On October 4, 1679, the adventure continued and the chaos gradually subsided. In the swamp area of ​​the lake area east of Xinchu Township, a group of farmers on the east coast surrounded several sweaty workers, chatting and laughing while watching the fun.

Several workers came from the rural agricultural technology station, wearing sky blue denim work clothes, holding various tools in their hands, and were rushing a small steam pump. This water pump is used to discharge water from swamps into Puyewei Lake. It is not very large in shape, but the power is not small, with a total of 7.5 horsepower. At this point, we also understand that this is the 7.5 horsepower steam engine that is very popular on the east coast. Because it is small in size, light in weight (relatively), and has a large power, it is very popular in agriculture, transportation and other departments. At present, the state-owned Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory that manufactures this type of water pump has sold more than 2,800 units nationwide, achieving amazing economic benefits.

For example, in this remote, deserted and poor place in the Central Valley of Southern Chile, one was purchased and used in the swamp water drainage project around the lake area. However, it seems that the water pump was not good enough. Not long after it was used, it broke down, which made several workers at the rural agricultural technology station who were full-time serving this machine sweating profusely.

"There is a problem with the sealing of the cylinder, maybe it is a ring, maybe it is a piston, I'm not sure." A young man who looked like an apprentice in his seventeen or eighteen years old said with a shy look. He was holding a tool in his hand and his face was covered in oil and dirty.

"Of course I know that there is a problem with the cylinder seal. The gas leaks so badly. Is it difficult to draw this conclusion as long as it is not right now?" A middle-aged technician with a big bearded pipe in his mouth came over, cursing: "Why did I bring you, a stupid apprentice? Why is it so difficult to do something? No matter what the cylinder is wrong, we don't have spare parts. Could it be that you want to grind one by yourself? Go and go to the mining area opposite the lake to borrow some spare parts. Yes, just take a boat and report my name. In addition, Xiao Liu, check the other parts and see if there is any problem."

"I understand, webmaster." The technician called "Xiao Liu" responded, and then carefully picked up the machine in front of him, from the cylinder to the connecting rod, from the crankshaft to the pump body, checked very carefully and very professionally.

The parts on this equipment are produced by Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, the Second Heavy Machinery Factory, the Shipu Branch of Dayuhe Arsenal, Tieling Special Steel, and Meilin Railway Machinery Processing Factory. They involve various materials, sizes and models, and the processing accuracy is also very high, reflecting the latest level of industrial manufacturing in the East Coast. At this time, Europe was still using foot-pedal machine tools and hydraulic machine tools to produce iron and even wooden parts (only the UK began to try to use steam engines to drive machine tools to process objects). The East Coast has begun to popularize steam machine tools on a large scale because it has the characteristics of small vibration, so the processing accuracy can be

To reach a very high level. In addition, Dongban people have made many breakthroughs in materials science in the past decade. Many new materials have begun to be used, such as manganese steel cutting heads in mechanical processing, which has led to the speed of the machine tool to a higher level, with stability and machining accuracy exponentially improved. Not to mention, Dongban people also invented a national treasure-like magical artifact, which has made large-scale standardized production possible (in the past, only partially standardized production, and poor interchangeability of parts), further reduced industrial production costs and further improved accuracy, which greatly promoted the deployment of mechanical equipment across the country.

Just like the 7.5 horsepower steam engine in front of us, it is actually very different from the early production, and it is only related to the industrial processing level. For example, if only 30% of the components of this steam engine in the early stage could be exchanged, then now, sixty or seventy percent could be exchanged. And even if it cannot be exchanged, it may be able to use it manually after the second hand processing, which will undoubtedly greatly reduce maintenance costs.

In contrast, European machinery and equipment lacks universal measuring tools (no threading machine, and cannot be copied and produced on a large scale), the parts they process are not very versatile, because they are still scoring raw materials through the ancient five-part and ten-part methods, and there may be inconsistencies before and after. After the parts processing machines with this kind of parts are damaged, they must go to the original factory to find parts, and the parts they are found may not be used, because there may be slight differences in size and must be secondary processing. Such costs are indeed very high. Unless in situations where the steam engine clearly has huge advantages, the cost of using may not be much lower than that of mules, horses and hydraulics.

So, you can see that over the years, as the East Coast exported machinery and equipment is used in continental countries, the export of mechanical parts has gradually become a large-scale industry, and the growth rate is increasing. The reason is that the high versatility and interchangeability of East Coast mechanical parts have made maintenance costs low, which indirectly promoted the degree of production mechanization in European countries, and of course suppressed the progress of the machinery processing industry in European countries.

This 7.5-horsepower small steam engine is now mainly used in the eastern prairie, Hejian and Yazihu ​​basins, and the remote areas of southern Chile are limited by a variety of factors (mainly quota restrictions), and are not introduced much. Taking Boling County as an example, a trial was purchased in the lake area. Together with those mule and horse water pumps and large steam pumps (fixed, very difficult to move), they drained the accumulated water in the swamp and played a role in the local agricultural pioneering.

Together with these pumps, there are steam hoes and steam plows that excavate ditches. With the help of these machinery, natural ponds, lakes, and swamps are transformed into reservoirs. After that, it becomes a much easier task. Even I heard that the county agricultural bureau has sent a special person to Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory in Xihu County, intending to buy a steam tractor back to see how the effect is. I heard that this kind of tractor is used a lot in Patagonia, very frequently, and whether it is to pull goods or other things, the effect is very good.

Of course, no one in the county pointed out that this steam tractor with a power of 25 horsepower and the steam corn harvester, wheat harvester, soybean harvester, etc. derived from it (replaces the previous horse-drawn harvester), because of its large weight, it is only suitable for use in parts of Patagonia and Pampa Plain with dry and hard soil. Otherwise, it may greatly damage farmland and roads and cause considerable losses.

For example, in the Southern Chile region, due to the humid climate and abundant precipitation, the soil is softer than many areas of the Brazilian Plateau. When the astonishingly heavy steam tractor arrives, the fields will be damaged in a bad way, so that farmers will have to spend a lot of energy to trim it in the later stage. It is better not to use it and save some effort.

This argument naturally makes sense, because the rivers are crisscrossed and the precipitation is rich, the Hejian area, which is known as a water town, has proved how the 25-horsepower steam tractors and various derivative machinery fail on the farm. However, the county agricultural bureau has a relatively clear attitude. They believe that in the relatively sparsely populated areas, surrounded by mountains and densely forested southern Chile, even if this steam tractor cannot be used to plow fields, it can also be promoted to forest farms and mines. In those places, I am not afraid of you destroying the land. The only thing that is worrying is probably the muddy roads caused by rain and snow and cannot walk.

Of course, in addition to steam engines that burn firewood or coal, in places like South Chile with relatively weak industrial foundations, the utilization of traditional wind and water energy is naturally very common, in order to reduce dependence on new machines and provide their productivity level. For example, across the lake where the technician of the Agricultural Technology Station was about to go, there was a large steam engine that utilized hydropower, with a total horsepower of more than 150, which was similar to the Marley machine built by South Dutch carpenter Renénèque for Louis XIV in 1682 (providing water sources for the Palace of Versailles) in later history. The latter's maximum power reached 124 horsepower, which should be the power equipment with the largest output power at that time in France.

To be fair, because the climate is humid, abundant precipitation, and there are many rivers and lakes, the foundation for using hydraulic equipment in the southern Chile is very good. Especially those wood processing plants, sulfur ores, limestone ores, do they really need steam engines? Do they need high processing accuracy? No! Just like those sledgehammers used to crush ores, hydraulic equipment is enough, because their deviation has no effect at all. Even because the water source is insufficient - in some places, because the water flow rate is slow, it cannot drive large machinery and equipment, so first of all

Water trucks need to be used to send water to a high place and then drive the water wheel. In this case, hydraulic machinery equipment cannot operate for a long time - and the mid-stop has no impact at all. This is very different from the mechanical processing industry. So we saw that the state invested funds to help the state-owned sulfur mine east of Lake Puyewe in the southern Chile region and Boling County to build a large-scale hydropower utilization system on the stone mine with a potential power of 150 horsepower, which can drive a variety of equipment including hydraulic forging hammers and hydraulic breakers, which is very good to use.

The system of the East Coast people is naturally very different from that of the French. The main difference is in design, body shape, reliability and service life. Needless to say, the East Coast people, supported by a lot of theoretical knowledge, are very different from the traditional European hydraulic equipment design, smaller in size and higher efficiency. In terms of performance indicators, they are naturally very ahead of the market. First of all, the reliability is high, unlike the Frenchman's high failure rate and often shut down. This mainly depends on the leading design and processing accuracy of parts; secondly, the service life is much higher than others, which of course is due to the leading design and material of parts, not comparable to the French-style hardwood and cast iron mixing equipment.

Therefore, although the power of the two hydraulic equipment is not much different, the actual difference is very large. If the time span is longer, it would be very good for the French system to use half of the power of the East Coast people. Although this is already a very eye-catching hydraulic equipment in Europe, you should know that this is the property of the king. Most people do not have the financial resources to build such magnificent equipment.

What Europeans can have now is all kinds of early East Coast steam engines that are imitated. As for the more advanced ones in the later stages, even if they use various channels to piece together the physical objects, they cannot copy them, or the cost of copying is extremely high, the reliability is very low, and there is no use value at all.

In this way, in the United Kingdom, United Provinces and North Germany, the steam engines used by Portugal, Spain and Italy, some of which are backward countries, are still very primitive. This is due to the lack of mechanical processing and materials science, and the theoretical backwardness is also very obvious. For example, Europeans only had a certain degree of understanding of the concept of air pressure nearly thirty years ago, let alone in in-depth research. This was achieved when the knowledge of civilization in the East Coast spreads overseas. Safry, who made major improvements to the steam engine in later generations, was still a young boy at this time. Instead of studying it by itself, it would be better to find a way to obtain it from the East Coast people.

Of course, this does not mean that Europeans cannot make progress. In fact, if steam engine researchers in the British and Holland regions develop along the current path, they will sooner or later develop slowly with sufficient funds, and continuously improve the steam engine to reach a very high level. But how much time does this take?

You should know that the East Coast people have not stopped waiting for you. With the advancement of basic industry, the East Coast people have been able to design steam engines with lighter weight, smaller size, higher efficiency and greater power, constantly innovating and applying them to ships, trains, factories, mines and farmland. Moreover, the reliability of some relatively mature steam engine models has reached a very high level, with the average fault-free working time increasing again and again, and the calls for research and development of all-steam-powered ships have risen again. The three major shipbuilding companies have re-cut the relevant information of all-steam-powered ships from the old paper pile, and set up a research team to start doing some preliminary preparations, waiting for the Central Ministry of Transport to issue relevant instructions.

In addition, the East Coast people have developed the electrical industry for decades and have now made certain achievements. The Institute of Electrical Sciences of the Institute of Natural Sciences and the Second Heavy Machinery Factory have been deeply engaged in the shore of Nanci Xuefeng Lake for many years, and have produced a large number of electrical instruments and instruments, and have cultivated many related talents. These have undoubtedly greatly consolidated the foundation of this science. For example, the electrolytic saturated saltwater industry developed by the Pan father and son is now quite interesting. What they are thinking now is to look for a site to build a small power station on a river with a large gap and rapid flow rate, which can be used to confirm the various theoretical knowledge studied before, laying a solid foundation for large-scale development in the future.
Chapter completed!