There were more than 30 people in the Zhao family's corn-shelling workshop. When they heard that there was going to be a competition, they immediately stopped what they were doing and cooperated to prepare the corns.
In order to ensure the fairness of the competition, all the corns had to be 200 corns, no more and no less. This required repeated counting. Finally, Steward Zhao and Ang Lee's subordinates had to count again to ensure that there were indeed 200 corns.
All the participants of the competition were arranged in three neat rows, with about 10 people in each row. Each person had a bench, 200 corns, and their own tools. Among them, three people had hand-cranked corn-shelling tools in front of them, while the rest had very simple slotting knives.
These people were all skilled workers who had worked for more than three months. Although there was a slight difference in skills, the difference was not very big. As long as they worked hard, the difference would be limited.
After everything was ready, Steward Zhao walked to Ang Lee and said, "Assistant Minister Li, everything is ready. We can start the competition."
Ang Lee looked at the blacksmiths and said, "Everyone, the competition is about to start. All of you must do your best. No matter what tools you are using, don't be lazy. You must work at your highest speed. Okay, listen to my command. The competition starts now."
More than 30 people heard the order and immediately began to peel the corns. This was a very good opportunity to show their personal value. How could they not do their best?
The competition had just begun, and the gap between them could be seen at a glance. When one used an ordinary tool to peel a corn cob, one used a hand-cranked tool to peel five or six corn cobs in a row. The gap was so obvious that Li An and the others, who were watching the competition from the side, revealed satisfied smiles.
How could Ang Lee not be satisfied with such a good effect? The structure of this tool was very simple and there was almost no technical requirement. For many ordinary blacksmiths, it was not difficult to make this tool, and it would not cost too much. This was very useful in popularizing this tool.
The cost of the tool was cheap, but the effect was very obvious. This kind of invention was undoubtedly the most successful. No other invention could satisfy Ang Lee more than this.
"The effect is really too obvious. With this kind of tool, the speed of peeling corn has increased by so much. If everyone uses this kind of machine, it's really unimaginable! In the future, I will dare to accept big business. My boss will be very happy when he knows about it. "
Steward Zhao said excitedly.
"But you're not the only one with such a tool. All the corn-shelling workshops will use such a machine in the future."
A minor official said.
"That is, all the bosses will be happy. Hahaha!"
Steward Zhao said happily.
Although there were 200 corn cobs around each man who participated in the competition, most of the corn cobs were destined not to be peeled because the speed of the hand-crank tool was very fast. The setting of so many corn cobs was just to show the superiority of the hand-crank tool over the ordinary way of peeling corn. Only a considerable number of corn cobs could show the great effect of this tool.
Looking at the complete corn cob stuffed into the hand-crank tool, it quickly turned into a bare corn cob. Even the men who were working smiled from ear to ear. It was so comfortable to work like this. It was much more comfortable and efficient than using the hand-crank tool. This made them very happy.
However, this kind of tool could not fundamentally change their situation. After they used the tool, they only felt good for a moment. However, after this tool was popularized, all the threshing workshops would use it. In this way, the price of corn cobs would definitely be affected. In this way, the processing fee for the same weight would be reduced. The amount of work they needed to do to peel corn cobs by hand would directly increase by many times. It was certain that they could get the original salary by doing five times the work. Of course, the physical strength and time they consumed were not much different. They just changed the tool to work.
People were always full of interest in new things, especially new things that could bring them benefits. People were interested in the work, the management, and the onlookers. If the boss of this workshop knew about it, he would be even happier.
Two hundred corn cobs seemed to be a lot. In fact, it was not a lot at all. For the hand-crank corn threshing tool, two hundred corn cobs were just a side dish that could be finished quickly.
Ang Lee had just left the two-story building and went to other places in the workshop. When he came back, the three hand-crank tools had processed more than half of the corn cobs. However, those men who used the original method had only processed a small part. The difference was extremely obvious.
"The effect is out. Those who used our hand-crank tools have almost finished processing. Those who used the original method have only processed a small part. Good, good. It will be over soon. Haha!"
Ang Lee said very happily.
Steward Zhao was not idle. He squatted down and carefully checked the corn cobs processed by the hand-crank tools to see the effect. After a round of inspection, Steward Zhao stood up with a satisfied look.
"Assistant Minister Li, the processing effect of this hand-crank tool is really good. The corn cobs are not damaged at all. This machine can be used and is very useful."
Steward Zhao said happily.
Soon, all the corn cobs in front of one of the hand-crank machines were processed in a very short time. This made Ang Lee very satisfied.
"Stop. Everyone stop."
Ang Lee ordered directly.
"Stop. Everyone stop."
Young Steward Zhao then ordered the men to stop the competition.
Li An nodded slightly, and the petty official and Young Steward Zhao beside him quickly ordered them to count the remaining corn cobs and calculate how much each person had processed. Those that were only processed half of the corn cobs were not considered processed.
It took some time to count the corn cobs. However, if there were a lot of people, it would not take much time. They just needed to count them in groups.
"Assistant Minister Li, the result is out. Except for the hand-crank corn threshing tool that processed 200 corn cobs, the remaining two machines processed 195 and 189 corn cobs respectively. As for the other hand-crank corn threshing tools, the most processed 45 corn cobs and the least processed 34 corn cobs. The difference is about five times."
A petty official reported the result.
"An average difference of five times. In my expectation, this difference is very good. One person can do the work of five people. In this way, 80% of the labor force can be saved, which can greatly alleviate the labor shortage in the capital."
Ang Lee said with satisfaction.
Ang Lee was of course very satisfied with the efficiency of five times. This efficiency was not just a little bit. It was a big improvement. With this powerful tool, the efficiency of corn threshing could be greatly improved. This made the next corn threshing machine less urgent. In this way, Ang Lee could concentrate more time to study other machines. This hand-crank corn threshing tool could be used for a long time. After this hand-crank corn threshing tool became popular, it would not be too late to introduce a corn threshing machine.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. This small tool is really ingenious. Not only can it solve the problem of corn threshing, but it is also not expensive. Ordinary blacksmiths can know how to make it after thinking about it a little. However, our blacksmiths can make it better. We have special machines that produce the best results."
The petty official said.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "See? These parts are very important. If they are not well made, it will affect the efficiency of the hand-crank corn threshing machine. Therefore, we can mass produce these parts and sell them. As for the other parts, we don't have to pay so much attention to them. Let them find their own way to solve it. I believe these ordinary blacksmiths can solve it."
For the production of the hand-crank corn threshing tool, Ang Lee felt that the lower the cost, the better. The mass production of the core parts could reduce the cost of the individual parts. For the less important parts, some metal scrap or even wood could be used. There was no need to waste limited resources. Therefore, the non-core parts would not be produced.
After a discussion, Ang Lee said, "I'll give you one of the three tools. The other two will be taken away and prepared to be popularized. In the future, all the corn threshing workshops in the capital will use this hand-crank tool."
"Thank you, Assistant Minister Li. Thank you, Assistant Minister Li."
The little housekeeper of the Zhao Family thanked him excitedly. He naturally had no reason to be unhappy about obtaining such a good tool. Moreover, he could boast about it in front of his boss and take all the credit for obtaining such a good tool himself.
After returning to the R&D Center, Ang Lee gave the task of popularizing the hand-crank corn threshing machine to a petty official and let him be fully responsible for this matter. Ang Lee began to draw the blueprint of the glove weaving machine. This kind of machine was not difficult, but it was too trivial. There were too many parts in it. In order to ensure a certain degree of reliability, it must be carefully designed. It must consider the parts that were easy to be damaged and optimize these parts to a certain extent.
Textile machines such as gloves were different from machines that made parts. The biggest problem with this kind of machine was that it was easy to break the thread. Imagine, when the fragile cotton thread passed through the metal machine, would it break because of the friction with the metal machine? Or it would not be easy to grind the wool? If the cotton thread was cut by the machine when passing through the machine, it would be impossible to weave gloves. This was very important. The lower the probability of breaking the thread, the better. The lower the probability of breaking the thread, the more popular the textile machine would be.
Although the reason for breaking the cotton thread was not necessarily the machine's fault, it could also be the quality of the cotton thread itself. However, with a good textile machine, even if the cotton thread's quality was not good enough, there would not be too many problems with breaking the thread. On the other hand, with a poor textile machine, even if the cotton thread's quality was very good, it would often cause problems with breaking the thread.
Workers who had done textile work were very clear in their hearts how annoying this problem was. Especially when there was a large area of broken thread, it was even more terrible. It could tire the workers to death.
Although textile was a light industry, for the workers, it was not light at all, especially in factories where the machines were not very good. These garbage machines would often cause the threads to break, and then the workers would be very busy. If one was broken, they would have to reconnect it. If one was broken, they would have to reconnect it. If one was broken, they would have to reconnect it. Of course, if ten thousand were broken, they would have to reconnect ten thousand. Each thread was not so easy to reconnect. In the case of many broken threads, it could really annoy people to death. They even had to work overtime, otherwise, they really could not complete such a heavy task.
Because of the heavy workload in the textile industry, there was a lot of overtime in this industry. It was a common occurrence. It was not unusual to work overtime every day for a month. If such measures were not taken, it was impossible to complete the set work. If the number of people was increased, the operating cost of the factory would greatly increase. For workshop owners who valued profits more than their lives, this was obviously intolerable. Therefore, they could only use the method of overtime.
In Li An's previous life, he had worked in a textile factory. Moreover, it was different from factory to factory. Due to the difference in the quality of the machines, the degree of tiredness differed from factory to factory. A better factory would have a female worker in charge of twenty machines, while a worse factory would only have a female worker in charge of ten machines. Moreover, they would be extremely busy. This was clearly the difference in the quality of the machines.
The probability of disconnection in a good machine was lower, and a bad machine would frequently cause the silk thread to break, which greatly increased the workload of the female worker. The number of machines that a person could be responsible for was naturally limited. On the other hand, the advanced machines abroad could even achieve the level of a female worker responsible for one hundred machines. This gap was not small. This was the difference caused by the machine level.
When Li An was designing the glove knitting machine, he naturally placed the control of thread breakage at the top of his priority list. This was because the control of thread breakage was the most important thing. Being able to control the probability of thread breakage was very important for the efficiency of the machine.
There were only a few reasons for disconnection. One was that the cotton thread was not strong enough, and it was easy to break in the process of the machine pulling. Another was that the vibration of the machine was too big, causing the thread to break. In addition, the machine parts that were in direct contact with the cotton thread were also very important. If these small parts were too sharp, it was easy to cut the cotton thread. Therefore, when designing these parts, the problem of friction must be considered. It must be avoided to have stiff water chestnuts. It was extremely important to ensure that the machine parts that were in direct contact with the cotton thread were all smooth and without water chestnuts.
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