Although it was great to use artillery to bombard people, Marin discovered a problem - the 50 Franc aircraft seized from the Saxony Electoral Army was equipped with bronze cannons with inconsistent calibers...
Some of these 50 Franco cannons are 2-pound cannons, some of them are three-pound cannons, and there are 4-pound cannons, with complex calibers. Moreover, even with the same caliber, there are slight differences due to the casting process.
Therefore, if you use the captured Fran machine cannon to fight, you still need to make matching ammunition. Fortunately, it is not difficult to cast shells. As long as there is a template shell with a high degree of fit, you can use the sand turning method to cast exactly the same shells. Although there must be some honeycombs in the shells cast in the wet sand because of water vapor, it has no effect because they are shells and not gun barrels. Anyway, they are used to smash people. If the iron ball shells have honeycombs, they will definitely be harder than the human body. When they hit them, they will definitely be the end of the human body...
Moreover, what surprised Marin was that according to the captive Saxon artillery, many of the Saxon artillery were made of stone bullets, not iron balls. Because Europe's iron smelting technology was lagging behind, most blacksmiths still used iron ore to directly restore the iron ore on a red-burning charcoal pile. Therefore, the price of iron in Europe is still very expensive at present. Therefore, it is also good to use stone shells instead of iron ball shells...
"Stone shells... seem to be ineffective, they can't hit the city wall..." Marin muttered.
But soon, he realized that infantry cannons attack people, not siege cities, and they don’t have to be iron balls, stone bullets are definitely enough.
However, for Marin, producing stone bullets is more troublesome than producing iron ball shells. If you use the model standard bullet to press the space into the sand box divided into two halves, then divide the two halves of sand boxes, then put together, pour molten iron into the casting hole above, and can quickly cast shells of the same size.
If you use stone bullets, you need to use a stonemason to polish them manually. Although stonemasons can also polish the stone bullets to the same size as the iron ball shell, it is very time-consuming and not as fast as the sand casting method. Other countries use stone bullets because the iron balls are too expensive, but Marin doesn't care... He has an iron blast furnace, uses coke iron smelting, and imports hematite from Luxembourg, and has a lot of iron. Therefore, he doesn't care about the cost of iron balls. Moreover, grinding stone ball shells is too time-consuming and not efficient enough. Therefore, Marin still plans to mainly use iron ball shells.
However, one day, after seeing workers building cement roads in the city, Ma Lin immediately changed his mind...
Why? Because Marin thought of using cement to pour shells...
Yes, cement cast shells. Stone shells are difficult to polish because they require a stonemason and take a lot of time. If you use cement, it will be easier.
After thinking, Marin felt that two iron bowls could be made that could be combined together. Then, put the stirred cement into the iron bowl. After a while, when the cement balls can stop falling apart, separate the iron bowls on both sides, take out the cement balls and dry them or dry them. Then, a cement ball shell was born...
It is indeed a waste to use iron balls when hitting people with infantry cannons. Anyway, it is not very different from iron balls and cement balls. Moreover, how cheap is cement balls? Pouring is very convenient, and it can save a lot of money than using iron balls...
When he thought of it, he went to do it. Marin immediately found a craftsman and first cast an iron bowl divided into two halves, which was specially used to pour cement ball shells. However, the processing of the iron bowl seemed a bit difficult. After all, it was an iron thing, and the mold was troublesome.
Later, a craftsman simply proposed that it would be better to use a wooden bowl... The wooden bowl can also be shaped by cement, and it is easy to process wooden bowls, and the carpenter can make fine adjustments at any time. Unlike the iron bowl, if the casting fails, it is very difficult to modify. For the wooden bowl, the carpenter can use an axe to knock and hit it for a while and then adjust it. If it really doesn't work, just change to a wooden bowl, the wood is not worth the money...
After several days of hard work, a method of fixing cement-poured shells with two hemispherical wooden bowls together was released...
As long as there is cement, it should not be too simple to pour cement into the bowl - pour cement directly into the bowl, and the two hemispheres are combined together to squeeze out the excess cement. Then wait for an hour or two, and the cement in the bowl will almost fall apart. Then remove the two halves of the wooden bowl, so that the cement ball is exposed to the sun or dried or air-dried... A cement ball cannonball is completed...
After the cement ball is dry and hard, it is not very different from the stone shell after testing. Anyway, it is enough to hit people. After all, it is definitely enough to hit people. After all, when a person's body and a cement ball are head-on, it is definitely a disadvantage for the human body. Even if the cement ball is broken, it is nothing. After all, cement is not valuable. If it is gone, it will be a few new ones. Even if it is smashed, it is nothing. If it is broken, it will be fine. If it is broken, it will be fine. If it is broken, it will still be used as a cannonball. However, people are different. If it is hit by a cement ball shell, it will either die or be broken, and it will be useless to wear plate armor. That kind of kinetic energy, even if it is not smashed into plate armor, it can still shake off your bones and cause you to die.
Marin summoned his subordinates and showed them this cheap cement ball shell. As the Minister of Finance, Kohler fell in love with this low-cost shell at a glance. As Marin's confidant, Kohler knew very well. At least, it was much lower than iron balls. Because to make iron balls, hematite needs to be imported from Luxembourg, and then smelted into iron through the equipment and craftsmen of the steel mill. Finally, the craftsmen who cast sand casting were cast one by one. After a series of costs, it was much higher than cement shells.
What about cement ball shells? Just find a construction worker, stir the cement, and then take out the mold wooden bowl. It doesn’t require any craftsmanship. Ordinary construction workers can produce such shells, which is extremely simple.
Although Marin said that iron balls are still needed to be used to bombard the city walls and naval artillery battles. However, switching to infantry cannons with cement balls can definitely save a lot of expenses. For the Chancellor of the Finance Minister Kohler, nothing is more important than saving money.
As for the problem of easy incompleteness of cement ball shells, just like Marin planned before - bring a few construction workers to the army and bring a little cement and yellow sand. If the recycled cement ball shells have gaps, stir some cement and apply it to the gap of the shells, dry it and blow it, and a new infantry shell will be released again...
Marin was very proud of his original invention, and it seemed that there had never been any cement shells in history...
However, this is no wonder. Because when cement appeared (19th century), solid shells were eliminated and were already in the world of flowering bullets. Therefore, naturally no one thought of using cement to pour shells. After all, cement can at most be made into solid shells like stone ball shells, and cannot be made into flowering bullets.
Chapter completed!