To make cast flat glass, glassmakers first need to find a suitable formula. The commonly used ingredient list is: silica sand, washed and sieved; alkali salt - replaced with seaweed ash; quicklime, slaked with water and sieved ; Saltpeter. [Read full text] Finally, there is broken glass.
Ji Sidui directed people to first put all the raw materials into the sintering furnace for calcination to remove the moisture. After coming out of the oven, the sintered blocks are cut into small pieces. Put them into the crucible one by one for melting - the volume of the sintering material is much larger than the molten glass, so you must wait for the previous ones to melt before adding new raw materials.
All of this work is performed by apprentices. Among the children taken in from Guangzhou, those who are older and not suitable for education are organized into the apprentice corps and adopt the apprenticeship system for education. Apprenticeship is a method of imparting skills mainly through words and deeds in the actual production process. A large number of skilled workers with basic skills can be trained in a relatively short period of time. It plays an important role in the industrial exhibition of Chuanchuan Group. According to estimates by Zhan Wuya and others, after 3 to 6 months, most simple jobs in the industrial sector can be performed by local apprentices. Chuanchuanzhong with advanced skills can Focus on more complex and precise work.
The Apprentice Corps adopts a centralized accommodation and military management model. Get up at 6 o'clock every morning for early exercise, running and doing exercises. Then they have breakfast. In terms of clothing and food treatment, they are even better than the children at school - after all, working in a factory is much more energy-intensive than studying. The food standard is to ensure 257o calories per day. The varieties on offer are similar to those in Changdu: brown rice, sweet potatoes, vegetables and fish products. No grease or meat.
The team started working at 7 o'clock and worked until 6 o'clock in the evening. Lunch will be served in between. After dinner, we will focus on studying culture for one hour. Go to bed at 9 o'clock. The apprentices have no holidays or wages, but the children are adaptable - after all, they have good food, good housing and neat clothes here. The masters are also kind and don't beat and scold them casually like the apprentices outside. And they soon realized that they were learning incredible new skills that could not be learned outside. For the few children who have deep-rooted wandering habits and are unwilling to work, the traversing police naturally have no interest or time to reform their outlook on life - the last place they go to is the labor camp. After staying there for a few months, they will all cry and shout. Coming back - not everyone can come back.
Looking at the young people wearing baggy indigo earthen cloth overalls and rattan safety helmets, who were led by the team leader and tamely walking into the workshop like lambs, Bai Yu sighed: "I finally understand why Marx said that capitalists are evil. That’s it.”
"You bastard, you are fooling around, work quickly!" Xiao Bailang climbed on the truss and was overcoming a huge pulley block. The chain of this crane was processed by himself in the chain bearing workshop yesterday.
"nnd, this is harming children--" Although Bai Yu came from a computer network background, he also worked as a human soul engineer in another time and space. He came to the workshop to formulate the charter of an industrial school for the Ministry of Education. I thought that I would be caught and beaten as soon as I thought about it.
"If you don't harm children, you will be harmed." Although Xiao Bailang has beautiful eyebrows and a pretty face, he looks like a queen when he is serious. Bai Yu had to shut up. He muttered, "Socialist democracy and the rule of law are also the Party's consistent principles. Promoted.”
"There is no socialism here," Xiao Bailang hammered the disobedient pulley with a hammer, "What is our name? By the way, Du Wen said it last time, saying that we have the tendency of oligarchic aristocracy."
Before Bai Yu could say anything, he saw the team leader over there with a serious look on his face. He gave Ji Sixui a German-style heel bump and stood at attention. He raised his hand and reported: "Report: The Third Squadron of the First Industrial Brigade of the Apprentice Corps." A glass team is reporting to you! 11 people were supposed to be present, but 11 people actually arrived. Report completed! Please give instructions!"
The glass team almost failed to make Xiao Bailang, who was climbing on the truss, and Bai Yu, who was carrying the delivery tool below, break out in laughter.
Ji Sixui waved his hand solemnly: "Take a break!" He looked at the group of half-year-old children who had been trained by the Army for several months. Each one of them worked hard to show off their "military appearance" with their chests and belly raised. He suddenly discovered that the squad leader had an armband on his left sleeve. If you look carefully, there are some patterns on it - probably official title symbols, right? The people in the Army are really good at doing this.
"Today's work is to continue the glass frit melting work internship. You will be divided into three groups for follow-up internship. Are you wearing sunglasses?"
"Bring it!" All the children took out a pair of sunglasses from their pockets.
"Okay, let's start the internship!"
The crucible filled with glass frit is heated in the burning glass kiln. Every once in a while, Ji Sixui will take out a crucible, check the situation in it, and add glass frit.
"Everyone, please note that there is now an opaque white scum in the crucible." Ji Sidui, wearing an asbestos turban and sunglasses, lectured to several apprentices.
"We call this glass saltpeter. It is the product of using saltpeter to clarify glass liquid. It contains a lot of impurities. It needs to be removed to make clear and transparent glass."
Several teenage apprentices stared at the red hot glass liquid in the crucible with serious faces, and kept pushing the sunglasses up and down their noses.
"During the entire smelting process, although the crucible is closed and cannot be seen, as a glass worker, you must always pay attention to the situation in the crucible -"
At this time, an apprentice raised his hand.
"Tell me, what's the problem?"
"Master Ji said that you should always pay attention to the glass liquid in the crucible, but this crucible has a lid, and you have to remove the crucible every time you want to look at it. Last time when Master Wang talked about smelting, he specifically said to keep it Good temperature. In that case, why not remove the lid? Then you can see directly into the crucible from the furnace mouth?"
"Because glass cannot be contaminated, otherwise it will not look clear and flawless. Soot is easy to fly away, and it will fall into the open crucible. Do you understand?"
All the apprentices nodded together. At this time, another apprentice raised his hand: "Why not use wood to make a fire? Wood burns cleaner than this black coal."
"Okay, good question."
He then explained for a few minutes the calorific value, cost and ease of acquisition of fuel. All the apprentices seemed to understand.
In order to train these Ming Dynasty street children who had been wandering in the cities and countryside for several months and could not read a single word into new industrial workers, the industrial public spared no effort to the extreme. Developing skills is relatively easy. Chinese people have always been known for being hard-working, smart and diligent, but cultivating new thinking patterns is not something that can be achieved overnight. Anyway, if you can talk, talk about it. Don’t ask for understanding. Let’s instill the concepts first before talking.
Ji Sixui asked: "What are your names?"
"My name is Sun Xing." "My name is Huang Zhongshan."
"It's good that you can ask such a question." Ji Situi spared no effort in praising him. Such children are rare and must be greatly encouraged.
After the molten glass was smelted all night, a team of two people carefully took the crucible out of the furnace using a lifting frame and carefully placed it on an iron frame under the overhead crane. The iron frame is equipped with long handles on both sides for easy pouring.
At this time, the glass liquid in the crucible is already in a red-hot state, and its viscosity is just right. The crucible is hoisted and transported by overhead crane to the pig iron pouring table.
The pouring table was originally constructed by laying copper plates on a solid stone table. People at the time believed that copper would stain molten glass less than iron. However, it was later discovered in actual production that the copper material was easily cracked when the glass liquid was poured on it. Once cracked, the copper plate will be completely scrapped.
The British made improvements in the mid-19th century, using pig iron as the platform. The time traveler completely imitated the British design, although it was not as huge as that platform. But the structure is completely similar, and casters are also installed. In this way, the pouring table can be pushed directly to the entrance of each annealing kiln. There is no need to use special tools and vehicles to move.
The mechanical department also made some minor improvements - a simple rail was laid between the pouring table and the annealing kiln. This is a recommended small rail directly embedded in the hard ground without using sleepers. But it can greatly save manpower - after all, pushing a table weighing more than 8 tons is not an easy task.
After the molten glass is poured from the crucible onto the table, workers use an iron roller to push the gelatinous molten glass flat. The platform is surrounded by iron bars to ensure that the glass liquid will not be pushed to the ground.
The entire pouring work was completed successfully. The liquid glass poured on the pouring table was easily flattened into pieces of flat glass. The thickness of the glass plate could also be controlled according to the amount of liquid glass poured each time. Then there is the annealing that lasts for 10 days.
"This is indeed easier to use than the blowpipe method." Ji Sidui said to Wang Luobin excitedly as he witnessed the first batch of flat glass being sent into the annealing kiln.
"It's not over yet. After annealing, it needs to be ground before it can be used." Wang Luobin said. He remembered that it was very slow and hard work.
During the pouring process, the upper surface of the glass plate is in contact with the roller, and the lower part is in contact with the iron plate. The surface is relatively rough. Need to be sanded and polished.
The grinding work was carried out on a stone platform. According to Wang Luobin's request, a large bluestone was specially quarried in the quarry. This is a stone with fine texture and low hardness, which is most suitable as a grinding platform.
The grinding process is like this: the glass plate to be ground is coated with a layer of lime to prevent it from moving during grinding. Another half-sized glass plate is placed on the flat glass that needs to be polished. A wooden board is glued to the upper glass plate, and a horizontal wheel made of light hardwood is fixed on the wooden board. This wheel can then move the upper glass plate back and forth, thereby creating stable friction between the two glass plates. To increase the friction effect, water and fine sand are injected between the two glass plates. Raised edge retaining bars should also be installed around the grinding table to ensure that water and sand do not escape. ! ~!
