Chapter 499: Liter and Scale (Please vote and subscribe)

If you want to make a scale, you must first set a weight standard. In the past, there has never been a set of standard weights, because there has never been a suitable material, but now it is different. Luo Chong already has a bag of gold in his hand.

That bag of gold sand was picked up from the riverbed downstream when Luo Chong led his tribesmen to Wuxia to control the flood. Unexpectedly, it is really useful now.

The advantage of using gold to make weights is that it is not easy to wear out. Other metal materials, such as bronze or steel, are easy to rust, which will change the weight of the weight.

But gold is different. Among non-ferrous metals, gold has the most stable chemical properties. It cannot cause any reaction when it comes into contact with ordinary things. Luo Chong also decided to use gold to make weights based on this characteristic of gold.

First, make a simple scale, then make a ceramic measuring cup with scales according to the length standard of the Han tribe to measure the volume of water. Finally, determine the weight of water in different volumes based on the volume and weight ratio of clean water at room temperature.

Finally, pour water of different weights on one side of the scale, gradually add gold sand to the other side, balance the two sides, and then melt the gold sand of corresponding weight into a gold nugget, so that a set of standard weight weights is made.

With this set of gold weights, it can be used to make a scale for weighing weight.

When it comes to the production of scales, this is another problem. Today's scales can generally be divided into two categories, one is the scale, and the other is the pressure scale. For example, the kind with a tray and a pointer and a dial to display the weight is a pressure scale. It has many variants, and the common modern electronic scale is also a type of pressure scale.

However, although the pressure scale is relatively simple to operate and identify weight, the production cost is very high. More importantly, Luo Chong does not know the technical principles inside. He has not studied this thing, so he can only try to make the most primitive balance scale, that is, the old scale bar that has basically been eliminated.

The technical content of this thing is very low. Anyone who has learned the principle of lever can basically understand it. In fact, the combination of the scale bar and the weight uses the principle that the longer the force arm is, the more effort it saves when the fulcrum remains unchanged. As long as this is understood, it is not difficult to make it with the current technological level of the Han tribe.

First of all, it is a solid wood scale bar. The harder the material of this scale bar, the better. Otherwise, it will not be easily deformed. Otherwise, it will be inaccurate if it is bent after a long time of use. Therefore, for this thing, the material of the scale bar must be found with the mentality of preferring to break rather than bend.

Of course, Luo Chong himself has no experience. With an experimental attitude, he chose three materials: fir, oak, and the spikes of the man-eating tree, and then made a few of each. He will compare and experiment with which one to use in the future.

Cut the scale bar into a suitable thin cylindrical shape, then drill holes, wrap the two ends of the scale bar with copper to prevent cracking and wear, then install bronze hooks and square rings for carrying, finally tie ropes for carrying, and then hang a one-pound cast iron weight.

After all these are done, the next step is the most critical division of scales.

But this is also very simple. First, put a weight of the same weight on the hook or tray, which is the end that carries the object, and then move the right weight on the scale bar to a position that is balanced with the left side, and mark this place. This is the one-pound position, then add 20 pounds to the left tray, and pull the right weight out again until both sides are balanced, and then make a 20-pound mark.

After drawing these two marks, use a compass and ruler to divide the section of the scale bar between one jin and twenty jin into 19 equal parts, representing one to 20 jin respectively. As for the distance from one jin to zero, just push forward an equal distance according to the length of each jin on the scale bar.

After marking the large scale, divide the distance between each jin into 10 equal parts, each representing one liang. In terms of the system, Luo Chong also chose the decimal system that he was familiar with before, and the decimal system is also easier to calculate.

One liang is 50 grams, one jin is 500 grams, and one kilogram is 1 kilogram. It is still a familiar formula and a familiar taste.

But this is not the end. Because the weight needs to be adjusted back and forth on the scale bar, the scale on it wears out quickly. In order to prevent the scale from being worn off, the ancients came up with a solution of hitting copper nails on the scale bar and using them to mark the scale.

Luo Chong also continued this method, and this technology was still available in the Han tribe, that is, metal wire drawing technology. First, the copper strip is drawn into a thin wire, not too thin, with a diameter of one millimeter, and then a small hand drill is used to drill holes on the scale of the scale bar, and then the copper wire is dipped in glue and inserted. Finally , the excess part is cut off with a knife, and then the copper wire is flattened with the back of the knife.

In this way, a portable balance scale with a minimum unit of one liang (50 grams) and a maximum unit of ten kilograms (20 catties) is ready.

After having the first scale, we can copy a large number of new scales according to the various standards of this experimental product. However, this kind of thing is not very useful at present. After all, private transactions are basically zero at present. Therefore, what the Han tribe actually needs most is a large unit scale for public use.

It is mainly used to weigh things weighing more than 100 kilograms, which is used when collecting taxes or counting storage.

However, this is only a small problem. Large unit scales are necessary, but they are not the most important, because the calculation unit for collecting grain taxes must be volume, not weight.

The purpose of doing this is to prevent people from cheating when paying taxes, because the newly harvested grain is wet and at least twice as heavy as the dried grain. If someone just harvested the grain and handed it in before it was dried, the weight would be too much water.

This is a very serious problem. It is not just as simple as tax evasion, but the grain with too high moisture content cannot meet the storage standards at all. If it is not dried and packed into the warehouse, it will soon become moldy and deteriorate, not only spoiling itself, but also contaminating other grains around. If such a thing really happens, it will be too tragic for the grain reserves of the Han tribe.

Therefore, in the future, grain taxes will be collected according to volume. Regardless of whether the people have dried the grain before, the officials in charge of storage will have to dry it again to prevent the stored grain from getting moldy.

Correspondingly, the instruments for measuring volume have also become liters and buckets. The unit of liter is still 1000 cubic centimeters, which is one cubic decimeter. One bucket is equal to 125 liters, or 1/8 cubic meter.

Luo Chong designed the shape of the bucket to be a pyramid with the tip cut off. It is composed of four trapezoidal wooden boards, with the big end facing up and the small end facing down. The small opening at the bottom has a pull-out iron plate, and it must be used with a wooden frame for the bucket.

When calculating the grain, first plug the iron plate at the small opening below, then pour the grain from above. After it is full, just take a bag underneath to catch it, pull out the iron plate below, and the grain will automatically leak in, so this bucket can also be regarded as a funnel.

After solving the calculation problem of weight and volume, the next thing left was currency reserves. There was another more critical issue, which was the pricing of goods. The evaluation of prices could be said to be a major social issue. If it was not done well, it would affect future development. Therefore, Luo Chong did not dare to be careless and began to rack his brains to think about how to set prices, as well as the problems that might be encountered in the future and the corresponding solutions.

(End of this chapter)