472, punch, metal bullets and gunpowder-propelled grenade 1
At Xincheng Arsenal, Yang Fan took Tu Shanyue and Lin Yueru for inspection.
One of them is in charge of the secretariat and the other is in charge of the intelligence department. There are certain situations that they must know. There are two secret weapons being trial-produced.
After passing numerous guards, Yang Fan and his team arrived at Workshop No. 6 deep in the arsenal.
The chief engineer was Chang Zhu, the second largest craftsman at Xinghe Iron Works at that time. His status was second only to Fu Laoliu.
Now he is responsible for the research and development of light weapons, while Fu Laoliu is responsible for the research and development of heavy weapons.
"Master, please see, this is the first punch press we have just trial-produced." Chang Zhu introduced it to the master and his wife with some excitement.
A piece of equipment that looks like a large wardrobe is placed on the ground, next to it is a Newcomen steam engine and transmission mechanism.
A punch press is a machine tool that uses a metal slider to move up and down and punch to manufacture metal parts.
The design principle of the punch press is to convert circular motion into linear motion. The power machine outputs force to drive the flywheel, which drives the gear, crankshaft (or eccentric gear), connecting rod, etc. through the clutch to achieve linear motion of the slider.
This thing is exactly the opposite of the principle of a steam engine. The cylinder of a steam engine changes linear motion into circular motion through the crankshaft. The punch press changes the circular motion transmitted from the power source back to linear motion.
It is a technology that uses a metal heavy-duty slider to move up and down, and punches parts directly and quickly using a mold through downward smashing.
The punch press was invented very early in China.
Archaeological discoveries in our country show that as early as 2,000 years ago, stamping dies were used to make bronze wares in our country, proving that ancient China was the world leader in stamping molding and stamping dies. The Ming Dynasty also had simple machines with similar principles.
The punch press in modern times is the hydraulic press invented by the British in the 18th century. But this was too troublesome, and Yang Fan did not let the craftsmen do it now.
Instead, he first trial-produced a punch press that moved up and down driven by a Newcomen steam engine.
This technology is not difficult, because similar punch machines have long been put into production in water-powered forging factories. Previously, plate armor was produced using forging machinery driven by water wheels and assembled with parts punched out of molds.
This kind of hydraulic stamping equipment and punch press are actually the same thing.
These equipment have greatly improved the production efficiency of Yang Fan's metal processing workshop. With just an up and down impact, a part will be formed in the mold.
An order for tens of thousands of sets of plate armor can be completed within a month.
Yang Fan's craftsmen are all very familiar with metal processing machinery driven by water power. The most commonly used one is the water hammer for forging. Nowadays, ironmaking almost does not require manpower, and high-speed water hammers are used for hammering.
Now, Yang Fan's gun barrels are made of iron rods cast from open-hearth steel, which are then hammered with high-speed water hammer while it is red hot to squeeze out the air bubbles and bridge the cracks.
Heating and quenching are continued until the strength and toughness requirements are reached.
Then, a hydraulic milling machine is used to cut it into a standard cylinder. Then a hydraulic boring machine is used to drill holes and create a smooth and precise gun bore.
After these hydraulic machines were put into use, Yang Fan's arsenal has greatly improved its production capacity of gun barrels.
The monthly output reaches more than a thousand guns, and they are all high-precision, and the quality far exceeds those made by hand. It is far from before that it took a craftsman a month to drill out a qualified barrel by hand.
With the increase of production equipment in the future, the output will continue to increase.
After all, we are just investing in one milling machine and one boring machine for trial production.
But Yang Fan did not use hydraulic power in his first punch press.
Because the uses are different. It can be used to forge molds with hydraulic machinery, make rough armor parts, and even weapons.
However, it is not precise enough to do what Yang Fan wants to do now.
After all, Yang Fan's current technical level is not up to par. With unstable power such as water power, he cannot make things that require high precision.
Therefore, Yang Fan decided to use the Newcomen steam engine as the output power. After a series of equipment, stable output power was ensured.
Yang Fan's punch press is used to produce metal fixed bullets for percussion guns.
In one press, fifty copper metal bullet casings can be extruded from the die.
Based on the idea of equipping one generation and developing one generation, although flintlock guns are now being assembled on a large scale, the next generation of percussion guns must also begin to be developed.
The most important technology of the percussion gun is the ammunition. The percussion gun uses bullets with fixed metal bullet cases.
The main reason why Yang Fan wanted to get percussion guns in advance was that the enemies faced by the Ming Dynasty were basically cavalry, and the Ming Dynasty's cavalry was not good. It was an army that had long been dominated by infantry.
Historically, it was not the cannon that drove the cavalry off the battlefield, but the machine gun. Only the machine gun was the nemesis of the cavalry.
Yang Fan currently has too few troops, and his idea of building an army is to build an elite army, so equipment is very important.
Before the advent of mercury fulminates and flash caps, there was still a way to fire bullets with metal shells, which was to use glass powder mixed with copper powder and sulfur powder. Mix it with water to make small particles that could ignite after being impacted by an external firing pin.
This is the same idea as Yang Fan's current grenade firing tube. Yang Fan's current grenade firing tube is made of glass powder, sulfur powder and spiral thin copper wire. When the copper wire is pulled with a rope, it will drive
The friction between glass powder and sulfur powder ignites the fuse.
Glass powder can be produced through a porcelain kiln, and it is easy to use quartz sand to make opaque glass. Grinding the ingredients is not difficult either.
Now that this problem has been solved, custom-installing metal cartridge cases can be put on the agenda.
So Yang Fan arranged manpower and began to trial-produce a punch machine specifically used to produce bullet casings.
With the custom-installed metal cartridge case, we can continue to develop the percussion gun in the future.
After all, flintlock guns, also called fire guns, have been invented by Europeans for decades.
Soon Western colonists will appear in East and Southeast Asia with these advanced weapons. Whether it is the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese, or the Russians in the north, they will all carry flintlock muskets and appear on the battlefield in large numbers.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Yang Fan must plan ahead and maintain his technological lead, so he must develop a firing gun in advance.
Because the flintlock gun is loaded from the muzzle, the gun must be held upright to load gunpowder and bullets from the muzzle. In this way, people must stand to operate and fire.
The percussion gun is a breech-loading gun, with fixed bullets loaded from the end of the barrel. Therefore, the shooter can crawl on the ground and load the bullet while lying down.
As you can imagine, Yang Fan's soldiers lie on the ground loading and shooting, while the enemy stands loading and shooting. This kind of queuing to kill, who takes advantage and who loses is clear all the way. Rear-loading guns can also be used in trench warfare to provide better concealment.
Own.
"Sir, you see, the transmission device of the Newcomen steam engine is relatively mature at present, and the speed can be adjusted easily. It can maintain a stable output and output the power according to our needs."
Yang Fan watched the punch press hit the mold from top to bottom. Fifty golden copper bullet cases were produced every time, and he was very satisfied.
"Can the breech-loading gun we are currently trialing work?" Yang Fan asked.
Chang Zhu pondered for a moment and replied: "The firing gun currently produced according to the drawings provided by the master can fire, but the reliability of our bullet firing device is not good, and the firing rate is only half. In other words, every two bullets can fire
One shot will definitely not work on the battlefield."
"Go to the shooting range and try shooting a few shots." Yang Fan said.
Yang Fan took the two ladies to the shooting range, took a percussion gun, stuffed a thick bullet into the gun chamber from the back, and then pulled the trigger.
Bang! There was a gunshot, the bullet flew out, and a hole was punched in the target ten meters away.
Yang Fan nodded with satisfaction.
However, in the subsequent shooting, firing failures began to occur continuously, and the misfire rate was at least 50%.
Once it misfires, it must be unloaded and replaced with new bullets. Reloading is very troublesome and a waste of time. It is definitely not possible to wait on the battlefield, and it is better to use the original flintlock gun.
This shows that this type of percussion gun cannot be equipped at all unless the problem of bullet misfire is solved.
But Yang Fan didn't care about this.
After all, his real intention was not to use a single-shot rifle to fire these metal-cased bullets at this stage. He had better firing firearms.
