Steel Dynasty - Chapter 818

[Chapter 817 Rubber Products]

It’s almost June in Qingzhou and it’s already a bit hot. The bright sunshine is making the cement road feel steamy.

Xiao Ming returned to the palace, had lunch, and waited for Lu Tong in the imperial study.

In the afternoon, when the hour hand of the pendulum clock pointed to two o’clock, Lu Tong arrived outside the imperial study room on time, and with him was a young man of about thirty years old.

The young man wore a white gown from Qingzhou University and held a bunch of things that Xiao Ming was familiar with in his arms.

“See you, Your Majesty.”

After entering the imperial study, Lu Tong and the others saluted Xiao Ming.

After getting up, Lu Tong introduced to Xiao Ming: “Your Majesty, this is a student from Qingzhou University. His name is Liu Chuanzhi. The official handed over the rubber to them.”

“Liu Chuanzhi? Not a bad name.” Xiao Ming said with a smile. .

“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty.” Liu Chuanzhi was trembling when he spoke, obviously very nervous.

There was a smile in Xiao Ming’s eyes. These people who are dedicated to scientific research have not interacted with outsiders for a long time, so they have similar characteristics.

He said: “Don’t be nervous. I am not a man-eating tiger. These are rubber products made by you?”

Only then did Liu Chuanzhi remember the rubber in his arms and hurriedly said: “Yes…yes, Your Majesty, according to the According to the information provided by the emperor, Cao Min successfully mastered the method of vulcanizing rubber, and with the metal molds provided by the Equipment Department, a batch of rubber products have now been produced. “

Xiao Ming nodded, the rubber sent by the Dutch can only be called raw. Glue, this kind of raw glue is very sticky and easy to break, so it cannot be used in industry.

Vulcanized rubber is called cooked rubber. This type of rubber does not have the disadvantages of raw rubber. It has high elasticity, heat resistance, tensile strength, and will not dissolve in organic solvents. Modern rubber products are basically All are vulcanized rubber.

Looking at Liu Chuanzhi’s arms, Xiao Ming’s smile became more intense. In fact, shaping rubber is not very difficult, because rubber will become liquid at high temperatures, which is similar to molten steel.

Molten steel can be shaped using an iron mold, and naturally the rubber can also be shaped using an iron mold. This is also the contemporary method of shaping Xiao Ming.

The only thing required is to vulcanize the rubber before shaping.

This kind of vulcanization requires the use of a substance as a cross-linking agent, which is sulfur. Vulcanized rubber of different qualities can be produced according to time and temperature. There are many vulcanization methods, the simplest of which is to mix the two and directly heat them.

“Your Majesty, this is a tire, this is a hose, this is a piston…” Liu Chuanzhi took out all the products he brought as if he were counting his treasures.

Xiao Ming took them one by one from him and looked at them repeatedly before putting them down.

For him, rubber is a vital link in industrial development. It is used in shoe soles, hot water bottles, and elastic bands in daily life.

Gloves used in medical treatment, blood transfusion tubes and various tires used in transportation, conveyor belts used in industry, drainage and irrigation hoses used in agriculture, sealing equipment used in scientific experiments, military aircraft, tanks, cannons, etc. are all away from this product. No rubber.

The West is able to pull the East far apart in terms of technology, largely because they control rubber. Unfortunately, just like today, the rubber of this era is still controlled by Europe.

Although he got some rubber tree seeds from the Netherlands, it took a long process from seeds to trees.

Of course, he still has a solution, which is rubber grass, but according to data, the origin of rubber grass is in contemporary Ili, Xinjiang, and at this time rubber grass was obviously still under the control of barbarians.

After he drives away the barbarians, he can plant rubber grass in this area, but it seems to be difficult to conquer this place and hold it.

Therefore, the most suitable way for him at present is to buy rubber from Europeans.

As for occupying South America, he still has a long way to go. Even if he now has a fleet of ironclads, he still needs fixed ports to provide fresh water and coal from Great Chongqing to South America, otherwise his fleet will not be ready yet. Once you reach America, you will be paralyzed on the way.

“Great, great.” Facing one rubber product after another, Xiao Ming was inevitably excited. With rubber, many machines can be realized.

And he believes that the most important problem to be solved at present is the traffic problem.

The most profound realization given to Xiao Ming in this era is that if you want to get rich, you must build roads first. Only with convenient transportation can the exchange of various resources be rapid.

Lu Tong and Liu Chuanzhi looked at Xiao Ming’s excited look and looked at each other with thick smiles on their faces.

Xiao Ming put down the rubber products such as medical blood transfusion tubes and said, “What reward do you want?”

“Your Majesty, this rubber is just a piece of cake. It relies on the information provided by the Emperor. I don’t dare ask for a reward.” Lu Tong laughed. road.

Xiao Ming ignored him and said, “You don’t want it, and Liu Chuanzhi doesn’t want it either?”

Lu Tong scratched his head and laughed, while Liu Chuanzhi looked embarrassed, opened his mouth and finally said nothing.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Ming said: “Liu Chuanzhi, from now on, the rubber of Great Chongqing will be handed over to you. You don’t need to be polite now. Well, in order to allow you to concentrate on the production of rubber, I will reward you with a thousand taels of silver this time.” “How about I give you another fifty acres of farmland?”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Liu Chuanzhi trembled with excitement when he heard this.

Before that, he was just a poor scholar. He entered Qingzhou University because his family had no money left to send him to Beijing to take the exam. However, he did not expect that this decision would bring him another opportunity.

Xiao Ming helped Liu Chuanzhi up, who was bowing to express his gratitude. He said: “I am not a stingy person. As long as you can work down-to-earth and contribute to the country of Chongqing, title, land, and money are no problem. Now my The army has captured a large area of land outside the pass, so you don’t have to worry that I won’t be able to reward you.”

Liu Chuanzhi nodded deeply.

After asking the two more questions about rubber, Xiao Ming asked them to go back temporarily.

After the two left, he immediately sat down and picked up the pen.

Now this pen can only hold ink while writing. Now with rubber, he can finally have a pen that can absorb water. After this incident, he plans to recommend pens to all officials in the Chongqing Kingdom for office work, eliminating the need for writing with calligraphy. It also saves time and waste of paper.

Taking a blank piece of paper, Xiao Ming drew the structural diagram of a bicycle on it. Different from the strange bicycles in the West at the beginning, Xiao Ming directly designed a mature 28-bar self-confidence bicycle, which was the first bicycle in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Crossbar bike.

This kind of bicycle has a triangular stable lever structure in the middle, which can withstand more weight.

The reason why he designed an old bicycle with this structure was mainly to consider the current practical problems of bicycles. After all, bicycles at this time were used as transportation tools, and what was important was that they were strong enough to carry people and heavy objects.

(End of chapter)