Chapter 265 Smelting
The bellows can quickly increase the temperature in the furnace, making the fire burn brighter and the temperature rise higher.
When Zhou Xu was a child, there was one in her grandmother’s hometown.
But when he was a child, I couldn’t say that he was a bear, but curiosity was very important.
He was curious about what was inside the bellows, so he dismantled the old bellows and received a good beating for it, which left a deep impression on him.
But before going to work on this matter, Zhou Xu first handed the drawings he had drawn before to Zhou Dachui.
Zhou Dachui spread out the drawings and looked at them with a bit of confusion on his face.
"Chief, this looks like a simplified version of the crescent halberd."
"Absolutely, the new weapon, called a spear, is more suitable for cavalry charge."
Speak During this time, Zhou Xu recounted the situation Zhou Chongshan encountered while fighting on the grassland.
Of course, he could choose not to explain this matter and just let Zhou Dachui follow the drawings.
But it’s impossible to leave all this kind of stuff to him in the future, right?
When people in the forging department make things on weekdays, they have to use their brains to think about whether the things they make are reasonable and practical, right?
Rather than just being a tool here, he does whatever he says and needs to worry about everything.
“You need to make the mold first.”
Considering that their cavalry training has gradually matured, it is indeed time for the long spears assigned to the cavalry to be forged.
We have just finished our instructions here, and it is already close to dinner time.
After a simple dinner, Zhou Xu took a nap in the afternoon and was not very sleepy at the moment.
Lighting two oil lamps, and by the light of the fire, he drew the design drawings of the bellows before lying down to rest.
Early the next morning, after having breakfast, Zhou Xu immediately approached Zhuang Mengdie, took the drawings, and chatted with her about making bellows.
As one of the earliest departments established under his command, the Equipment Department now has many skilled veterans under Zhuang Mengdie.
After the successful design of bicycles and tricycles, the specific mass production and manufacturing can be directly handed over to the people under her command, and she basically does not need to worry about it personally.
Now that their leader came to her with new equipment, Zhuang Mengdie's attention naturally fell on the new equipment.
The structure of the bellows is actually not complicated, and the Zhouxu drawings are clearly drawn. Zhuang Mengdie can basically see it clearly at a glance, and he can figure it out quickly.
She asked two apprentices to help her polish some simple parts. Before noon, a wooden bellows in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped was completed.
Until he finished, Zhuang Mengdie had a thoughtful expression on his face.
Because she found that although the bellows was simple in design, it was quite exquisite.
This is indeed the case. It is not an exaggeration to say that this thing is the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients.
Zhou Xu just dismantled a bellows when he was a child and remembered the structure inside clearly, so he could draw the design and make it easily with the help of Zhuang Mengdie's skillful hands.
If someone can make such an exquisite design without knowing anything else, he can definitely be called a genius!
After riding on a tricycle that had just been made by the Equipment Department, and installing the bellows on the back of the vehicle, Zhou Xu was ready to pedal the tricycle to the forging department himself.
Seeing this, Zhuang Mengdie quickly raised his hand and said...
“Chief, I also want to see the effect of this bellows.”
“I’m afraid today is It’s no longer needed. I’ll have to open a new stove to match it. I’ll call you when the time comes.”
Hearing this, Zhuang Mengdie nodded and said nothing more.
The way Zhou Xu pedaled the tricycle all the way was a bit conspicuous.
However, the villagers were not surprised by what their leader was doing. Zhou Xu himself is an informal person, so there aren't many rules in the village, and he doesn't think it's a big deal for their leader to ride three wheels there.
In this way, they quickly arrived outside the forging department.
“Go and move the box in the car.”
After casually instructing a person from the forging department to move the box, Zhou Xu quickly walked inside.
Seeing their leader coming over, Zhou Dachui did not show any surprise on his face. After all, they had just assigned a new task yesterday. In the next period of time, their leader ran towards their forging department. Definitely diligent.
Afterwards looking at the bellows being brought in, Zhou Xu quickly made arrangements.
"I remember when I came here yesterday, I saw a forging furnace being built."
While speaking, Zhou Xu's eyes had fallen on the forging furnace.
After all, the workload of the forging department is getting bigger and bigger now. In order to keep up with the demand, the department also decided to build another forging furnace.
At this moment, the forging furnace can still be adjusted. Zhou Xu was not polite and hurried up and asked someone to make an air inlet for the bellows.
He doesn’t need to worry about the next thing.
The new forging furnace was quickly built. On the first day of opening the furnace, Zhou Xu called Zhuang Mengdie over as promised.
Seeing the minister of the equipment department, Zhou Dachui flashed a hint of awkwardness on his face. Although their two departments now perform their own duties, they still have a sense of competition.
But he also knew why Zhuang Mengdie came here today. Their leader had already told him that the bellows was made by Zhuang Mengdie. The other party came here this time to confirm the effect of the bellows.
When he mentioned this, Zhou Dachui also had curiosity in his eyes.
Lighting the fire, Zhou Xu quickly let them see the power of the bellows without keeping everyone waiting.
As the push rod was pushed and pulled, accompanied by a "whooshing" sound, the fire in the forging furnace suddenly jumped up, startling Zhou Dachui and the others, and then their eyes fell on On top of the bellows.
“This thing called a bellows is so powerful?!”
Zhou Dachui still can't believe it, and he still can't understand how this was done.
Fortunately, he doesn’t need to figure it out, they just need to know how to use this thing.
Zhou Xu waved and signaled the members of the forging department to come over and continue to push and pull the bellows to keep the temperature in the forging furnace rising.
Feeling the temperature in the furnace, Zhou Dachui took the container containing the red ore and placed it in the furnace.
The next thing everyone has to do is to continue to increase the furnace temperature while waiting.
Estimating the time, Zhou Dachui took out the container and took a look, his face suddenly showed excitement.
“It’s melted, it’s burned!”
Without time to think about it, he quickly poured the melted metal liquid into the mold.
Waiting for the mold to cool down, a silver-gray metal ingot fell into Zhou Xu's hands.
Zhou Xu gently rubbed the metal ingot with his fingertips, feeling the touch of the metal, and after smelling it, his eyes suddenly lit up.
This smell is so unfamiliar.
"This smells like iron! It's iron!! Hahahaha!!"
(End of this chapter)