In early October, on the sixth day after the first academic gathering, Li Mengxi had time to organize a unique competition.

The competition is very simple and the standards are very clear. It is just a slope and a small ball, and then connected to the wooden rails and wooden boards made by the craftsmen. See whose wooden rails are the smoothest and the ball can roll the farthest.

Because the tool is too simple to make and the threshold is relatively low, many people took the test.

The scene was as lively as gambling. The craftsmen gathered around a small open space, with a bunch of people craning their necks to look in, for fear of missing a glimpse.

In the field, a certain craftsman's achievement was being tested. The ball rolled down with a grunt, rolled onto the wooden rails, then rolled along the wooden rails onto the wooden board. After a moment, the small ball stopped in the middle, and someone was holding it.

The rope ruler came over and measured the distance.

In order to avoid errors, each person tested ten times, and the average value was recorded in the book.

Half a day later, all the participants had completed the test, and finally, the best winner was decided.

Li Mengxi took three thousand coins as a reward to the winner, and also gave him a voucher. The voucher was - "Champion of the First Slide Contest".

If the craftsman camp wants to promote personnel in the future, this certificate can be given priority for promotion.

After the game ended, the craftsmen gathered around the champion. They took away the wooden rails and planks made by the army and competed to see them.

The wooden board made by the champion is just an ordinary wooden board, but it is polished more finely.

The craftsmen were dissatisfied and thought they could polish it smoother.

The craftsmen's minds started to get wild. Some people thought that they could use pine wood to make boards. Pine wood has oil. After polishing it smooth, if it doesn't slide around your hand, it will definitely slide far.

Some people think that the file is not good enough. The file is too rough and a better file is needed when there is time.

Some people are clever and think that the wooden rails can be modified. They do not have to be flat. They can add grooves or even change the slide rails into a barrel shape.

Others think more broadly. They think, why use only wood? Clay won’t work? Iron won’t work? Copper won’t work. Ice won’t work?

It's not winter yet, so there's no ice for a while, but that doesn't stop many people from thinking about ice.

It is expected that as ice is an extremely smooth thing, it is estimated that many craftsmen will choose to use ice. Then, ice processing methods, ice mining methods, ice grinding methods, and even how to make a piece of ice will inevitably be born.

The ice is extremely smooth, and one day, if you play with ice too much, some craftsmen will inadvertently discover the principle of ice formation.

In any case, the small ball slide itself is of little use, but in the never-ending pursuit of excellence, technology will emerge, accumulate, and make breakthroughs.

After this first slide competition, there are already many expected results. Some craftsmen want to use pine wood to make slide rails. In terms of materials science, this is a kind of wood with extremely low friction. Therefore,

There are good choices for places such as axles, waterwheels, door axles, etc. Although this is a common practice in woodworking skills, this time it was rediscovered from a more systematic testing method.

found.

Some people want to use clay, iron, copper and other metals to make slide rails. This is a broader field of materials. In order to make their slide rails smoother and the ball slides farther, craftsmen do everything possible to grind the metal and make it smoother.

Flat and smooth, inadvertently, the finishing technology of metal parts was born.

As for those who want to change the wooden rails, carve grooves in the wooden rails, or simply replace the wooden rails with wooden barrels, this may eventually develop into rails, cableways, or even rifling.

Li Mengxi kept the champion. He asked the champion carpenter how to process the wooden rails and asked about every specific detail. At the mold lake, Li Mengxi also asked the carpenter to demonstrate it himself.

Record all technical details.

Li Mengxi wanted to keep this set of championship wooden rails as a technical preserve.

He asked the craftsman, "Can I make another one? I'll take this one back?"

"Ah?... Just take it." The craftsman replied immediately.

Li Mengxi said goodbye to the craftsman. He took the recorded technical details, hugged the wooden rails and planks, and prepared to go to the drawing warehouse to store the things in it.

Two pieces of broken wood made the military advisor so valuable that the champion craftsman felt a little ashamed. He regretted not spending more time to make it better.

The craftsmen of the army and the army were determined to make an excellent wooden rail next time.

The convention has been set. From now on, a slide competition will be held every 20 days. The winner will be rewarded with three thousand coins, and the merit will be calculated once.

If things go on like this, the wooden rails will become smoother each time, the materials will become better and better, the processing technology will become better and better, and the craftsmanship will advance step by step, and eventually it will accumulate thousands of miles.

——

After Li Mengxi stored the things in the drawing warehouse, he went to the blacksmith camp to see how the steel ball quenching technology was going.

Li Mengxi found the craftsman responsible for this matter. The craftsman was holding two black iron eggs and was hitting them with a hammer to check.

"What happened?" Li Mengxi asked.

When Li Mengxi came, the craftsman showed Li Mengxi an iron egg.

After taking it and looking at it twice, I found that the iron egg was in good condition, with no cracks or deformation, and could be used directly.

This is how the spherical iron egg is made. First, get a spoonful of jelly-like molten iron, roll the molten iron into a piece at will, and then put it on the groove. Then, slide the two grooves back and forth, and slowly

The iron ball rolled out.

This technique is very useful for making pills, and it is also useful for making earthen pills. It can be used on iron. Iron is too hard, and it is too laborious to roll the iron into balls by human power.

Also, when making pills, the mud is very soft, and when making pills, the soil is also very soft. The groove plates snap together, and the mud can be broken off with a slight movement. But the iron is too hard, so force it down.

It is difficult to break the iron by pressing, so the groove is made thin and narrow to increase the pressure.

The problems don't end there. The problem is that the iron will continue to decarburize, and layers of iron will continue to peel off from the outside. The originally round iron ball will no longer be round enough once it peels off.

The solution that the craftsmen came up with is that the shorter the time to make the iron balls, the better. The faster the production, the less decarburization and peeling.

There have been several improvements in technology on this small iron ball, and Li Mengxi issued a total of more than two hundred kilograms of grain as a reward.

The iron ball made by the plate groove method has a loose structure and is not solid. It is heated and annealed to uniform its structure, and then quenched in cold water to make it hard. Finally, it is tempered to increase its toughness.

After these multiple processes, the strength of the iron ball has increased a lot, and it is not easy to break it with a hammer.

At the same time, the groove bearing is also ready.

The groove bearing is modeled after the structure of a rural carriage, and is made of iron cast and reinforced by heat treatment.

In addition, part of the test on the waterwheel has also been completed.

Regarding the volume of the waterwheel, it is known that the larger the waterwheel, the greater the proportion of the falcon joint structure required, the more complex the process, and the more time-consuming it is. At the same time, if the waterwheel is too small, the strength will be insufficient, so , need a most suitable size.

After many days of testing, the craftsmen came up with the data that a water wheel with a diameter of two feet is the best.

Li Mengxi installed steel balls on the central axis of the waterwheel and turned the waterwheel in place, which was very flexible.

Finally, I took the waterwheel equipped with ball bearings to the waterside and tried it. The water flow in the water was very fast, and the ball bearings were too smooth. The waterwheel turned so fast that it almost flew away because the speed was too fast. In the reaction structure, the water wheel began to vibrate. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the water wheel swayed more and more unstable, and finally, the water force shot in with a snap.

This speed is so strong that it needs to be fixed with rivets.
Chapter completed!