"Your Majesty, Mr. Chen, have you ever calculated that if it's a hundred-foot-long ship with a keel made of pure steel, how much does the keel weigh?"
When these craftsmen gather together, they naturally discuss technical issues.
Since we are discussing technical issues, there must be no respect or inferiority.
The question casually raised by an old boatman also represents the voice of the vast majority of people.
Chen Boan was stunned for a moment. He himself was a craftsman, so he had never done such a complicated calculation.
"Have you ever calculated how much stuff is carried on the Jinyang that we just set out to sea?"
Seeing his frown, Liu Deng said with a smile.
"this......"
Hearing what Liu Deng said, all the craftsmen frowned.
Although they have not calculated this, they can clearly see what is carried on the Jinyang.
After all, most of these things are hoisted onto the ship at the dock.
Just the weapons loaded on it and the supply problems for the hundreds of people on the entire ship seemed to have exceeded ten thousand stones!
"If we only count the weight, there shouldn't be any problem! This ship will definitely be able to float."
Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu Deng said with a smile.
"But Your Majesty, the keel of this hundred-foot-long ship needs to run through the bow and stern, and there are countless parts in the middle that need to be connected. How to deal with this connection problem? And how should such a big thing be cast?"
Seeing Liu Deng's confident look, Chen Bo'an asked again.
"Speaking of which, I specially brought you a small gift this time."
As Liu Deng spoke, he gestured towards Shunzi.
Soon, Shunzi came up with a small box.
"This is?"
After Liu Deng opened the box, everyone put their heads over and looked at the strange thing in the box. Everyone was stunned.
A copper pillar that is only about the thickness of a little finger has a series of spiral patterns on it, and on the other side is a finely polished wrench-like thing.
"Come and see!"
While Liu Deng was talking, he picked up the nut-like object, twisted it several times, and finally placed it in Chen Boan's hand.
At first, Chen Boan didn't quite understand what Liu Deng was doing.
However, after a few tentative pulls, he immediately discovered the mystery of this thing.
If you don't rotate the angle, trying to pull this thing apart by brute force is simply a fantasy!
Chen Bo'an's eyes suddenly lit up, this is the real good thing!
"Your Majesty, this thing is interesting!"
Chen Boan said in surprise.
“Do you think it’s possible to turn the entire keel into several or a dozen parts, and then use this to connect them, and line the middle with soft cushions made of isinglass and glue blocks made from beef tendon?”
This was Cai Xin's surprise for Liu Deng. This was originally just an idea of Liu Deng. After all, it is not easy to produce such precision parts when there is no stable power.
However, it turns out that he still underestimated the wisdom of the ancients. The madmen in the Wuhan Academy actually built a primitive lathe for him in just a few months!
Although there are no conditions that can provide stable power, they actually creatively use water power to drive it.
Of course, it is not possible to set it up directly in the river, but it is naturally possible under artificial conditions.
For the successful operation of this thing, they specially built a reservoir capable of storing tens of thousands of stones.
Then, a wooden waterwheel solved the power problem that had troubled Liu Deng for a long time.
When they modified Liu Deng's carriage before, they had already discovered the principle of bearings.
When studying winding machines, their use of gears reached its peak.
When making water-powered forging hammers, they had already mastered the use of water wheels.
When manufacturing artillery, the most difficult issues of casting and materials have also achieved rapid progress.
Liu Deng's previous copper coins were not in vain. After countless failures, they obtained countless alloy formulas.
Although these things are all failed products in casting artillery, there is no problem when used in other aspects.
Everything now adds up to the original lathe powered by pure water power.
As a result, this small screw in Liu Deng's hands may be the earliest screw made by mankind!
"Your Majesty, can this thing be made in other sizes?"
After checking the strength of this thing, this became everyone's biggest concern.
"It can be done, but I think you should fix all the sizes into a few sizes, standardize the parts, and achieve interchangeability!"
Although the standardization of parts is just a simple concept, it is really an important foundation for moving from small workshops to modernization.
"Such a big ship will naturally have various problems at sea. Broken items must be replaced at any time!"
After listening to Liu Deng's words, everyone fell silent.
"Only in this way can we build more ships within a limited time. If there are damaged parts, they can be put into use quickly by simply replacing them!"
Liu Deng had a hard time talking to them about this conceptual issue.
However, after Chen Boan pondered for a moment, he seemed to be the first to accept this concept.
"Your Majesty, if that's the case, can we hand over everything to different people? Each of them is only responsible for a certain zero or part!"
"That's right!"
Liu Deng didn't expect that Chen Bo'an would draw inferences from one instance and directly tell him about the assembly line operation that he had not yet said.
The reason why shipbuilding is too slow at this time is simply because of one reason.
Because everything requires these craftsmen to make it from scratch, from the first raw materials, to finally becoming a small part on the ship.
All shipwrights need to master all construction skills for every part of the entire ship.
It would take an ordinary person at least five to ten years to become a qualified boatman, even if his master taught him everything.
However, if you break it down according to Liu Deng's idea, then this matter seems to become simpler all of a sudden.
Building a ship is naturally extremely difficult, but it would be different if it were just a component!
