that continuous testing is needed to achieve success. I'm afraid it will take some time before a practical version of the steam engine is truly popularized."
After hearing this, everyone felt disappointed, but they said nothing more. After all, in terms of progress, the steam engine was almost successful, and they could still afford to wait for this time! As long as the government did not disappoint them, that's all. , after all, the future of the steam engine is visible.