I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 24 The Heavy Hammer, the True Heavy Hammer of Industry
"Teacher, teacher, we did it! Teacher, we did it!"

While Chen Changzai was explaining the construction and production process of the steel plant to the leaders and two political commissars.

Suddenly, a loud shout came from the courtyard gate outside the cave dwelling.

"Changzai, what was the key to your success?" the leader asked curiously.

"Judging from the voice, it should be Wang Jinhua's voice. He is a student in the chemistry lab and is currently assisting with the experiment on high-pressure hoses."

Holy crap, the high-pressure hose worked!

Chen Changzai, who had just realized what was happening, jumped to the ground without even putting on his shoes and ran outside in a big stride.

"High-pressure hose, what is that?" The leader then looked at Political Commissar He.

Political Commissar He didn't realize it at first either.

He was stunned for a moment when he saw Chen Changzai run out, but he realized what was happening when his superior asked him.

He also shouted, "Success!"

After saying that, he didn't even reply to his superior; he jumped to the ground and ran out.

The leader then looked at Political Commissar Liu, who shook his head and said with a wry smile, "Leader, don't look at me, I don't understand either."

"Let's go out and take a look. We can also take their shoelaces out with us. Those two guys ran out without even putting on their shoes."

After the leader and Political Commissar Liu put on their shoes, they each carried a pair of shoes out of the cave dwelling.

Chen Changzai and Political Commissar He were standing in the middle of the courtyard wearing only socks, surrounded by four people.

All of these people's eyes were fixed on the pipe that Chen Chang was holding in his hand, which was black in the middle and had two iron lumps at both ends.

"I'm telling you two, you're leaders now, can't you be a little calmer when things happen?"

"Put your shoes on quickly, or you'll catch a cold."

The leader smiled and said this as he placed Chen Changzai's shoes at his feet.

But Chen Changzai seemed not to hear it at this moment.

He said to his boss, "Boss, I said we'll do it within a year."

This would allow for the mass production of rifle barrels and light and heavy machine gun barrels.

Within two years, it will be possible to manufacture cannon barrels with a diameter of less than 100 millimeters.

Do you believe it? "

"What did you say?"

Upon hearing Chen Changzai's words, the leader nearly collapsed to the ground.

If Political Commissar Liu hadn't caught him in time, the leader would have definitely stumbled and fallen.

"Say it again, what did you just say?"

At this moment, Chen Chang grinned and laughed loudly, saying, "We can now produce heavy hammers."

Not that stupid, clumsy sledgehammer that can't even smash out a heavy machine gun barrel.

It is a true industrial hammer.

The real industrial hammer, do you know that, leader? It's an industrial hammer.

Do you know what a forging press is?
Those forging presses that can generate a thousand tons of pressure!
Like kneading dough, it's a forging press that shapes steel into any form.

With this, we will no longer be restricted in the high-quality steel we use to forge gun barrels and cannon barrels.

Then we will actually be able to build crankshafts for tanks and airplanes.

With it, our steel can be transformed into truly high-quality steel.

Real stainless steel.

Chen Changzai is currently in a state of near madness.

And the leaders weren't much better off at this time.

"Gun barrels, cannon barrels, airplanes, tanks. Gun barrels, cannon barrels, airplanes, tanks~"

It was as if he was talking to himself. As he spoke, the leader laughed, but then tears started flowing again.

Not just the leaders, everyone in the courtyard laughed, but they laughed through tears.

Chen Chang's small cave dwelling was almost completely packed.

Some were sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), while others were sitting on stools on the ground.

Eight people, huddled together, were in his small cave dwelling.

"Boss, let me introduce you. These are my students."

His name is Wang Jinhua, and he works in a chemistry laboratory, specializing in petroleum refining.

In its simplest terms, his main focus is on extracting various substances we need from petroleum, such as rubber.

He and Xiao Zhiqiang focused on two different directions.

This man is Chen Chengshan. He works at the steel laboratory and his main research area is steel smelting.

This man is named Wu Zhikai, and his major is mechanical manufacturing.

This man is named Zhang Yuchen, and his major is metal chemistry.

From the very beginning, I gave them a task.

That's how we manufactured this pipe.

At this point, Chen Changzai raised the black tube that he had been holding in his hand.

"This pipe?"

The leader took the pipe with great suspicion.

The black tube wasn't long, only about thirty centimeters.

Both sides are movable, with internal threads on the nuts.

Inside this movable but not falling-off nut, you can see a hollow metal cone head.

This is the pipe head.

The leader couldn't understand why the pipe head was shaped like that.

But he knew there must be a reason behind it.

There is a small section of metal sheet on the tube behind the nut.

The pattern on it must have been pressed out tightly with something.

The metal tube head was pressed and locked into the middle black tube.

The most amazing thing is the black pipe in the middle.

The pipe is very stiff, but if you bend it hard enough, you can bend it.

When you touch it, the surface of this tube is neither leather nor metal.

The leader felt that this thing looked a bit like a car tire, but he wasn't sure.

The leader then looked at Chen Changzai.

Chen Chang did not answer the leader's question at this time.

Instead, he turned to the four students who were sitting there smiling and said, "Which of you can explain this pipe to the leader?"

The four people, all in their twenties and no older than thirty, were all passing the buck, none of them wanting to be the guide.

At this moment, Chen Changzai said, "Jinhua, you are the oldest, so you should speak."

Seeing that he couldn't refuse, Wang Jinhua said, "Okay, teacher, then I'll explain it to the leader."

Leader, this pipe, according to the teacher, is called a high-pressure hydraulic hose.

Its main function is to allow hydraulic oil to pass safely through this hose under extremely high pressure.

And this hose won't burst.

It also requires that the hose has excellent flexibility, allowing it to move freely within a certain range without breaking.

Such hoses must also be oil-resistant, corrosion-resistant, and high-temperature resistant, and can work for a long time in harsh environments.

It cannot change its internal state yet.

The leader nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

But he didn't ask anything.

Because right now he really doesn't know what to ask.

Wang Jinhua then added, "We've read in textbooks that this kind of high-pressure hydraulic hose has already appeared abroad."

However, we cannot, or rather, no one in our country can produce this kind of high-pressure hydraulic hose. This seemingly ordinary pipe requires nitrile rubber, which is made from compounds extracted from petroleum, for its internal components.

This was already available abroad several years ago, but we don't have it.

The outside of this pipe is made of polyurethane, which is extracted from petroleum.

The teacher said that scientists abroad have already figured it out.

It has an alloy steel wire sandwiched in the middle.

This alloy steel wire is not an ordinary steel wire; it has extremely high toughness.

This is where Junior Brother Chen and Junior Brother Zhang excel.

The place where this pipe is most needed now is the thousand-ton hydraulic forging press that the teacher mentioned.

With this kind of thousand-ton forging press, we will be able to manufacture our own machine guns, cannons, airplanes, and tanks.

"Impressive, truly impressive. You've actually overcome the technological hurdles imposed on us by foreigners. You are all heroes!"

Although the leader seemed to understand only part of what he heard, he did understand one thing.

That's this seemingly simple pipe.

Foreigners already have it.

But it's not available in the country.

But now these young people have actually made these things.

Isn't that amazing? Isn't that a hero?
At this moment, Wang Jinhua said, "Leader, we can hardly be considered heroes."

In fact, the teacher had already explained the preparation process of these materials to us very clearly.

All we need to do is follow the path the teacher has shown us and move forward step by step.

So sooner or later we will all reach the end.

Therefore, the teachers are the greatest contributors.

After listening to Wang Jinhua's words, Chen Changzai said, "You shouldn't be so modest."

What kind of meritorious person am I?

I only heard about this process by chance from a foreign professor who was invited by the school to give a temporary lecture.

But knowing the process and being able to complete it.

Those are worlds apart.

Even now, if I were to walk the path of countless experiments that you have walked over the past six months, it would be difficult for me to do so.

I might not be able to achieve what you have now.

How much pressure can this pipe withstand now?

In fact, what Chen Changzai taught his students were indeed some preparation experiments' pathways and methods.

Moreover, some of these things don't even exist yet.

For example, nitrile rubber has better oil resistance inside the hose.

For example, steel wire interlayer.

For example, the polyurethane used in this hose was only synthesized abroad in 1937.

It is now 1936, and Chen Changzai was created by Wang Jinhua.

It can be said that this high-pressure hydraulic hose is the most advanced high-pressure hose in the world today.

Whether it's the materials or the manufacturing methods.

However, Chen Changzai only knew the methods for manufacturing these things.

These are not his specialties, after all.

However, in his later years, the scope of knowledge required to become a senior engineer was far too vast.

You may not be able to do it.

But you need to know what's going on here and how it was done.

Don't assume that the senior engineer's certificate is something that's easy to obtain.

He started as a technician, worked his way up to chief engineer, and then to vice president of production.

Without solid technical skills and basic knowledge, and without a deep understanding of the principles and details of all the equipment inside the military factory, how could he, as a technician, rise to such a position?

The forging press was just one piece of equipment in their military factory.

"Teacher, this tube held up for one minute at 57 MPa."
It withstood 20,000 consecutive impact tests at 25 MPa.

This tube is currently operating at a pressure of 22 MPa, meaning it can be used for an extended period of its lifespan.

All of this is thanks to Junior Brother Wu and his team.

They built it according to the method you described, teacher. It was a plunger-type high-pressure oil pump driven by a steam engine and a two-stage reducer, which produced such enormous pressure.

Otherwise, we would not have been able to complete these experiments.

Although these materials are currently laboratory products and the quantity is small.

However, it is still possible to meet your requirements for manufacturing a forging press, teacher.

After listening to Wang Jinhua's words, Chen Chang first shook his head and said, "I already said that."

What I'm telling you is just theory.

Your success is mainly due to the hard work you've put in.

It was achieved entirely through your hard work, and has little to do with me.

Secondly, I am very pleased that you were able to meet my requirements for the forging press I wanted to make right here in the laboratory.

Looking at the students he mentored, they have all achieved their own successes.

Chen Changzai was indeed very gratified.

The reason Chen Changzai had his students figure out how to make this flexible tube before manufacturing the forging press was because of this.

Instead of using the more secure rigid pipe connection that is now commonly used in the world.

That's because using rigid pipes for connections is technically too complicated for this area right now.

Whether it's the design drawings, the processing precision, the technical requirements for installation workers, or the requirements for production processes, it all matters.

This level of difficulty is something that Chen Chang cannot achieve here.

It's impossible to do that for at least a few years.

Forcing a rigid pipe in would actually be more dangerous.

That wasn't a small diesel engine, nor a steam engine; it was a behemoth weighing hundreds or thousands of tons.

If that thing goes wrong.

It's too late to regret it now.

Now, if flexible hoses are used for connection at the main connection points.

This allows for maximum redundancy in installation precision.

As for when larger forging presses appear in the future, making it impossible to use hoses.

At that time, Chen Changzai believed that he had definitely trained a team with absolutely superb skills.

So Chen Changzai was taking a risk at the very beginning.

He instructed Wang Jinhua and his team to focus on petrochemicals, metal chemistry, and materials science from the very beginning.

Try to find the way he gave you.

Even if they don't succeed, it doesn't matter.

Consider it as laying the foundation for them.

At worst, we can just keep smashing it with a sledgehammer, or make a steam hammer.

However, Wang Jinhua and his team did not disappoint Chen Changzai's expectations.

In just over six months, they actually started from the very basics and produced what Chen Changzai hoped for.

Genius is genius.

Chen Changzai was most satisfied with these students.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)