The spring harvest and spring plowing were about to begin. All kinds of new buildings that had been planned long ago were also ready to start construction while the weather was getting warmer. As a result, the sales of labor protection products increased greatly. The sales of rattan woven safety helmets and cotton gloves increased greatly. These products that were not used by many craftsmen before had now become popular.
The workshop that Yan Ruyu was in charge of was already unable to use a sufficient number of safety helmets and gloves. For this reason, they were preparing to expand the workshop and gather the scattered craftsmen who knew how to weave safety helmets and gloves. This way, the efficiency of work would be much higher and there would be no pressure on sales.
Previously, the peddlers who sold rattan safety helmets bought them from ordinary craftsmen. These craftsmen who were farmers were very inefficient. When they weaved the safety helmets, all the steps were done by themselves. For example, going to the mountains to cut rattan, picking the rattan, heat treating and drying the rattan, weaving the safety helmet, and brushing the anti-corrosion tung oil. These were all done by one person. Making a safety helmet required a lot of time, and the labor cost was too high.
After these craftsmen were recruited into the workshop, they could carry out a more reasonable assembly line production. They could also save craftsmen resources. The cutting of rattan, picking, heat treating, and other processes were left to the beginners. The craftsmen were responsible for the final weaving and brushing of tung oil. This way, the efficiency of labor was greatly increased. In the past, it took many days to weave a safety helmet. With this method, it was not a problem to weave dozens of safety helmets a day. The labor cost would be greatly reduced, and the profits would increase.
The wages that the workshop paid to the craftsmen would definitely be much higher than when they worked on their own. This would also be good to retain the talents and allow the workshop to continue to expand. This would allow them to make more safety helmets to protect the craftsmen.
The reason why they chose to weave rattan to make safety helmets instead of using newer materials was that the new materials were very expensive. The better protective helmets used by the military were too cumbersome and not very comfortable to wear. Only this kind of lightweight, breathable, and cheap rattan helmet was most suitable for craftsmen. Anyway, the buildings in Beijing were not too tall. The rattan safety helmet could already achieve a very good protective effect.
The gloves were woven with cotton thread. In the beginning, Yan Ruyu asked people to weave them with hemp rope. In the end, although they were weaved and were indeed stronger and more durable, the hemp rope was too rough. It was not meaningful to use them. After all, the purpose of wearing gloves was to protect the palms of the hands when working. If wearing gloves could cause the palms of the hands to be abraded, then what was the point of wearing gloves? After some tests, the hemp rope gloves were finally proven to be unusable. Using hemp rope gloves could easily cause the palms of the hands to be abraded. It was even worse than not using gloves. This made Yan Ruyu very hurt. She thought that she had thought of a wonderful idea, but it turned out to be a terrible idea. In the end, she could only give up this idea and focus on developing cotton thread gloves and mass-producing them.
Of course, the one who proposed gloves was naturally Ang Lee. This was because in the Tang dynasty era, there was no concept of gloves. There were no gloves at all in this era.
But the winters in the Tang dynasty were very cold! Without the protection of gloves, how could the hands stand in the winter? Wouldn't the palms of the hands be frozen?
In fact, this worry was completely superfluous. In the Tang dynasty era, the sleeves of clothes were very long, and the same was true for cotton-padded clothes. The palms of the hands were in the long sleeves, so naturally, they would not be attacked by the cold air. There were even hand stoves, a small metal heating device. A pocket-sized coal stove could warm the palms of the hands very well and prevent the palms of the hands from being frozen.
Of course, whether it was cotton-padded clothes with long sleeves or warm hand stoves, these were all things that only the rich could have. For the ordinary poor, they naturally could not afford these things. So how did the poor protect their palms in winter? In fact, it was very simple. That was, they just put their hands into the sleeves of the other hand. That way, they would be warm. If they were working, there was no need to protect their palms at all. Because working was physical labor, the blood circulation of the body would intensify, so the body's heat would be continuously transmitted to the palms of the hands, so that the palms would not be cold. If the palms of the hands were too cold, the two hands could be constantly rubbed together, so that the friction would heat up the palms of the hands and protect them from being frozen.
Of course, when the poor were working, it was impossible for them to always think about protecting their palms. Therefore, many poor people's palms were full of frostbites in winter, which looked quite scary and even rotten. This was the fate of the poor, and there was no other way.
Ang Lee's palms when he was a child of two lifetimes were also rotten in winter. It was horrible to look at. The most important thing was that it was very itchy after the hot weather, which was extremely painful. The pain was indescribable. This was the result of being poor and not having gloves. If there were warm gloves, Ang Lee would not have his hands full of rotten flesh in winter.
Among all kinds of gloves, the cotton headgear was undoubtedly the best one. Because of the softness of the cotton material, it was the best protection for the skin of the palms. If you wanted to protect your palms well when you were working, you must use cotton gloves.
Just like weaving rattan helmets, the labor protection workshop that Yan Ruyu was in charge of also adopted the method of weaving cotton gloves by manpower. This had higher requirements for the manpower's proficiency and skills. If the weaving skills were not good or the work was too slow, the labor cost would increase. However, this problem was also very easy to solve. That was, the wages would be calculated according to the work. The more the work, the more the pay.
The first person who could weave gloves in the Tang dynasty was not someone else, but Ang Lee. Because there were no gloves before the Tang dynasty, it was Ang Lee who proposed the gloves and gave them to Yan Ruyu. Then, Yan Ruyu taught all the women in the family. Finally, she directly introduced the gloves into the labor protection workshop that she was in charge of, so that more women learned how to weave cotton gloves. Then, step by step, she opened the market and made ordinary workers willing to use this product.
The most important thing for this kind of cotton gloves to be well promoted was that they must be cheap enough. If the price was high, it would be very difficult to promote. As long as the price was low, more people would be willing to accept it.
After all, compared with rattan helmets, cotton gloves were a product with more wear and tear. In the case of heavy labor intensity, it was very likely that the gloves would be worn out after a few days, and new gloves would need to be replaced. If the cost was high, how could they afford it? Of course, the gloves could also be repaired. Generally, it was more common to damage the fingers, followed by the palm, which was the place where there was more force and friction. The surface of the hand was almost undamaged, so after the gloves were worn out, they could be put on the other hand. This way, the gloves could be used twice as long.
Because the market demand for gloves suddenly increased, the female workers in the workshop were also busier. More accidents were inevitable when the female workers were busy. For this reason, as the managers, Yan Ruyu and the others were also busier recently. They always had to deal with a lot of tricky problems.
"What? The sales of gloves have increased recently. You are all too busy. Why don't you do it yourself? It's good enough for each of you to knit ten sets a day."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Li Ya 'er said with a smile, "It's no use. There are only a few people in our mansion. It's too late for all of us to work in the workshop. My sister said that even if we recruit 500 workers now, it may not be enough. We can only try to let them work overtime. Of course, their wages will also be increased."
"Oh, the production can't keep up! It's no wonder. If we rely on the women to knit little by little, there won't be much production. We have to think of a better way. "
Ang Lee said.
"My husband, what good idea do you have? Tell me about it."
Li Ya 'er asked.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said with a smile, "What good idea can there be? Of course, it's to make machines. If we use machines to knit gloves, the speed will be much faster than manual labor. One machine can do more than 100 women. That's for sure."
"One machine can do the work of 100 women? Is it really so good? When can the machine be made? "
Li Ya 'er said with a little excitement.
"Soon. It won't take long. I believe it will be made soon. I promise."
Ang Lee said.
In fact, when he taught Yan Ruyu how to knit gloves, Ang Lee had already been studying the machine. But at that time, the gloves had not been recognized by the people in the capital and the market had not been opened yet. Therefore, Ang Lee was not in a hurry to develop the machine. The gloves knitted by manual labor were enough. Now, many people in the capital had recognized the gloves. Even if they were not working, they were willing to buy gloves in winter to keep their palms warm. In this way, the sales would go up. It was more difficult for manual labor to meet the demand. Moreover, the knitting was not very difficult. Ordinary people could learn how to knit. Gradually, the glove workshop lost its competitiveness and went bankrupt. Using machines to knit gloves quickly was the most reliable way to maintain the core competitiveness. As long as the workshop adopted highly efficient machines to knit gloves, it would be invincible.
After the machines were added to the workshop, the women workers would not be fired because the machines also needed to be operated manually. Only craftsmen with good knitting skills could find the shortcomings of the machines when operating them and make timely adjustments.
Li An had been researching the glove machine for some time, but because he had more important things to do, the progress of the research and development was very slow. There was still a certain distance from success. However, as long as Li An put in a little more effort, it wouldn't take too long for the research and development to be successful. After all, the basic facilities of the R&D Center were already there. As long as the basic facilities were there, it wouldn't be too difficult to develop the glove machine.
"If there is really such a machine, it will be great. Then we don't have to continue to hire women workers. The cotton gloves will be cheaper and the people can afford them."
Li Ya 'er said happily.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. After the machine is developed, the cost of making gloves will be greatly reduced. The people can indeed afford them."
The material of the gloves was too simple. It was just cotton thread, and the cost of cotton thread was not high. In particular, the amount of cotton thread needed for the gloves was very small, so the cost was even lower. However, it took a lot of effort to weave a small amount of cotton thread into a pair of gloves. This was a relatively large loss of manpower. Therefore, the main cost of cotton gloves was the cost of manpower. The material cost only accounted for twenty to thirty percent, while the cost of manpower accounted for seventy to eighty percent. It was a real big deal.
The main reason why the cotton gloves in the future were so cheap was that those gloves were woven by machines. The efficiency and speed were very high. The cost of the machines was relatively small, and the cost of manpower was also very small. But cotton thread accounted for most of the cost. Naturally, the gloves were extremely cheap. This was the condition for the mass popularization of gloves. Even throwing away a pair of gloves a day would not be a heartache. But at this time, the Tang dynasty did not have such conditions. Even if the gloves provided for craftsmen, it would take at least half a month to replace them. The gloves that ordinary people bought were used sparingly, for fear of damaging the gloves.
This highlighted the importance of the glove weaving machine. As long as these machines were added to the production, the price of gloves would be greatly reduced. Then, the people would be able to use them without worrying about the consumption of resources.
After a night, the next morning, Ang Lee went to the R&D center. The first task he assigned was to speed up the development of the glove weaving machine. Even if the research and use of these machines would miss the spring plowing, it did not matter. Anyway, they could be used in the autumn harvest in the second half of the year and in the following years.
Some of the protective gloves produced by Ang Lee's workshop were also sold to the R&D center. They were specially distributed to skilled craftsmen. After all, the current production was too low. There was no way to popularize them to all craftsmen. They could only be selected for more important people to use to protect the health of these people's palms and prevent them from delaying the development of the machine because of palm injuries.
Ang Lee took out the glove weaving machine that he drew last month. Then, he fell into deep thought. This kind of machine was drawn based on his impression. There were still many details in it that had not been considered clearly. It still needed to be optimized and improved so that it could be better developed. All of this took time. Even if all the drawings were revised, the manufacturing and testing would also take time. Therefore, it was very likely that it would be half a year later when the glove weaving machine was put into use.
The Apex
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