Chapter 23: Everything for Production
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Chen Wenlong and the craftsmen all turned their eyes to Xiao Ming.
After the briquette stove and the lathe, Xiao Ming once again introduced a shocking new technique.
For the craftsmen, who had spent their lives mastering their inherited skills, unaltered for generations, Xiao Ming’s innovation completely upended their understanding.
“That’s right. The crucible steel method is well-established, but the steel it produces requires repeated forging to enhance its strength, which is extremely time-consuming,” Xiao Ming explained. “The blast furnace ironmaking technique I am teaching you will involve building two interconnected furnaces. The first will produce pig iron, which will then be refined into wrought iron in the second furnace. This way, iron production can be scaled up efficiently.”
Chen Wenlong instructed the craftsmen to stop their work and sit down, listening intently. By now, such knowledge-sharing sessions had become routine in the Engineering Department, and both Chen Wenlong and the craftsmen were used to it.
Xiao Ming picked up the stone pencil Chen Wenlong had prepared— a chalk-like material that left white markings—and began sketching the blast furnace structure on a black stone slate as he explained.
The craftsmen listened with utmost seriousness. Every time Xiao Ming imparted new skills, they felt a sense of enlightenment, quickly grasping even the most unfamiliar techniques.
The boring machines, drilling machines, milling machines, and grinding machines currently produced in the Engineering Department had all been built following Xiao Ming’s blueprints and the craftsmen’s visual memory. After initial trials, these lathes were proving to be successful.
For example, the drilling machine—a lathe designed for boring holes in components—had been used successfully to perforate iron sheets for gas stoves.