Polu took Polet and pulled a trolley with his molds to the workshop. Today's processing workshop is a real behemoth.
Since the quality of steel has become basically stable, a large amount of low-carbon steel has come out like a tide. When large-scale castings are not being made, molten steel will be cast and rolled into steel plates, and finally made into angle steel, which is used in huge factories.
Although the walls have not been built yet, at least the roofs are covered with corrugated steel plates. A work team of thousands of people has been busy here for more than a month, completely ending the situation where only key work stations had roofs, and everyone else was there.
The sad history of the open air.
The construction is still not over, and the factory is still gradually expanding outwards.
Under the towering roof of the factory building, there is a 5-meter-high concrete column base supporting a 15-meter-high round arch composed of a huge angle steel frame. Under the round arch, it is more than 20 meters high and has a clear span of more than 20 meters wide.
At first glance, it looks like the round vault of Hagia Sophia, creating a towering momentum, but it all happened by accident.
The reason why it was so retro was mainly because Polu, who was not familiar with steel structure buildings, didn't know how to build a linear long-span structure, so he had to move over the long-span structure he still remembered.
Anyway, it is not necessary to repair the dome. It is completed by repairing the profile into iron ribs and installing corrugated steel plates. This structure is at least built with profiles, and combined with a tower crane that uses chains to lift thin steel plates, the work efficiency is pretty good.
There is a roof, but it is still empty below. There are only two or three experimental models of various machine tools working. The two people pushed the trolley straight through the open space and came to a machine that was as tall as two people.
Next to the steel that looks boxy.
Not far away, Smith and many other people were busy around a pile of steam hammers that had just been unloaded from a tractor trolley.
"Smith! Where's the steam regulating hammer?"
"Hey, we can all move here in two days. This place is much better than the old factory."
Bolu patted the big steel pillar next to him, and the dull touch made people feel a kind of silent strength.
"How's it going? Is it running smoothly?"
"It's pretty good, but as soon as I open it, the surrounding area is filled with the aroma of oil, which makes people greedy."
"Then there's nothing we can do about it for the time being. We can only use cooking oil instead, and I'll think of a solution later."
While talking, two workers wearing asbestos protective clothing opened a nearby heating furnace and pulled out a cut and shaped steel plate. They carried the steel plate to the side of the machine and stuck the steel plate along the edge.
After entering, another worker quickly used a long-handled brush full of oil to brush a piece of steel with strange undulations under the machine.
Two workers stood at opposite corners of the machine, made sure that no one was in the danger zone, and then stepped on the pedal. The machine made a sharp whistle. A cylinder started running, driving a set of large reduction gears to slowly rotate the handle.
A piston with a steel core and a copper sleeve is pushed into a liquid cylinder with a copper sleeve.
At the same time, the huge iron pier hanging on the press slowly lowered and landed firmly and unstoppably on the steel plate that had just been placed.
With a subtle noise, the two iron pillars closed, and a little smoke and the aroma of burnt grease floated out.
"It's really delicious!" Polu couldn't help but think of all kinds of food that were wrapped in bread crumbs and fried until golden on both sides, making the kids next door cry.
The large steel pier was lifted up, revealing the workpiece that had just been hot-forged underneath. The worker walked over, pulled the workpiece out of the die slot, and screwed it in front of Bolu.
He swallowed his saliva and looked at the steel plate pretending to be calm.
"It smells so good!" someone whispered.
Then I heard swallowing sounds all around me.
"It's pretty good. It feels like it's been pressed evenly. It's still appropriate to cut into this shape and feed the material. Okay, that's it. Where's the back piece?"
"On the other one." Someone hurried over and picked up the piece.
He put the two pieces of iron shell together, and a breastplate was revealed.
“How many sets can you press in a day?”
"Will there be further processing?"
"How did you deal with it before?"
"Roast it over a low fire, then bury it in the coals and continue roasting it."
"This sounds like a traditional carburizing method, right? Why not just add double quenching?" Bolu thought about it secretly, forget it, it's enough anyway.
Besides, where is there so much oil for quenching now? Are we really going to have to go without oil and water for several months? It’s unbearable.
"Then let's do it like this. By the way, remember to put a trademark on it. With the processing time, how many sets can be produced in a day?"
"Only for the embryos, I feel that 4 or 50 sets per day is no problem. The main reason is that heating the plate embryos is a bit laborious. Moreover, it may need to be trimmed when pressed out, and belts and other accessories must be assembled."
"Sure, then go all out to produce. We still have to rely on it to make a living."
Only then did Polu remember the main purpose of his visit this time: "By the way, the mold for this spoon has been modified. Let's try it on the stamping machine."
Soon, a crisp sound of clicking, clicking sounded on another machine. Pieces of spoon-shaped objects that looked like they were cut out of cardboard were punched out from the thin steel plate. Then they were sent to another machine by workers.
On a machine, the arc shape is punched out by a double-sided die using the same principle as the hydraulic press just now.
Polu took a large iron spoon in his hand and looked at it: "Yes, it finally looks like a spoon. It can be used after polishing it and adding a handle."
"Okay, I'll arrange for the assembly workers to move here first."
"Then you can continue working. Let's go back to the laboratory first. I'll bring you the molds for basins, kettles, and pots in two days."
Polu took Polet out of the factory and asked him as he walked: "How was it? Did you understand the machine just now?"
Pauleicht thought about it for a moment and showed an intoxicated expression: "It's so beautiful!"
"Ha! You didn't catch up. When the first experiment was successful, a group of us looked at this machine in a daze for a long time. At that time, we just watched it pressing words on the steel plate for a whole day. But
Now I’m used to it just by looking at it.”
"The pressed word? What is the pressed word?"
"Hello world."
"?" Poletsi showed a confused look in his eyes.
The two of them walked towards the furnace and saw Geola standing next to another particularly tall machine not far from the furnace.
"Gora, how's my propeller?"
"Oh! Okay, it's already cast. Once Smith has finished forging the shaft, it will be sent to the shipyard."
"Okay, does this new machine run normally?"
"It's okay. Now we have found the right speed and there is no steel leakage."
"That would be great."
"This thing is so ruthless. It can directly pull the molten steel into such a long strip. Mr. Manager, you are amazing. I am really convinced now. I always thought that this kind of thing can only be cast with sand molds. It can be pulled like this."
I have never heard of a machine that produces embryos, let alone seen it. And all of us combined can’t compare to it. How could you have thought of it?”
"I thought of it when I saw butter being squeezed in the kitchen." Polu randomly found an excuse.
"?"
Geola's face showed the hideousness of a boss, and he could tell the look of a new machine when someone milked him.
"It would be weird if you could be more efficient than the machine. Let the sand foundry workers take a good two-day shift and rest. They were exhausted some time ago. When they come back, we will have enough manpower and energy to cast other things.
"
Next to them is Bolu's newly developed experimental continuous casting machine for small-section square and small round blanks. The size is small, so it can be easily saved if something goes wrong.
The finished product of this size can be rolled into rails, I-beams, or thin plates. If merchants in the royal capital want to buy it, they can afford it. Of course, Polu hopes that they can directly add higher value-added plates.
Small round embryos are currently the most urgently needed raw material for construction steel bars, and their other uses are also very broad.
The copper vibrating crystallizer is making a continuous buzzing sound. The red molten steel is slightly cooled here. The shell solidifies into a dark red steel embryo and flows downward. It is then guided through an arc-shaped roller frame to a long row of
In the straightening machine composed of rollers, a continuous flow of embryos is formed.
Bolu explained the problem carefully, and while thinking about the priority issue, he looked up and suddenly noticed Geola's gray face. He thought for a while: "Have we been working a little too hard recently?"
Unexpectedly, Geola opened the jar of bitter water all of a sudden. "Little manager, you are indeed a little tired. Although you are taking the lead in doing the work, no one has much resentment, but if you are tired all the time, you will not be able to replenish your energy. We are all getting older."
, this rhythm is really a bit strenuous. And many of us are young and old, so we really need some private time."
"Well, it seems that I am used to using too much energy to replenish my energy, and I have not noticed the pressure of ordinary people. It is necessary to give them some rest time. Otherwise, if this continues and machines become more common, we will enter a period of high incidence of work-related injuries, right?
"Polu thought to himself.
"Then what do you think is the appropriate number of hours to work every day?"
"Although we used to work long hours, the work was not particularly intensive and intense. Now, I can't say why we are so stressed out."
"Let's do this, let's work 10 hours first, and take a 1-hour break every 5 hours of work. There are 4 hours left for you, and the remaining 8 hours of rest. Although I am anxious, I don't intend to tire everyone out.
Yes. I will go and seek general opinions on this system first, and you can also ask. If possible, we will implement it like this."
"You are so kind!" Judging from his expression, Goola was truly grateful from the bottom of his heart, but Bolu always felt strange.
"No, I'm not used to talking like this. Just keep doing it the same way. If there's no problem with the machine, I'll go back first! There's still a lot of work waiting for me!"
"You walk slowly."
Bolu staggered at his feet and felt uncomfortable all over. He left the factory area with a thorn in his back and walked back along the roadbed leading to the mine and limestone mine that had been basically completed.
The two roadbeds have basically been repaired, but currently only tractors are running. After all, so many rails cannot be hammered out by hand. After the special rail rolling machine is built, the sleepers are laid, and then the rails are installed.
Now you can start thinking about the second furnace!