Soon after boarding 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 steamed. This experimental shallow-water heavy gunboat, the first of its kind, shook violently.
It's a bit like the rocking back and forth of an old steam engine train when it starts. Then, as the transmission started, the entire ship trembled slightly. From the deck under your feet, you could clearly feel that the entire ship was shaking.
Zhang Fengyi's little face flushed with excitement, and she clapped her hands and said: "The boat is sailing, the boat is sailing." This was her first time riding a steamship.
Last year in Hangzhou, I also boarded a clipper ship. But that's moored on shore. He 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 parked for maintenance at that time. This time, it was the first time to ride on a steam-powered ship.
This boat is different from the previous clipper boats. The boat was a converted sailboat. And this ship has no sails at all, it is a pure steamship.
At that time, because of the Hukou Falls, it was impossible for ships on the lower reaches of the Yellow River to reach the water above the waterfall.
So the hull of this boat is made of cement. This is not actually a wooden boat. It is a cement ship 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 transported by caravan to the upper reaches, 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 Ship Research Institute. This is the only way to save the most money. At the same time, the construction speed and difficulty are also relatively good.
The world's first cement ship was built by Frenchman Lamport in 1848. Cement ships were popular before steel ships were put into large-scale use.
Cement boats 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 disadvantages are that it is heavy, has poor impact resistance, and can only be used within a certain range. Easily damaged in collision.
But this is relative to a collision with a steel ship. If it collides with a wooden ship, the concrete 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.
Building a cement ship is not difficult. 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 cement is applied inside and outside.
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 canals with cement ships.
It achieved good results, saved maintenance costs, provided a large number of ships in a short period of time, and met 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 structural 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 reinforcement.
The Inland River Ship Research Office of the Ship Research Institute, after careful study of the advantages and disadvantages of the two ships, finally decided to use the steel mesh ship as the solution.
After all, this ship must be equipped with cannons and retain sufficient carrying capacity. Steel wire cement boats can be used as agricultural boats, fishing boats and transport ships.
Reinforced concrete ships can be used as engineering ships and barges that have low self-weight requirements, fixed berths or less movement.
This 200-ton inland river gunboat is 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 many 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 pumping water required cement and masonry to fix the well position.
He knows the benefits of cement. Those newly drilled wells require large-diameter cement pipes.
However, in addition to building walls, this thing can also build boats, which really shocked the old man.
"Uncle Dingyuan, is this 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 wire 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.
When he was young, he studied water conservancy technology with Yuan Yingtai, 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 managed to remain stable despite successive years of drought.
Now, he is using steam engines to pump water on his 57,000 acres of dry land. He sees the benefits and is very interested in promoting this new type of machinery.
He also studied shipbuilding. Plank boats will decay and need to be replaced every few years. At the same time, whether it is overlapping or splicing, waterproofing is required, that is, caulking.
Every two or three years, the ship needs to be pulled into the dock or ashore and the seams re-caulked. Otherwise it will leak.
Ships on the sea are even worse. There is a kind of shellfish in the sea called shipworm, commonly known as shipworm. It can burrow into wood and make nests, and in a few years, it can make the hard hardwood ship planks full of holes.
It looked fine from the outside, but when I took off the ship planks and sawed the cross-section, I found that there were holes inside and 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 won’t want to eat.
Cement is stone, not wood, and even shipworms cannot digest it. Cement ships do not 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. It was painted and polished to a discernible finish.
"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 the cockpit guidance must be followed. Operate 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 deck and roof of the ship on cement." In fact, the aircraft carriers and battleships in World War II also had teak decks. There was no air conditioning in that era, and the steel was damaged by the sun. After drying, the cabin becomes a steamer in summer.
At this time, the chef came in with a cart.
"Master, the supper is ready."
