Returning to 1949, I decided to hand it over to the state.

"Engineer Jiang, our task today isn't actually that heavy."

"The main task is to go through all the heating furnaces, rolling mills, cutting lines, and finishing equipment here. The leaders are coming to take a look this afternoon, and we need to make sure everything is in good working order so that nothing goes wrong at the last minute."

At this point, he raised his hand and gestured around, his tone becoming more serious.

"Although it has been cleaned and repaired before, as you know, the foundation of our equipment is not very good."

"Some are discarded items left behind by the Japanese back then, some were collected from various places later, and some were simply dug out of the ground."

"After working so hard on this project for so long, we need to check it twice, especially at times like this. It's always better to take an extra look and feel more at ease."

Jiang Fan listened, nodded, and glanced in the direction Zhou Chunsheng was pointing.

Sure enough, most of these devices showed obvious signs of being "pieced together".

Some of the joints had been reinforced with steel plates, and the welds were thick and coarse, clearly showing that the workers had relied on their skill to reinforce them, hammer by hammer and weld by weld.

In some places, even the protective covers and frames have been replaced. Although they are not particularly refined, they are functional.

If this were in modern times, such equipment would probably be in a museum by now.

But in 1949, these were truly the lifeblood of Anshan Iron and Steel Group's production.

Jiang Fan withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Zhou Chunsheng.

"Okay, no problem."

"Where to begin?"

Zhou Chunsheng stopped and thought for a moment before quickly assigning tasks.

"Okay, I'll go check out the heating furnace and rolling mill. The temperature is high there, and there are more problems with the transmission and meshing. I'm more familiar with those areas."

As he spoke, he pointed to the other side of the workshop.

"Go and take a look at the cooling and finishing equipment area. It mainly contains the cooling bed, straightening machine, cutting and sawing device, and the collection and packaging area at the back. Go through it first, and write down any problems you find. If there are no problems, we'll meet up later and discuss them together."

Jiang Fan nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll go take a look."

Zhou Chunsheng didn't forget to add one more piece of advice.

"Be careful, there's a lot of stuff over there, don't bump into anything."

"understood."

Zhou Chunsheng picked up his tool bag and turned to walk towards the heating furnace.

Jiang Fan then followed another passage and slowly walked deeper into the workshop.

The further you go in, the clearer the overall picture of the equipment becomes.

If the heating furnace and rolling mill are the "heart" of the entire rolling process, then the subsequent cooling, straightening, cutting, and finishing are the hands and feet.

Jiang Fan walked to the cold bed, squatted down and examined it carefully.

This is a typical step-by-step cooling bed, but its structure and workmanship are much simpler and rougher than those highly automated versions of later generations.

But as simple as it may be, the underlying principles are the same.

The main body of the cooling bed consists of rows of fixed beams and movable beams, arranged in a stepped manner.

After the high-temperature rolled steel is transported from the previous process, it will first fall onto the support position at the entrance end, and then move forward and backward in a fixed rhythm through the movable beam. Each cycle will send the steel forward a small section.

And so, they pushed forward, one square at a time.

During the movement, the steel comes into contact with the surrounding air, and the surface and internal heat are gradually dissipated, and the temperature gradually drops until it falls to a range suitable for subsequent processing.

This device may not look complicated, but the key to its stable operation is actually quite clear.

The coordination between the movable beam and the fixed beam must be smooth.

The guide must not deviate from its course, and the transmission must not jerk.

Otherwise, if the rhythm is disrupted, at best it will result in uneven cooling, and at worst it will cause material jamming or squeezing, affecting all subsequent processes.

Jiang Fan reached out and touched the guide groove under the movable beam, then looked down at the connecting pin hole of the drive linkage, and casually shook a few key parts.

There is no obvious looseness or visible deformation.

Looking at the sliding rail surface, although the wear marks are not light, they are still within an acceptable range.

He then muttered to himself:

"good."

The advantage of this thing is that although the structure is old, it is simple and robust. As long as the transmission mechanism does not have major problems, the cooling efficiency is not too bad.

For Ansteel at present, having such a complete and usable cooling bed is already quite good.

After confirming that there were no major problems in this area, Jiang Fan stood up and continued forward along the path of the cold bed.

Not far away, we arrived at the area for the straightening machine.

A straightening machine, as the name suggests, is used to straighten and flatten the slight bends and warps that form in steel during the rolling and cooling process.

The principle is not mysterious at all. It simply involves letting the steel pass through a set of straightening rollers arranged in an alternating pattern. Through repeated stress, bending, and recovery, the original deformation is gradually eliminated.

Just like rolling out dough and straightening bamboo strips, it's like forcing it back to its proper shape little by little.

Jiang Fan circled the straightening machine several times, first checking the wear on the roller surface, then the position of the bearing, and then looking down at the roller gap adjustment mechanism.

There are a few shallow indentations on the roller surface, which should be normal wear and tear left after long-term use. It is not serious. As long as you pay attention to grinding and repairing during subsequent maintenance, it will not have a significant impact on the straightening accuracy.

He then reached out and tightened the adjusting bolt next to him. The threads turned smoothly without being stiff or stuck.

This shows that this part was carefully done during the renovation.

Jiang Fan couldn't help but click his tongue, his opinion of the renovation workers rising even higher.

"You've done a pretty thorough job."

"There's nothing seriously wrong with it."

After saying that, he patted the dust off his hands.

The more he examined the equipment, the more he realized that although it was old, it wasn't a shoddy job.

Although it's not up to par for later generations.

But under the current conditions, they are already treasures.

Especially for a large factory that barely rose from the ruins, it must have taken a lot of manpower and effort to clean up these guys to this extent.

Further ahead is the equipment cutting and packaging area.

The cutting device is an old-fashioned circular saw with a fairly large saw blade. It is equipped with a clamping mechanism and a feeding and positioning device. Its main function is to cut the straightened steel into finished sections of uniform specifications according to length.

Jiang Fan first checked the tightness of the saw blade, then looked down at the aging of the transmission belt, and casually moved the manual operating lever of the clamping mechanism.

The movements were fairly smooth; I could grip and release the grip effectively.

This indicates that at least in terms of mechanical structure, there were no major problems with this part.

Looking further ahead, you'll see the collection and packaging area.

Here is a simple collection trough welded from thick steel plates. The bottom of the trough is slightly inclined so that the cut finished products can automatically slide down and be piled up, preventing them from becoming a mess.