Back to the 80s Machinery Factory

Chapter 576 Old Cao, I'm sorry.
Step on it?
Zhang Nan thought she had misheard.

Over the years, he followed Zhang Diancai and put forward all sorts of groundbreaking experimental ideas.

But the phrase "stepping on a jack" is a first for me.

"Yes! It's with your feet!"

Chen Luyang gestured as she spoke:

"My idea is that the driver can just shove the jack under the car, stand by the car, and without having to crawl in, bend over, or roll up his sleeves, he can just step on it and the car will lift up with a click. Wouldn't that be great!"

Zhang Nan stood frozen in place for three seconds, her mouth half-open.

You know what... what Chen Luyang said actually makes some sense.

"You mean, like a sewing machine?"

"Yes, yes, almost!"

When Chen Luyang heard Zhang Nan mention a sewing machine, an image instantly flashed into her mind.

"Just like a sewing machine, and besides, our jacks have to be small!"

"The smaller the better, ideally it should fit in the corner of a car trunk, so you can take it out and use it, and put it away without taking up much space!"

Zhang Nan slowly frowned: "Your requirements... it has to be able to support a car, yet small enough to fit in the corner of the trunk, and it has to be able to start the car by standing and stepping on it. It also has to be stable, without wobbling or slipping, safe, without leaking oil, and without jamming... Is this even possible?"

It's important to know that car chassis are already low to the ground, and the force-bearing surface is narrow when the car is being pushed. If it tilts even slightly, it may slide out, causing the person and the car to fall over together.

To mitigate this risk, jacks on the market today are all large and heavy iron lumps with "large chassis, long cylinders, and thick steel bodies," making it impossible to achieve something that is "small, lightweight, and can be started with a simple foot press."

But that wasn't all. Zhang Nan frowned and pondered, "It's true that stepping with your feet saves effort, but how do you transmit that force?"

How much pressure can the oil pump plunger withstand?

"If you don't step on the right spot, you're likely to sprain your ankle when it bounces back."

Cranking by hand is tiring, but at least you won't get hurt!
"How about adding a mechanical lever?" Chen Luyang began to tempt Zhang Nan.

Although he studied humanities, he had worked in a machine factory for more than a year and knew some basic common sense.

"Think about it, the jack on the drawing is a hand-operated hydraulic cylinder structure. If we keep the hydraulic cylinder and add a mechanical lever, we can use the lever to pull a small hydraulic pump plunger, pushing the oil in one spurt. Wouldn't that lift the car up?"

Zhang Nan, who had been frowning, paused slightly upon hearing those words.

"...step on the pedal to activate the oil valve..."

Zhang Nan muttered to herself, her pencil unconsciously tapping on the drawing.
How long should the lever arm be?

"The shorter the better," Chen Luyang immediately replied.

"It's short, easy to store, and flexible."

“If it’s too short, you have to put in twice the effort, and it will feel very heavy on your feet,” Zhang Nan immediately retorted, her mind racing.

"Unless... a composite structure is added, so that the first step is a compression spring and the second step is the oil column, so that the stroke is distributed and the feel is not too hard."

Chen Luyang's eyes lit up: "Yes, yes, that's exactly what I meant!"

Zhang Nan rolled her eyes at him: "You didn't even go that far."

"That's what I really mean!" Chen Luyang argued earnestly.

Zhang Nan ignored him and continued to look down at the drawing, scribbling on the paper with her pencil.

"If you're using your feet, you have to arrange it in the opposite direction."

"The hydraulic cylinder can't be too long; it has to be placed horizontally at the bottom, and the upward direction of the push rod has to be angled... No, angled push rods are unstable... Unless a 'self-correcting' guide structure is added to the chassis..."

Seeing Zhang Nan enter a state of flow again on her own, Chen Luyang decisively shut up, not daring to disturb Zhang Nan's train of thought in the slightest.

After all, he was just a mouthpiece; the one who actually put it into practice was the man in front of him, Tu Wang.

Zhang Nan was seen constantly sketching, drawing, and revising on the drawing.
At last!
Zhang Nan looked up, sighed, and said, "What you're trying to do probably won't work with the old-fashioned jack structure. We'll probably have to design a completely new structure."

Chen Luyang's eyes held a seductive glint: "How about we give it a try???"

Zhang Nan remained silent, simply pursing her lips and staring at the blueprints, as if restraining her hands.

for a long time,

Zhang Nan's tone suddenly turned somber, carrying a hint of longing mixed with suppressed regret, as she softly said:

"If only Engineer Cao were here..."

Chen Luyang: Huh?!

...No, bro, isn't your personal hero worship a bit too heavy-handed?

Cao Qinghang only changed a few parts of your drawings, didn't he?
Do you really have to keep nagging about it every day?

Chen Luyang noticed something was off about the way she looked at Zhang Nan.

Ever since Zhang Nan saw the drawings Cao Qinghang had completed, he has regarded Cao Qinghang as a benchmark.

You have to think things through first: what if Engineer Cao were here?
Every day, after doing some work, I would take out the blueprints drawn by Cao Qinghang and look at them.

The more I look at it, the more I click my tongue in disapproval, though I don't know what I'm clicking my tongue for.

If Zhang Diancai knew that his student was constantly thinking about other engineers, who knows how he would feel...

"Senior brother, your current state of mind is very dangerous," Chen Luyang said seriously.

"What's wrong with me?" Zhang Nan asked Chen Luyang, puzzled.

"You can't always be thinking about what others are doing; you need to have confidence, you need to think about yourself!"

Chen Luyang raised his hand and pressed it heavily on Zhang Nan's shoulder.

"When Cao Qinghang was your age, he still couldn't catch up with you!"

"Who are you? A top student from Peking University! The king of diagrams in the Department of Mechanics!"

"He's already working on the design and improvement of common car parts before even graduating. Can Cao Qinghang really do that?"

Chen Luyang earnestly and seriously tried to persuade Zhang Nan.

In life, whether you're studying or doing design, the most important thing is to be confident!

It means always sticking to your own ideas.

If you always think about how others would do things, you'll eventually limit yourself.

Putting everything else aside, let's just talk about Chen Luyang himself.

He studied humanities, but he was completely clueless about physics, chemistry, and advanced mathematics.

Sometimes when I'm in a rush, I can't even figure out the numbers.

Even so, he resolutely led a group of skilled workers and mechanics students in designing and manufacturing spare parts.

Rely on what?

It's all about self-confidence!

Now, Chen Luyang has finally found someone who can help him with drawings, and he wants to train him well!
We can't let Zhang Nan develop this "everyone is better than me" mentality right now.

"I'm telling you this, Engineer Cao is no match for you."

Although Chen Luyang had good intentions, Zhang Nan felt a sense of displeasure, as if her idol had been insulted, when she heard Chen Luyang speak ill of Cao Qinghang.

There was a hint of curiosity mixed in with my displeasure.

"Which university did Engineer Cao graduate from?"

"I don't know... I guess it's a homebody university?"

Chen Luyang looked down and tapped his fingers, casually assigning Cao Qinghang a school. When he met Cao Qinghang, Cao Qinghang was already the head of the fusion workshop.

In addition, Chen Luyang only had a high school diploma from a machinery factory at the time, and was still preparing for the college entrance examination.
Out of pride, he was even less willing to discuss these issues with Cao Qinghang and Xiao Wu.

"Nonsense!" Zhang Nan looked at Chen Luyang with displeasure.

How could someone who leads a provincial machinery factory to manufacture cars be a college graduate who stayed at home?

If that were true, scientists would be everywhere, and rockets would have been launched long ago.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter where you graduated from,” Chen Luyang said solemnly.

"No matter what, just remember this: when Cao Qinghang was your age, he was definitely not as good as you!"

"Really?" Zhang Nan looked at Chen Luyang with suspicion.

"It's true, absolutely true!"

Chen Luyang patted his chest and gave his assurance.

"I've worked with him for so long, I don't know anything about his background."

Seeing that Zhang Nan had been persuaded by her, Chen Luyang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Old Cao, please don't blame your brother.

In order to nurture this promising talent, Zhang Nan, I have no choice but to ask you to do this!
……

While Chen Luyang and Zhang Nan were studying the jack and humiliating Cao Qinghang,
In a hardware parts factory on the eastern outskirts of Pian'er City, several workers were quickly replacing parts on a tricycle on the assembly table.

Since the first batch of counterfeit general-purpose parts sold well, the hardware factory's furnaces have been completely ignited.

Initially, the hardware factory's main customers were taxi drivers in the city.

However, as the crackdown intensified, taxi drivers became hesitant to frequently visit the hardware factory to replace parts, which severely impacted the factory.

To Qian Chengguo's surprise, although the taxis stopped coming, there were even more cars parked at the factory gate!
Sanitation department tricycles, water and gas repair vehicles, street office logistics vans, and other miscellaneous small vehicle fleets from the urban construction system, as well as township transportation and building material transport teams, have all become frequent visitors to the hardware factory, often venturing into the alleyways.

the reason is simple.

The hardware factory offers cheap prices and is willing to extend credit!
Although the parts from the repair shop are sturdy and durable, they are standard manufactured parts and of good quality.

However, the prices are clearly marked, with labor and material costs combined, making a single maintenance or repair quite expensive.

But hardware factories are different.

Not only are the parts cheap, but they can also be used for bookkeeping.

Settlement will be made next month, and additional payments will be made quarterly. You can even get some old pipe fittings or scrap steel bars as collateral. It's truly a case of "as long as you can get around it."
In addition, Qian Chengguo has been involved in the hardware factory area for so many years, making him the number one "money manipulator" on the outer edge of the urban construction chain.

He knew exactly what the security guards of each unit, the warehouse managers of each department, and the financial situation of each driver were.

If anyone dares to renege on their debt, he can find out who the other party's brother is that very day and lead his men directly to knock on the door.

What's even more appealing is that the hardware factory's "assembly kit" packs all the universal bolts, washers, and rubber sleeves into one bag, making it compatible with multiple vehicle models. Drivers can just grab it and install it in their vehicles without even needing to match the model numbers.

This move is like a windfall for drivers who spend their days running around construction sites, hauling building materials, and repairing pipelines.

They tend to drive rough cars, causing parts to wear out quickly. They don't usually care about "original factory parts" when using their cars; as long as the car can run, that's fine.

Especially now that everyone is rushing to complete projects and racing against time,

Simply park the car at the door, toss the parts bag onto the car, tighten a few screws, and before the tea has even cooled, the car is ready to go back to work.

It's precisely because of this "fast, economical, and usable" feature.
The hardware factory, which was originally on the verge of shutting down, not only did not go out of business, but suddenly became a "hot commodity" that everyone in the alley was eager to get their hands on.

This small fleet of trucks and miscellaneous transport companies all depend on it for survival.

The factory gate was bustling with noise, and even the benches at the tea stalls were full of people.

"They really know how to make a little money!"

Old Liu, eating fried liver at the entrance of the alley, looked on with a sigh.

"When that guy was the factory manager, the hardware factory was almost bankrupt, and not even a sparrow would land in the yard."

"Look at it now, it's even more lively and festive than the Chinese New Year!"

"That's because Xiao Qian is quick-witted!" the pockmarked man across from him chimed in, half a fried dough stick dangling from his mouth, his words still carrying a greasy air.

"It's not good to be too active. It makes this alley so dusty that I can't even drink soy milk outside anymore," someone next to me muttered.

"You've actually picked one?" Ma Zi rolled her eyes at him.

"Is this soy milk for drinking or for offering to your ancestors? A little dust on it can even help you get calcium!"

"..."

The alley was bustling with activity.

Inside the hardware factory, the atmosphere was completely different.

Qian Chengguo flipped through the account books in his hand, a deep shadow falling over his face.

Since the availability of generic imitation parts, the hardware factory's revenue this month has exceeded its total revenue for the past year.

Push rods, couplings, nozzles, and other parts are almost always "inbound in the morning and out in the afternoon".

At this rate, if we work for another two months, we can not only make up for the workers' wages, but also wipe out all the debts we owed in the past.

But therein lies the problem.

Sales are booming, but the supply of spare parts is becoming increasingly difficult!
Like Chen Luyang, steel was also the Achilles' heel of the hardware factory.

The hardware factory has a civilian quota, and it receives a small amount of steel every quarter, but that's for making spatulas, hooks, and door locks.

Nobody expected that it would be used to make car parts!
At first, they could manage to hold on by "squeezing toothpaste" (a method of gradually reducing costs).
However, as passenger flow surged, the materials provided by the planned targets became far from sufficient.

To keep the furnace burning, Qian Chengguo had no choice but to resort to the "old methods".

Relying on the connections he had built up over the years, he managed to get his hands on the scrap warehouse of a large state-owned factory.

According to regulations, these scrap materials must be recycled and remelted.

For the workshop workers, though it's just remelting, they can secretly sell some "scraps" to earn money for cigarettes and alcohol, which is also a form of extra income.

Qian Chengguo saw the potential in this gray market and, by offering cigarettes and alcohol and flattering the factory with smiles and words, he managed to haul truckload after truckload of unwanted scraps and waste back to the hardware factory.

However, making parts is not like collecting scrap.

The materials in the scrap warehouse are extremely unstable.

If you're lucky, you can find a few good quality steel pieces, and the parts you make can actually last a while.
When luck is bad, the batch of raw material is full of cracks, pores, and inclusions, making the parts unusable.

Although the hardware factory produces imitation general-purpose parts, Qian Chengguo's requirements for these imitation parts are more stringent than anyone else's.

After all, counterfeit parts can't match the lifespan of original parts.

If they want to seize the market, they can only gain a foothold by offering products that are "cheap but not too bad".

If the quality drops further, then customers will no longer have the excuse of "making do".
If that happens, the business will immediately fall apart, his reputation will collapse, and who will still buy goods from him?

For this reason, Qian Chengguo does not allow the theft of materials, and he does not allow the workers to cheat.

Even if it's a copy, he insists that it have to be a convincing imitation.

However, as the business grows larger, the supply of steel is becoming increasingly tight.

This funnel-shaped feeding method simply cannot support the hardware factory to continue to expand.

If we keep hanging on like this, we'll eventually run out of food.

(End of this chapter)