Chapter 264 Derivative Products
At this moment, Zhou Xu suddenly thought of developing bicycles. In the final analysis, it was because they were short of horses, but they could not find a group of wild horses for the time being.
Zhou Xu had no choice but to target the messenger.
In order to deliver messages faster, each of their villages always has two fast horses for messengers to use.
But in the actual implementation process, Zhou Xu discovered that not all news is so urgent, and it doesn't matter if some news comes slowly.
Under this premise, Zhou Xu came up with the idea of reducing the number of fast horses in each village to one, and then giving them two bicycles each.
For important news, a messenger is specially arranged to ride a fast horse to deliver the message.
For less important news, just let the other two messengers ride bicycles. There is no need to be in such a hurry.
In this era, bicycles manufactured under limited conditions are definitely not as fast as a fast horse, but they are much faster than two legs or an ox cart. This is enough for ordinary communications.
After talking to Zhuang Mengdie about the production of bicycles, Zhou Xu took the opportunity to talk to Zhuang Mengdie about another vehicle. Rounding it off, it can be regarded as a derivative of bicycles.
"Look, this is an ox cart. While ensuring the 'car' part, replace the ox in front with a human-powered structure similar to a bicycle, and put them together, can it be achieved to a certain extent?" "
At this moment, Zhou Xu was talking about nothing else but a human-powered tricycle.
When I came back from this trip and observed the daily work of the logging team, I found that sometimes the bullock carts may not work well.
The working location of the logging team is basically the logging field outside the village.
For the logging team, the main function of the oxcart is to transport the wood they cut back to the village.
But to be honest, at this distance, it would be difficult to pull a cow back and forth to transport wood. If it were replaced by a human-powered tricycle, wouldn't it just go away? It might be less troublesome than an ox cart.
The same situation also occurs at the mine, and there is also some short-distance transportation work by the construction team.
It is self-evident that Zhou Xu’s purpose was to free up more oxcarts for transportation between villages and for cultivating the fields.
From this point of view, simply looking at the value that can be shown in work, human-powered tricycles can provide them with far more help than bicycles.
Zhuang Mengdie, who realized this, was not ambiguous at all. Under Zhou Xu's guidance, he drove out the design drawings of the human tricycle overnight.
Started making it the next day.
Since she knows how to do both wooden carts and bicycles, there is really not much unfamiliarity in this work.
The only thing that requires a little more care is the connection, but it is not difficult in itself. According to Zhuang Mengdie's experience accumulated along the way, Zhou Xu can easily handle it by herself without even needing to speak.
The first tricycle was soon built.
Compared with bicycles, tricycles are smooth and stable, but they are much easier to ride. Basically, just sit on them and pedal.
This first tricycle was undoubtedly assigned directly to their logging team in Black Moon Village.
After trying it, I found that although this tricycle is more laborious than an ox cart, it does save trouble!
After all, a cow is a living animal. You drag it around, which sometimes causes a lot of trouble.
But the tricycle is different. You don’t have to take care of the tricycle’s emotions. You can just park it wherever you go. It’s okay if you don’t care about it. It can’t run anyway.
What's really going on? Tell the man on the tricycle. You can explain it clearly and he can understand it. How convenient.
In this way, this tricycle, which is more laborious than an ox cart, was unexpectedly welcomed by the logging team.
Afterwards, two more of the newly manufactured tricycles from the equipment department were sent to the mine in Salt Lake Village. Not surprisingly, the miners at the mine also found the tricycles convenient and trouble-free.
It was very smooth for Zhou Xu to use a tricycle to replace the ox cart in these related departments.
In this way, more ox carts can be successfully put into long-distance transportation.
After all, at this time, in Huangshan Village, the relocation of the original village and the construction of the new village have already begun. In order for the work there to proceed smoothly, the transportation team here is under considerable pressure.
Of course, not all of them were transporting materials and building materials to Barren Mountain Village during this period. There was no doubt that materials were also transported to Barren Mountain Village.
On this day, an ox cart stopped outside Black Moon Village. The cart was filled with resources transported from Barren Mountain Village, including of course the red ore discovered at that time.
The surface shapes of these ores are different, some are flakes, some are scaly or granular, and the only thing in common is that these ores are all red.
Needless to say, this is the red ore that Zhou Xu had previously picked up from near the camp of the Red Stone Tribe, and it was shipped to him now.
He didn't know what kind of ore this was, but Zhou Xu didn't hesitate. Anyway, he would smelt and purify it first, and then turn it into metal ingots and then study it slowly.
The forging department is familiar with this set of procedures, and the facilities are also complete, so smelting started quickly.
The red ore might take a long time to burn, so Zhou Xu naturally did not intend to wait around the whole process. He went back to his residence directly, rolled out a roll of animal skin, and started drawing.
As for the smelting of the red ore, he didn't care about the process. Anyway, it was finally made into a metal ingot, so just send it over to him for a look.
After finishing the drawing, Zhou Xu felt sleepy and took a nap again. When he woke up, it was already close to evening.
While getting dressed, he shouted directly toward the door.
"Go and ask how the ore is being smelted. If it has been turned into metal ingots, just bring it over."
The new follower outside heard the order and ran over quickly Confirmed by Forging Department.
Zhou Xu did not wait too long. After running to the forging department to ask about the situation, he came back as quickly as possible.
“Reporting to the leader, the ore has not been burned yet!”
This situation made Zhou Xu frown slightly, and he quickly went to the forging department to confirm the situation.
“Chief!”
As soon as Zhou Dachui, the minister of the forging department, saw their leader coming in person, he hurried forward to greet him.
"What's the situation with the ore now?"
While gesturing to the other party to avoid courtesy, Zhou Xu got straight to the point and quickly explained his purpose.
After hearing this, Zhou Dachui took action personally and took out the ore placed in the forging furnace.
"Please look, leader."
At this moment, the ores were already burning red and hot, but they had no tendency to melt.
“The temperature of this forging furnace is actually not enough.”
The most direct reason why the ore cannot be burned is that it has not reached the melting point.
The forging furnace in the forging department does not turn off and keeps burning. This also allows them to quickly reach the highest temperature in the furnace after starting work, saving a lot of time in the process.
Under this premise, the red ore has not been burned yet. If it continues to be burned, it will probably be useless.
To solve this problem, the temperature of the forging furnace must be further increased.
With this idea in mind, Zhou Xu thought about it for a while.
“We need a bellows.”
(End of this chapter)