Li An had already started researching the machine to weave cotton gloves a few months ago. However, he wasn't researching it all the time. Basically, he was slacking off. After all, during these few months, the Ten-thousand-mile Telepathy Plan was the most important thing. Any other research had to be put aside as much as possible. Because of this, the plan couldn't be completed. If he had put all his effort into the research, it was estimated that he would have succeeded a long time ago.
However, at this moment, Ang Lee had enough time. The Ten-thousand Mile Sound Transmission Plan had been successful. The next step was to continue to improve it. At least, he could breathe a sigh of relief. This way, Ang Lee would have more time to research other good things. Although the machine to weave gloves was a very ordinary machine, its function did not seem to be very difficult. Ordinary people could work without gloves. Moreover, humans could weave gloves. However, Ang Lee felt that this machine was very important because this machine could greatly improve the efficiency of weaving gloves and greatly reduce the cost of cotton gloves. It could allow more cotton gloves to appear on the market. In this way, more people would be able to enjoy the convenience brought by this kind of gloves. The purpose of Ang Lee's invention of so many machines was to improve the lives of ordinary people. If it was not for this, why would Ang Lee work so hard?
The research and development of the machine to weave gloves was not very difficult. The structure of this machine was not complicated at all. It was much simpler than the Ten-thousand Mile Sound Transmission. It was to imitate human knitting. It was simply to convert human knitting into machine knitting. It was the same principle as the loom, but it was more troublesome than the loom. However, as long as it took some effort, it was not a problem to manufacture it.
According to Ang Lee's memory, the machine to weave gloves in the future could weave sixty protective gloves in two hours without any pressure. In this way, it could weave seven or eight hundred gloves in a day. If it was done manually, it would be impossible to complete it. Anyway, Ang Lee felt that weaving seven or eight gloves a day was very difficult, let alone seven or eight hundred. Ang Lee's former family also weaved gloves by hand. Basically, they would only weave one pair a day, which was two, and then they would say that they were tired and did not want to continue weaving. Of course, this was because there were other things to do. They could not spend all their time weaving gloves, but it was enough to show that weaving gloves took a long time. It was also very tiring for the weaver. Weaving a pair of gloves was very tiring for the weaver.
Ang Lee's goal was not high. He was satisfied that the machine he invented could weave three hundred pairs a day, and this did not seem to be difficult. However, the efficiency was indeed dozens or even dozens of times higher than manual weaving.
Of course, the premise of the machine working 24 hours a day was that someone had to take care of it. When the cotton thread was about to run out, the female worker had to take out a new roll of cotton thread in time and connect it to the end before continuing to weave. Otherwise, it would cause the machine to idle. The machine did not need to rest, but the people needed to rest. At least two groups of people needed to take turns to work. Fortunately, one person did not need to look after a machine. As long as the machine was good enough, one person could look after eight or ten machines without any pressure. In this way, the cost of labor was very low, and it was much cheaper than using manual weaving.
The most important cost of machine weaving was the depreciation of the machine itself, the energy consumption of the machine, and the cost of the cotton thread. The cost of labor could only be the lowest. This would make the produced cotton gloves very cheap, and the price could be reduced by at least 70%. In the past, one could buy three pairs of gloves with the money to buy one pair. This was absolutely excellent news for ordinary workers. The popularity of gloves in the Tang dynasty would also become higher and higher, and the workers' happiness would also become stronger and stronger.
"Assistant Minister Li, what machine is this? It looks very strange."
A senior craftsman walked up to Ang Lee and asked.
Ang Lee pointed to the gloves on his hand and said, "This is the glove. This machine can weave gloves with very high efficiency. It can weave at least 300 pairs of gloves in a day and a night. Is that enough? Haha! "
"A machine for weaving gloves, this is good! This is the best. We workers are most afraid of palm injuries because as long as the palm is injured, we can't work. It's very troublesome, especially when we work in the winter. The palm is easily injured and cracked because of the cold. That's called suffering! With this glove, it's much better. Not only can it protect against the cold, but it can also prevent abrasion. It's really good. "
The craftsman said.
In almost all eras, it was a very common phenomenon for manual workers to have their hands festered in the winter. Almost no worker could avoid it. It was the same for soldiers who often trained. Once winter came, their palms would be full of rotten flesh, which was very uncomfortable to look at. The best and most perfect way to change this phenomenon was to provide all workers with gloves that could protect them from the cold and prevent abrasion. As long as there were gloves, the situation would be greatly improved.
For nobles, gloves didn't seem to be very useful. They didn't have to worry about abrasion on their palms. When the weather was cold, they had long sleeves and hand stoves, so they didn't have to worry about their palms being frozen. However, it was different for ordinary manual workers. They had a very high need for gloves. They had to do high-intensity manual labor, and there were many opportunities for their palms to be injured. In winter, there was no hand stoves to keep warm, and long-sleeved clothes were not something they could own. They couldn't work in long sleeves, so gloves were undoubtedly the best means of protection.
Therefore, ever since Li An brought the gloves to the R&D Center for the first time, he had received the approval and support of most of the craftsmen. Only a very small number of iron-willed men felt that wearing gloves to work was unmanly and that it was a little girly. Actually, it was just a psychological problem. Men could also get hurt and needed to be protected. Could it be that they had to get their hands covered in scars to show their manliness? If that was the case, then soldiers didn't need to wear armor. They could just go bare-chested and kill the enemy! Only then could they experience the spirit of a man! But which soldier in the army didn't wear armor? Could it be that they were feminine?
"This official has marked the parts of this machine very clearly. You must build it quickly. The sooner this machine is developed, the sooner you craftsmen can enjoy the benefits of the protective gloves. You have to work in shifts and build it day and night."
Ang Lee requested.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. We will definitely work overtime. However, these parts of the machine have to be built one by one. If there are only a few hundred of us, it will take at least two to three months to finish. Can't you transfer more people? It will be faster this way. "
The craftsmen raised their conditions.
Ang Lee waved his hand and said, "A hundred people is already a lot. There are too many machines to study and improve. If we transfer too many craftsmen just to study the machine for the gloves, the imperial court will not agree. You just have to do your best. It doesn't matter if it's a little late. There's no hurry."
Ang Lee knew the morals of the imperial court's officials better than anyone else. These guys valued machines that were more useful or beneficial to themselves, rather than machines that were more beneficial to the common people like the gloves. Perhaps in the minds of some officials, the development of this kind of machine was superfluous. It was enough to make part of the gloves by hand. There was no need to use machines to produce them on a large scale. What was the big deal if the common people's hands were injured? Shouldn't the poor suffer? If they didn't suffer, they were still poor.
It was just like suffering in prison. If one could live a good life in prison, what was the point of punishment? Therefore, the conditions of the ancient prison cells were extremely bad. The air inside was simply stinky. Eating, drinking, and defecating were basically done in one space. There was not even a bed to sleep on. One could only lie on a pile of straw that was full of wet worms. This was a very common prison cell in ancient times.
The common people were innocent. However, if the common people lived as happily as the nobles, how could the nobles' sense of superiority be reflected? It was because the common people suffered so much that the nobles could reflect the nobles' sense of superiority and make them feel superior. For example, the common people's fingers would fester in winter, while the nobles' fingers were very delicate and smooth. This way, one could tell who was a common person and who was an ordinary worker just by looking at their hands.
Many nobles were so bored that they could not see the common people living better than them. Otherwise, they would feel unhappy in their hearts. This was also a kind of jealousy!
In the human community, there were too many people with jealousy. Almost everyone more or less had a little bit of jealousy. As for how this heart came about, it was probably innate! Anyway, it felt that most people would have a little bit of jealousy. When they saw others living better than them, they would be jealous. Especially when the people around them were living better than them, they would be even more jealous. Their hearts would be extremely unbalanced.
Although most people had jealousy, the jealousy of adults would not be written on their faces. It was quietly buried in the depths of their hearts. Only the jealousy of children would be clearly written on their faces. For example, when a child saw that other children always had candy in their mouths, but he had never eaten candy, he would be very jealous in his heart. His expression would be looking straight at the child with candy, and his expression would be very unhappy. This was jealousy. If he ran over to snatch it, it would be even more obvious.
When a child was jealous, at most, he would snatch other people's candy. This was visible, and the harm would not be great. However, when an adult was jealous, it was more dangerous because adults would plan and take more measures to achieve their own goals. They would even take the lives of others in order to take the things that others had. The harm was too great.
However, Ang Lee would not care about this. In order to let the people suffer less, the machine for weaving gloves must be invented as soon as possible. Then, it must be immediately put into the production of gloves. According to his estimation, the development of this machine should not take too much time. It should be successful in one or two months at most. Now that the basic conditions were here, as long as they were willing to do it, it would not be too difficult.
After delegating the development of the machine for weaving gloves, Ang Lee still had to continue to pay attention to the progress of the other research and improvement. The Ten Thousand Miles Sound-Transmitting Plan still needed to be improved and perfected, the farming machine also needed to be improved, and many other machines also needed to be improved. In addition to the tasks of research and improvement, the R&D center also had the task of production. Otherwise, they would not need two to three hundred thousand people. Most of the manpower actually belonged to the production staff. When the various machines were in urgent need of manpower, the manpower that could be used for research and development was relatively insufficient. For example, if the imperial court suddenly ordered to transfer tens of thousands of people to participate in the production of the Ten Thousand Miles Sound-Transmitting Machine, too much manpower would be used. As a result, the number of people involved in research and development would naturally be greatly reduced. In such a situation where manpower was scarce, Ang Lee could mobilize more than a hundred people to develop the machine for weaving gloves. It could be said that he had done his best. He could not mobilize more manpower.
"Not bad, not bad. Continue to work hard."
"Very good. This is also done well."
"This is also very good. Are all of you still very capable?"
Ang Lee inspected the progress of many of the improved machines and was quite satisfied with each one. He also praised the craftsmen to boost their morale and make them happy.
"Assistant Minister Li, these are the suggestions that some of the major clans in the capital have gathered together. Please take a look."
A low-ranking official walked over and handed a piece of paper covered in words to Ang Lee.
"Peel corn kernels, peel soybeans, peel rice, slice sweet potatoes … Haha! Do these fellows have a lot of demands? They've all learned to be smart, coming to this official to make demands. "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
"Assistant Minister Li, this is only a suggestion, a suggestion, a suggestion, hehe!"
The low-ranking official had received a lot of benefits and was smiling as if he had just eaten honey.
"These machines aren't difficult, but this official doesn't have enough manpower on hand and hasn't started researching them for the time being. I'm afraid that it will be half a year before I can start researching them. Let them wait! There's no need to rush. "
Ang Lee calmly said.
This was the truth. As the types of machines to be researched increased, more machines would need to be manufactured in batches. As a result, even if the R&D Center had two to three hundred thousand people, it still wouldn't be enough. Sometimes, one had the will but not the strength. It wasn't that they didn't want to research new machines, but that they simply didn't have enough manpower. Some of the less important tasks could only be set aside and the more important ones could be researched and developed.
Of course, there was another way, and that was to increase the manpower of the R&D Center. However, the housing problem in the capital had yet to be resolved. Rashly increasing the manpower would only further increase the housing shortage in the capital. Thus, Ang Lee couldn't do this for the time being. He had to resolve the housing problem first before increasing the manpower of the R&D Center.
The Apex
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