While the Manu brothers were busy, Xincheng Heavy Industries was conducting major research.
Even though it has been simplified a lot, the 40-ton locomotive still encountered many difficulties in the manufacturing process. Most of them have been overcome by this time, leaving only one problem - welding.
The current welding capabilities are limited to forge welding, which means heating the joint to an incandescent state and hammering it. It is too thick to be used by hand, so you have to use a machine hammer. If it is a plate, it is okay. Many steam locomotives are made of cans, To forge and join pipes, you need to get some very special machines to support the inside, which is very cumbersome, and the related machines can't usually do other things.
But there were still a few things that couldn't be done right, so I had to find another way.
The last step was completed by the iron factory with the help of the research institute, and an electric furnace with a maximum temperature tolerance of 2,600 was made.
Its crucible inner tank is made of tungsten alloy, uses some magic arrays, ceramic insulation layers, and is heated by electricity.
Tungsten alloy and tungsten steel are not the same thing. Tungsten steel is steel, the main component is iron, with an average density between 11 and 14, while tungsten alloy is mainly made of tungsten, with an average density between 16 and 19.
The iron factory also spent a lot of effort and hired alchemists from the Red Stone Magic Equipment Factory to complete the separation of tungsten and iron two months ago.
The melting point of tungsten steel is not good, but the melting point of tungsten alloy can easily reach 3,000 degrees, which is suitable for doing some high-temperature operations.
The iron factory has an ultra-high temperature electric furnace, and the welding problem has been solved.
Because in an environment of 2200 degrees, coal will react with calcium oxide, the main component of limestone after being fired and dehydrated, to form calcium carbide, which is calcium carbide.
The acetylene formed by adding calcium carbide to water has very good combustion properties. Although it does not have the ability to generate oxygen, by manually sending pressurized air and adding acetylene gas, the surface of the steel part can be heated to more than 1,500 degrees, achieving true Welding work.
Their electric furnaces are now mainly used to produce other things, but it doesn't matter, Xincheng Heavy Industries has obtained the authorization and will soon have its own high-temperature electric furnaces.
It's just that the demand for power equipment in Wind Valley is huge, and the power generation equipment supplier, Red Stone Magic Equipment Factory, can't make it. There are also some small problems with the actual procurement and supply of copper, and it will have to wait for a while.
There is another flaw. Because tungsten will dissolve in molten iron, this furnace cannot be used to make steel... Of course, steelmaking does not require such an expensive thing. The temperature tolerance of the ceramic crucible is sufficient.
In short, the iron factory gave them a pile of calcium carbide as a priority, and the progress of the steam locomotive project was accelerated a lot, and today it finally entered the final assembly stage.
Xincheng Heavy Industry has special heavy-duty hoisting equipment, which uses steam engine power. It is much better than the ones at railway stations outside that rely on manpower, pulleys, and winches. However, it is limited by the basic principles of steam engines and starts slowly, so it is only suitable for transporting heavy machinery. Get on the railroad.
A forty-ton locomotive has only two pairs of power wheels, plus a pair of guide wheels at the front and two pairs of load-bearing wheels at the back. Not to mention anything else, these wheels with a diameter of more than one meter have no place outside the territory of the Phoenix King. These wheels are forged one by one by large forging machines, otherwise the strength cannot guarantee long-term transportation needs.
"Huh -" Benz and his team members let out a long breath as they watched their work take shape on the railway access point.
It's just too difficult.
You don’t even know if you don’t do this. Sometimes, because of the size difference of a few centimeters, you have to buy a new machine to process the parts. The size of the parts cannot be changed, and the structural mechanics of the entire locomotive head must be recalculated if it is moved.
Of course, making processing equipment cannot be said to be easy, but the nature is different. No matter how the processing equipment is, it only involves Xincheng Heavy Industry itself, the manufacturing bureau and the iron factory. Perhaps in the future, Fenggu Nonferrous Metal and Hongshi Magic Equipment Factory will also be added. The smaller the number of factories, the easier it is to coordinate.
Not to mention the existing manufacturers of locomotives, several new factories have been built, including pressure vessel factories, casting factories, glass factories for instrumentation, etc. When the locomotives are finalized and put on the road, another locomotive factory will be built.
Benz is already the deputy director of the planned production direction of the Locomotive General Factory.
At that time, the treatment will be further improved.
But in Benz's current state, he doesn't feel much about the treatment. Even if you work in heavy industry, earning the minimum wage is not necessarily worse than others, because every once in a while, vegetable oil, grain, spices, work clothes, etc. will be used. The houses in the factory area are built with the factory's money, so you need to pay for them yourself. There are very few things.
The middle-aged Benz was inspired by the experience of the past few months. He wanted to see if he could build a better locomotive than the one in the drawings before he died, and named it after himself.
The assembly and static debugging of the locomotive lasted for about half a month. After completion, a few days were delayed for multi-department coordination, giving them time to go on the road for testing.
Now the double-track railway has been laid from Phoenix City to Fenggu. Only the section from Fenggu to Heishui and the section from Phoenix to Dicheng are not paved. According to the railway bureau, the east-west railway with the center at Junction City may be launched in the next stage. Discussions are pending The double-track section from Fenggu to Junction will be paved.
The experimental section of Benz's team is from Xincheng Heavy Industry to Fenggu, with one round trip every day for three consecutive days, and the time is arranged at night.
Because of the calcium carbide, the lamps in front of the locomotive were changed from the magic lamps prepared previously to gas lamps. The brightness is a little worse than the magic lamp, but it is easier to maintain.
Speaking of this lamp, you will feel that the development of technology is a bit strange. Although lighting has not yet become popular, Fenggu Colorful actually makes a chrome-plated base, which greatly increases the brightness of the lighting ahead.
On the first day of the road test, the car drove relatively slowly, with a speed of 35 kilometers per hour, which was about the same as the average speed of a human-powered handcar.
There were no faults during the no-load round trip, except that the steam pressure cylinder under the air compression cylinder was leaking a little. I went back to the factory and took off the cover and fiddled with it, but no problem was found. When I put it back on, it stopped leaking.
The next day, I did a load test and did some personal work. I pulled several pieces of equipment ordered from Fenggu Industrial Zone and brought back some semi-finished parts from Fenggu.
On the third day, there was an extreme test. Each truck carried 25 tons and hung twelve carriages.
The boiler pressure was increased to the last half of the gauge, and the speed finally stayed at 42 kilometers per hour. In addition, emergency braking was performed twice on the road, once on a straight road and once on a curve.
Braking on a curve is a very dangerous behavior. At this time, you would rather knock someone into a bloody foam than brake. uu read a book, but the test of the No. 1 machine was like this. Its status under extreme working conditions must be recorded for use in subsequent models. improvements, and customized motorcycle driving rules.
Fortunately, the railway is well planned, with a large turning radius, small slope fluctuations, and in conjunction with the turning, there is also a slight adjustment of the sleeper rail inclination. It performed very well in the previous no-load low-speed corner braking test. Otherwise, how could Benz have done it? Individuals and railway bureau personnel did not dare to stay on the train, and they probably had to send a few brave men to operate it.
No derailment occurred during emergency braking of more than 40 kilometers twice. The brakes have suffered a certain amount of wear and need to adjust the bolt correction distance. After a few times of full load braking, the friction parts need to be replaced.
After three days of testing, the locomotive returned to the factory railway access point and was disassembled for inspection.
This step is more important than the previous ones. It is the step that determines the order quantity of the railway bureau. If the performance of the parts is too poor, it may be necessary to consider waiting for the next model before mass production.
Fortunately, Benz's team has done enough work. The parts provided by each manufacturer have gone through several rounds of testing, and ground tests were also conducted before the whole machine was integrated.
"After inspection, the parts and components are in good condition, and no faults have been detected in any system. The steam No. 1 prototype has passed all railway tests." Officials at the scene stamped the inspection documents, and the railway bureau placed an order on the spot, with six vehicles coming first.
Six vehicles doesn't seem like much. According to the safe speed limit of 38 kilometers, each train carries 300 tons of cargo. Excluding preparation and rest, one-third of the time is spent on the road. Six vehicles have a transportation capacity of 273,600 tons of kilometers... In human terms, according to two Calculating the total length of 100 kilometers of railway, it can transport 1,368 tons of cargo from the starting station to the end of the station every day. The loading and unloading of goods in the middle can be ignored as long as it does not affect the road running time throughout the day.
In fact, this small area with hundreds of thousands of people does not have that much cargo to transport at all, and one of them will be transferred to Didion's passenger transportation company.
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