"What's this?"

That morning, as soon as he entered the factory yard, Zhao Shizhen was shocked by the scene in front of him.

He saw several strange large water tanks in the yard, either standing upside down in the yard, more than ten feet high.

"Zhiyuan, what are you busy with?"

Seeing Shi Yiwen busy there, Zhao Shizhen asked in confusion.

"Make green alum."

Shi Yiwen, who was directing the craftsmen to build the "cage tower", answered truthfully.

"Make green alum? What do you do for making it?"

"Sign up the book."

“Can you use it for printing books?”

Faced with Zhao Shizhen's confusion, Shi Yiwen was busy and did not continue to explain, but instead directed the workers to continue to build the "cage tower".

If you want to "write" a book, you must have enough transcribed paper. This kind of paper is not complicated. It is just a layer of gelatin and white pigment mixture on ordinary paper. It is not difficult at all. After all, whether it is gelatin or white pigment, you can buy ready-made ones. You only need to brush the mixed liquid prepared in proportion on the paper. When the oily handwriting drawn on the paper is pressed toward the panel, the coating is dissolved by rubbing water, sticking the paper to the plate to prevent displacement, and separating the paper from the writing particles when lifting the transcribed paper. Then, the most critical step in lithographic printing is the pre-corrosion of the lithographic printing. After all, lithographic printing is made by corrosion, which involves a key chemical raw material nitric acid.

The production of nitric acid is not complicated. It is obtained by adding sulfuric acid to earth nitrate and heat treatment. Although there is "green alum", that is, sulfuric acid, in Beijing, the expensive price and limited production force Shi Yiwen had to consider making homemade sulfuric acid and then producing nitric acid.

Although there are information on the "lead chamber method" for producing sulfuric acid in the library, Shi Yiwen finally chose "Tianfa Tower Sulfuric Acid", which was developed on the basis of the "Seven Towers Civil Method" invented by the base area during the Anti-Japanese War in the 1950s.

After customizing a batch of specially made large cylinders in a nearby kiln factory, Shi Yiwen directed the craftsmen to form a group of two large cylinders, one up and one tilt, and then connected the docked large cylinders with a bowl-shaped lead pipe, and glued them firmly to form a closed space, which became a distillation tower composed of five groups of large cylinders. The principle of sulfuric acid is used to make the lead chamber method, and a large cylinder is used to form a distillation tower instead of the lead chamber.

It took only six days to use the simple "tower method" to produce the first batch of sulfuric acid in the factory. Compared with the acid production, it only took a lot of effort to guide workers to make nitric acid. Although these workers were reading some words when entering the factory, they did not know how to use thermometers and hydrometers, and these all require training.

"Look at it, measure its specific gravity through a specific hydrometer..."

In the acid-making shed, enduring the stimulation of the acid mist, Shi Yiwen was teaching workers to produce acid, and another idea came to his mind. Maybe he should consider running a technical training school to train technicians.

Looking at the craftsmen around him, Shi Yiwen naturally thought of the apprentices in the factory. They are now learning from their masters and can basically get along, but what about the future?

While Shi Yiwen was thinking about how to start this school, a young man looked at him from afar, looking a little nervous, and he just stood there waiting. Even though he was teaching a worker, Shi Yiwen noticed this person.

"Zhepei, who is that person?"

Shi Yiwen told Xu Siyuan. Now Xu Siyuan is the manager of this factory. The reason why he chose him was because the factory had never had a suitable supervisor. On the other hand, Shi Yiwen found that Xu Siyuan was also very interested in this aspect. Sometimes his son's interest must be influenced by his father. Xu Guangqi's interest in practical studies such as Western water conservancy engineering machinery may also be influenced by him.

"I am the Blacksmith Sun in the factory. He is young and has good skills."

Xu Siyuan looked up and recognized the person.

"Go and see if he has something to come to me?"

After listening to the instructions, Xu Siyuan walked over and asked.

"Sun Blacksmith, what's the matter with him?"

"Then, that manager Xu, I made something and wanted to show it to the boss."

Shi Yiwen, who was training workers, immediately became interested when he heard this.

"Make something? What?"

"When you go back to your boss, it's just a machine for making screws, right, machine tools."

Machine tools for producing screws!

Shi Yiwen said in surprise.

"Then I have to see."

Because more than 300 workers in the factory pressed their homes near the factory, a small market had long been formed next to the factory. Sun Blacksmith's home was also next to the factory. There were only three thatched houses with brick and earth structures. When he entered the house, he was in a little dim light. Shi Yiwen saw a wooden lathe in the house. Although it looked simple, the lathe should have all the simple elements.

"Young Master is a machine tool I made, which is specially used to produce screws. Whether it is a carriage or a musket, it requires a large amount of screws. Before, we produced screws, which were handmade and then rotated out with screws. Not only did it take any effort, but the production speed was very slow, so I was thinking about whether I could use a different method."

When Sun Blacksmith explained, Shi Yiwen carefully observed the lathe. Although the lathe is very primitive, it is a lathe used to slide the tool through a screw rod. The tool is no longer fixed in one position. It seems to be somewhat similar to Besson, which has not been promoted a hundred years later.

"Owner, look, whatever screw you want, whether it is the large screw or the small screw of the carriage, you can make it by adjusting the screw..."

While explaining, Sun Blacksmith signaled his son to turn the wheel of the lathe. With the harsh sound of metal cutting, the threads on the iron nails were generated with the naked eye, and the cut metal chips also turned into a spiral.

"This, this..."

Looking at the screws coming out of the car in surprise, then looking at the large screws coming out of the car after adjusting the lathe, Xu Sicheng murmured.

"Can you actually make screws like this?"

Surprised, he asked again,

"If I guess it's not bad, this knife steel must be made of good steel, otherwise it will definitely not work."

The manager's words made Blacksmith Sun's face flush slightly, and he said a little embarrassedly.

"It's just that you use the knife too quickly. You have to choose the best one in steel fire. Otherwise, if you can't make a hundred, the knife will become dull. It's not easy to get the steel well..."

"This is OK. If you want good steel, let's practice it ourselves."

Staring at the simple lathe, Shi Yiwen said without hesitation.

"This lathe has room for improvement, and the wooden frame is easy to deform. You can consider using an iron frame, and this knife frame..."

After pointing out several areas that need improvement, Shi Yiwen looked up at Blacksmith Sun.

"How about it? Do you think it can be changed if you change it like this?"

Of course, if you can change it, if you want to improve it further, it is the famous Modsley machine tool. It is the first thread cutting lathe. It has a screw and a bare rod. It uses a sliding tool holder - a Mohs' tool holder and a guide rail, which can turn threads of different thread pitches.

"Sure, sure..."

Thinking about the several points that the boss pointed out needing improvements, Sun Blacksmith was surprised and his face changed slightly. But his son looked at it and said casually.
Chapter completed!