Chapter 126 The First Step of an Engineer (Third update, please subscribe)

From late at night to early morning, Li Qingen had been drawing the blueprints at his desk. When the sky was about to brighten, he stretched himself, his bloodshot eyes full of longing, staring at the blueprints and talking to himself.

"The good life of the Li family depends on you!"

After saying this, he had a simple breakfast and hurried to the factory. Along the way, looking at the vacant space on the side of the road, Li Qingen couldn't help but think.

"Maybe by then, I can buy a piece of land here and build three houses. If bricks are not enough, wood will do..."

Have a home of your own!

This is the dream of most people, but it is just a dream now.

But every day, Li Qingen feels that he is getting closer and closer to this dream.

His wife, who worked in a garment factory, could earn six yuan a month. Together with Li Qingen's ten yuan a month salary, they lived comfortably. After all, the three children ate lunch at school. The couple could save about twelve yuan a month.

Now all they want is to move out of the dormitory as soon as possible. It is too inconvenient for a family to live in one room. However, they cannot afford to buy a house at the moment. In fact, even if they can afford it, they cannot sell it - the houses they live in are allocated by the company. Workers live in dormitories, and if they live as a family, they can live in the same room if they are taken care of.

However, if you want to buy a house, you have to save enough money first!

It’s almost there, it’s almost there… If this invention, yes, it’s an invention, is adopted by the company, there will definitely be a reward! With the reward, we will definitely be able to buy land and build a house!

When he arrived at the factory, Li Qingen went straight to the red building of the factory, where all the foreign teachers in the factory worked, and knocked on the door of the office of Mr. Storm, the factory's chief engineer.

"Mr. Chief Engineer."

After entering the office, Li Qingen saluted.

"Lee, what's going on?"

Storm had some impression of this studious Chinese man.

"Mr. Chief Engineer, this is what I have in mind. I have an idea for improving the rifle. Here is the blueprint I drew. I would like to ask Mr. Chief Engineer for some advice."

Although Li Qingen spoke very politely, Storm said it impatiently.

"Improve the rifle? You..."

Looking at Li Qingen, Storm's tone was full of suspicion.

"The rifles we produce are all very good products. They don't need to be improved at all. Besides, you are just a worker. Designing weapons is the job of engineers. Li, there are still fifteen minutes until the working time. I hope you don't waste your working time. Do you understand?"

Faced with the chief engineer's refusal, Li Qingen still tried to persuade him.

"Mr. Chief Engineer, please take a look. I'm talking about the P1853 rifle. It has been completely improved..."

Before he could finish, Storm said.

"Li, you Chinese have a saying, 'not doing your job properly'. You are just a worker! Do you understand? Okay, you can leave now!"

After being kicked out, Li Qingen stood there, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

"It's a joke that a guy with braids can design weapons!"

The chief engineer's shouting reached the corridor, making his face turn pale and blue. He clenched his fists and muttered.

"How, how could this happen... Why, why..."

Although the anger was burning in his heart, Li Qingen still took a few deep breaths and talked to himself.

"Why don't you believe it? Why? Why do you think we can't do it? You foreigners can do it, so why can't we..."

While talking to himself, Li Qingen glanced at the drawings at hand and thought to himself.

"If you don't believe me, I'll go find my boss. Yes, I'll find my boss!"

As a worker, it was not difficult to meet the boss. After all, Spencer could carry the rifle he invented into the White House to meet Lincoln. He just had to wait in line. Moreover, when Zhu Xianhai learned that a worker had an invention and presented it to the company, his curiosity was aroused.

A worker's invention!

This is the first time I've heard of this, so of course I want to meet such a person.

"…The 1853 rifle has a long range and great power, but a slow rate of fire, while the Spencer rifle has a fast rate of fire, but a short range and low power. Both weapons currently used by the security team have their shortcomings. My idea is that if we use metal fixed bullets on the basis of the P1853 rifle and modify it into a breech-loading rifle, wouldn't it be able to overcome its shortcomings?"

While explaining, Li Qingen pointed to the drawings and introduced its concept.

Looking at the drawings drawn by Li Qingen, Zhu Xianhai said.

“Is this your design?”

"Yes, Boss. My idea is to remove the original percussion cap at the rear of the barrel and install this valve receiver. It will become a valve rifle. The firing pin is placed in the valve at an angle. After the trigger is pulled, the hammer rotates to hit the firing pin, thereby firing the bullet. Although the valve rifle is a single-shot rifle, it can automatically eject shells. As long as the valve is opened, the shell will be ejected by the "ejector". Its modification cost is very low, but it can fire metal fixed ammunition. In this way, the firing rate can be greatly increased. I estimate that it can be at least doubled."

Maybe even twice as much!

Zhu Xianhai said to himself in his heart.

From the drawings, Zhu Xianhai could see that his invention was completely different from the Schneider design used by the British to improve the Enfield P1853 rifle in history. Structurally, it was a bit like the American valve rifle.

What is the biggest feature of this thing? Of course, it saves money. The production of this thing can use a large number of P1853 muzzle-loading rifle parts, which can save a lot of money. After this modification, the combat rate of fire can be increased to 8-15 rounds per minute, which is more than double the firepower density of 4 rounds per minute in the previous muzzle-loading era...

Historically, there are records of Americans using similar valve rifles in the Mexican-American War. As for the similar Schneider rifle, there was still a division of the Japanese army using it until the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

Although this thing is only of a transitional nature and will definitely be eliminated in the end, Zhu Xianhai is pleased that it was designed by a Chinese. Although its structure looks a bit rough and there is room for further improvement, it is a good start after all!

Looking at Li Qingen in front of him with a smile on his face, Zhu Xianhai was truly amazed by the wisdom of his compatriot. Similar improvements in European and American countries were made after the Civil War, but the middle-aged man in front of him was several years ahead of them. More importantly, not to mention that he had never received any education in weapons design, he only had a superficial understanding of basic mechanics.

"very good!"

After thinking about it, Zhu Xianhai said.

"Well, I'm very optimistic about this invention, and it's definitely very promising. Although there's no physical product yet, you should be rewarded just for this idea. What kind of reward do you hope to get?"

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(End of this chapter)