"This is the auxiliary wood, used to pull the reed." Chen Lin introduced, not knowing what the Australian woman thought.
The tail of the jacquard machine is the warp beam, which is used to wind the yarn. In the middle are two auxiliary pieces of wood for beating the weft thread, which pass vertically through two wooden sticks about four feet long. The two sections of the stick are inserted into the weaving reed.
"This auxiliary wood may seem ordinary, but it is a key component." Chen Lin continued, "Its function is to beat up the weft thread. By adjusting the different sizes and weights of the auxiliary wood, the tangential force component can be adjusted. Weave various fabrics: When weaving thin silk materials such as leno, the weight should be light. On the contrary, it should be heavier. A flower machine can weave various silk materials in endless variations, all relying on this aid."
Li Yao'er nodded silently. Such a large machine was actually powered by the manpower of two machinists. Although the things made were exquisite, the production efficiency was too low. In the past, when I looked at the development history of silk and satin, it was said that Suzhou and Hangzhou and other places produced hundreds of thousands of pieces of silk and satin every year. But when I think about it, these silk weaving towns have tens of thousands of looms. In other words, the annual output of each loom is only a few dozen pieces.
After watching the big flower building machine, Li Yaoer took Chen Lin to the "Second Workshop". This workshop was converted from the original wing room and part of the courtyard, and was used to centrally arrange the "waist machines". The twenty waist machines originally owned by Fengshenghe that were scattered around were all consolidated and placed here. The original floor height of the wing room was not as high as the main room where the flower machine was housed. During the reconstruction, skylights were added to increase light transmission. In the absence of industrial lighting, use natural light as much as possible.
Chen Lin was quite puzzled when he saw such transformation. The centralized layout looked impressive, but he didn't think it had any practical significance. But since the chief made such a change, there must be a reason. Chen Lin never questioned his elders face to face, which was one of Chen Lin's "advantages" that was always praised by others. Naturally, he remained silent at this moment.
"These are what machinists call waist machines," Li Yao'er said. "Why are they called waist machines?"
"Chief, please take a look at that wide piece of leather. The machine worker wears it around his waist when weaving. When weaving, all the force from the waist and hips is used, so it is called a waist machine."
Chen Lin said that this is a new loom that has only appeared in the past ten years. It cannot weave complex patterns and can only be used to weave silk, silk, luo and the like with simple patterns that do not require jacquards. But the weaving speed is fast and the product quality is good.
"I think it's somewhat similar to Hainan's cotton looms."
"The chief is right. The waist loom can also be used to weave kudzu cloth, linen cloth and cotton cloth, and the cloth weaved is neat and fine, with a strong and shiny texture. It is a very useful loom. It is just that there are few places to use it. If I were If you want to open a cotton weaving workshop, use this kind of waist machine."
"Oh? Have you ever thought about opening a weaving factory?" Li Yaoer became interested.
Chen Lin secretly thought that he had spilled the beans now! But then I thought about it, it wouldn't hurt to talk to the chief, as long as I didn't reveal the key person like my cousin.
"Yes, I heard in Guangzhou that the Senate has a policy to encourage everyone to open cotton spinning mills, help provide equipment and technology, and also manage sales. I think we have a lot of sandy land here, and there are many farmers growing cotton, and there are ready-made cotton Weaving mills and looms, wouldn't it be twice the result with half the effort to open a cotton spinning mill?" He lamented, "I didn't expect that my father was unfortunately killed and the village was looted. If the chief hadn't taken over Fengshenghe, this weaving mill would probably be in ruins. . I don’t dare to think about it anymore.”
"Your idea is not bad." Li Yaoer suddenly felt something in his heart.
She came here to improve the silk industry, focusing on sericulture and silk reeling, not spinning. Because at present, the outside world is more concerned about the production of raw silk, rather than the production of various kinds of silk and satin.
In terms of patterns and colors, the aesthetic tastes of various countries vary greatly. Before other countries had mastered the technology of sericulture, most of the silk exported from China to Byzantium and Persia was dismantled into silk and then re-dyed and woven. Raw silk also played a major role in silk fabric exports during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Therefore, neither the foreign trade nor the industrial sector has much interest in improving silk and satin textiles. Naturally, Li Yaoer did not get too many resources.
Although in the end, she relied on the foreign trade department to fight for a certain amount of resource investment and Fengshenghe, but in the field of weaving, she could only improve the existing equipment. This is why she is so interested in Fengshenghe.
The textile department under the Senate industrial system was originally a neglected and disadvantaged unit. For many years, except for a textile factory specializing in weaving special textiles set up in Qiongshan and Lingao, there have been no other textile companies. These two factories produce a lot of varieties, covering all aspects of clothing, household products, industry, and military shipping. However, the products are all allocated internally and are not exported. All cotton cloth for civilian use was obtained from Ming Dynasty or India.
Only recently did the Planning Institute launch the "Textile Promotion Project" as part of the "Industrial and Commercial Promotion Project", opening it to private capital in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.
Although private capital investment is encouraged, in addition to money, private capital must rely on the Senate to provide equipment, technology, and skilled workers. Since cotton spinning is encouraged, resources will inevitably be tilted towards the field of cotton spinning. The resources available to the silk weaving industry were pitiful. Among the new textile equipment put into mass production by Bairen Machinery Factory, only silk reeling equipment has been ranked, and only a few prototypes and some kits for improving old machines have been built for satin looms.
However, these devices without exception require external power. They cannot be driven by the mechanics' kicks, hands, or waist and hip movements like the Hualou machine and the waist machine. External power equipment must be used.
There is no need to think about steam engines. In the technical guidance plan for the construction of cotton textile mills given by the Planning Institute, it is recommended to use hydraulic machines.
The output power of hydraulic machines is much greater than that of animal-driven machines and wind turbines, and the output power is also stable, making them very suitable for large-scale machine production. The first to realize industrial production in the British Industrial Revolution was the water-powered textile mill.
But its problems are also obvious. It requires certain water flow conditions: it must be close to a river with sufficient water; secondly, it requires a lot of investment. The use of hydraulic machines requires a large amount of construction work.
Judging from the current priority of the silk weaving industry in the Planning Institute, it is impossible for Li Yao'er to receive the corresponding quota and investment in power equipment, so upgrading the equipment can only be a failure. Even the reeling machine with a higher priority can only be used with the pedal-type potting machine used in Hangzhou.
Brother Chen wants to open a cotton spinning mill. If he can do it, he can apply for a quota for hydraulic machines, and then those modified parts and samples that cannot be used due to power constraints can be put into use.
Thinking of this, Li Yaoer became more energetic and asked tentatively: "Your idea is very good! But running an Australian-style cotton spinning mill is a big business. An inch of cloth is not woven, which means tens of thousands of investments. You Can you find the funds?”
"Of course it won't be that big in the beginning. There are a lot of local cotton farmers. Let's set up a spinning mill first and sell the yarn to the textile mills in Fucheng." His cousin told him about starting a weaving business. When he was in the factory, he had already thought about the joints. There are many sand fields in this area of Xiangshan, and many people grow cotton. My cousin also bought a lot of sand fields to grow cotton himself. The supply of cotton should be no problem. Start a yarn factory first - if everyone opens a weaving factory, the demand for cotton yarn will be great, and this business can be considered a sure profit.
"As for the capital, it is indeed a bad idea. After being looted by the rebels, I can't count on anything." He sighed deliberately.
"I didn't expect you to be quite smart." Li Yao'er nodded appreciatively. She already had a plan in mind, but just as she was about to speak, she took it back. It was only the first day that she and Brother Chen met. She still knew very little about this person's specific situation and background. The matter of setting up a factory was a long time coming, so there was no need to rush it. Let’s look at the quality of this person first.
Next to the second entrance courtyard, there are two cross-yards, the east and west. Now the east courtyard has been converted into a silk reeling workshop by Li Yaoer, and is preparing to install the same equipment "Ji Qi Da Gao" used by the small silk reeling factory of Fenghuang Villa in Hangzhou. The entire workshop is arranged according to the model of the original internship workshop. For this purpose, a boiler was specially introduced to provide hot water and steam for reeling.
However, in terms of scale, this place is much smaller than the silk reeling workshop of the internship workshop in Hangzhou, with only a hundred parking spaces. No matter how big it is, the existing boilers will not be able to supply it.
"This is an Australian-style silk reeling room." Li Yao'er said,
Chen Lin looked at this unrecognizable silk reeling workshop with some surprise. I saw that this workshop was just like other workshops, with transom windows on both sides of the wall and a skylight on the top. There are just various pipes and valves arranged vertically and horizontally on the walls and ceiling - what are these?
These pipes are connected one by one to the silk reeling station. Like the internship factory in Hangzhou, an improved pedal reeling machine is used here. The pedal-operated silk reeling cart has been around since the Ming Dynasty and is nothing new. It's just that the reeling car produced by Lingao Machinery Factory has made many improvements in the mechanical structure. Many parts are made of metal, and bearings are installed on the rotating parts, so it rotates smoothly and is more flexible to use.
However, Chen Lin immediately discovered the difference. The first thing is that the stove next to the silk reeling car has changed.
The traditional Chinese silk reeling technology has undergone many improvements. By the Ming Dynasty, two reeling methods were basically formed.
One is called the "Fire Wire Method", also known as the "Hot Kettle Method". The process is to use a large pot for cocoon cooking and silk reeling. The pot is placed directly on the stove, and a silk car is placed horizontally on the pot. When reeling, the water temperature is extremely high, which can increase the amount of cocoons cooked in a short time. At the same time, by adjusting the water temperature, thick and thin silk can be reeled out. Generally speaking, the water temperature should be high for reeling thick silk; the water temperature should be low for reeling thin silk.
The advantages of fire silk reeling are high cocoon cooking efficiency and fast silk reeling. However, because the silk reeling is fast, it is not easy to control the thickness of the silk, and the quality is not satisfactory. Therefore, it was gradually replaced by the cold basin method.
(End of chapter)
