Chapter 555 Calcium carbide lamp (please vote and subscribe)

The external business of the "Great Han Empire Bank" is mainly public business. For example, if a workshop is going to pay wages at the beginning of the month, then take the slip to withdraw money, or how much the products are sold, excluding the money for wages, the remaining profits must also be deposited in the bank.

For the private business of the people, it does not support current/dead deposits, or remittances, etc., and can only exchange the amount at the bank. There is no other function at present, so there is no need for too many banks for the time being, anyway, there is not much money per capita now.

According to the architectural style of the entire city, Ruyang County is undoubtedly the best one, because it has the most types of buildings, the most complete functions, and a unique style. If you compare it, Ruyang City is like a modern city with all kinds of things, and Hanyang City is like an old community, all of which are exactly the same model houses, just like they are copied and pasted, dull, lifeless, regular, and without any characteristics.

Although in the eyes of other tribes, it is already the best house in the world,

but compared with other cities in the Han tribe, Hanyang City, as the earliest built city, has actually shown "oldness".

However, Luo Chong was not unhappy or blamed himself for this, because every newly built city would have a new look and a more perfect structure, which means that the Han tribe has been making progress, and the emergence of those distinctive private buildings means that the tribesmen have formed their own unique aesthetics and more advanced construction technology.

The tribesmen began to have their own ideas and learned to create by themselves. They are no longer muddle-headed puppets. This is progress in thought.

Shu Da accompanied Luo Chong and introduced the development of Ruyang County to Luo Chong as they walked. From his words, it can be seen that this guy is still quite proud. Although Ruyang City is only one city, it is four or five times larger than Hanyang City. It can match the three or four markets in Liuyang County. It is the largest single city, and the population is not small, now it is nearly 10,000.

It is precisely because of such a large population that the various demands here are huge, so it is also a relatively developed place in terms of commerce. The various bamboo products, animal skins from Liuyang County, linen from Hanyang County, copperware and ironware, tools and farm implements all need to be transported from outside, some by water and some by land. Coupled with the circulation of currency, this city has gradually become a key city.

The two came to the silkworm farm in the city, as well as the silk reeling workshop and brocade weaving factory next to it.

This is a one-stop production line connected together, from raw material production to spinning and weaving, you can see it here.

When the person in charge, Sancho, saw Luo Chong coming, he also began to introduce the situation here to Luo Chong.

"Chief, we now have white mulberry silkworms and green chestnut silkworms. We can also reel out three kinds of silk, two pure silk and one mixed silk. We can weave more cloth. There are several kinds of different thicknesses, as well as plain and patterned ones. We can now produce them all year round."

"Well, how are you doing with the popularization of silkworm breeding that I mentioned? Are there any residents raising silkworms at home now?" Luo Chong looked at her and asked.

"Yes, yes, the governor of Shu County has helped us a lot. He first encouraged the tribesmen to grow mulberry trees at home, and then organized people to take turns to work in our silkworm house. This way, not only can they earn some wages to supplement their family income, but they can also learn skills while working. After raising two seasons of white silkworms, they can graduate.

Then the governor asked the clerks to teach people how to build silkworm houses. After that, the tribesmen who raise silkworms can come here to buy silkworm seeds and take them home to raise them themselves. After the cocoons are formed, they can sell the cocoons to us. The rest is for us to reel silk and weave cloth ourselves." Sancho continued to explain.

"Yes, Chief, our Han tribe lacks craftsmen. We don't have enough manpower to build silk reeling machines and looms. Otherwise, the people can reel silk at home and sell the finished silk directly to the workshop. Although this is a little troublesome for them, they can sell more money. In the future, we still need to teach more craftsmen." Shu Da also added.

"We can only do this slowly. For the time being, it is already very good to let the people raise silkworms and sell cocoons by themselves. If we want every household to have a spinning machine and a loom, our tribe cannot do it for the time being. Let's first popularize the technology of raising silkworms. We have to eat one bite at a time."

Hearing them say this, Luo Chong could only spread his hands helplessly. Everything can be done quickly, but talents must be cultivated slowly. It is said that it takes three years to learn a craftsman. It is not so easy to learn the skills of a craftsman.

For example, carpenters need a solid foundation in mathematics. Otherwise, if they can't even read a ruler and addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, how can they be carpenters? For some mortise and tenon structures, they need to learn three-view geometry, angles, pi and other issues. Otherwise, they can't make a bucket, basin, wheel or anything like that. How can they make a circle without knowing pi? Carpenters are not just about sawing wood. Those who can only saw wood are at most carpenters, not "craftsmen". Those who can be called "craftsmen" in the tribe are all the first-generation workers in the Han tribe.

Especially for the profession of carpenter, those who have participated in the research and development of machinery in the Han tribe are all big guys. Waterwheel mills, windmill linkages, wooden levers, connecting rods, gears, pulleys, if you want to make these things, you must not only know mathematics, but also understand some physical mechanics. Although they didn't understand it at the beginning, Luo Chong was also teaching them, and then these top carpenters taught their apprentices. This requires a process and cannot be achieved overnight.

After a day of inspection, Luo Chong left directly. Ruyang County was developing well. There was no shortage of winter supplies. There were stocks of food, cloth and animal skins. Luo Chong's support was not needed at all.

Then the next stations were Sitong County and Weishan County. The lake island in Daze should also be visited to select places to build coking plants and coal washing plants. Only with these things can the Han tribe increase steel production. With enough steel, more farm tools and weapons can be made.

There are other things. For example, after having coal and sand, glass can be produced in large quantities. With glass, more other good things can be made.

There are also cheaper lighting fixtures. The lighting of the Han tribe is basically supplied by tung oil, but that thing has a strong smell and low production. Most of it is used as wood paint. Ordinary people can't afford it. There are even fewer candles. There is no petroleum to make paraffin wax. The limited insect wax is mostly used in metallurgy to make wax molds. The remaining insect wax is only affordable for Luo Chong and those county governors.

Animal oil? Wouldn't it be delicious if used for eating?

Vegetable oil? Soybean oil and peanut oil are available, but they are not very good for lighting. The brightness is very low. It is OK for emergency lighting, but it is too hard for reading at night.

But if the Han tribe had coal, it would be different. Coal can be used for coking, and coke and calcium oxide can be heated to react into calcium carbide, and calcium carbide can be added to water to produce acetylene (yique sound). This thing is easy to prepare, and the key is the large quantity. Coal and calcium oxide are stones after all, and the cost is so low. Then Luo Chong would have no problem making the calcium carbide gas lamp that has appeared in history, and it can also be popularized by the whole people.

Luo Chong actually wanted to make a kerosene lamp, but then he suddenly found out that he didn't have any oil, so how could he distill kerosene? So he gave up on making kerosene lamps, and could only think of ways to make coal from what he had already found. Finally, he suddenly found that this thing was cheaper than kerosene, and it was easier to make

carbide lamps, which were lamps that used flammable gas such as "acetylene" as fuel, also known as gas lamps. The flame brightness of this gas burning was very high. Except for electric lamps, any lamps that used oil and gas as fuel were not as bright as acetylene lamps, and the temperature of its burning flame was also very high, reaching about 3000 degrees Celsius. In the case of oxygen combustion, the outer flame layer could reach a temperature of more than 3000 degrees. Therefore, in addition to being used to make lamps, it was also often mixed with oxygen and used as an oxygen welding cutting machine, which is what we often call gas welding or wind welding in modern times.

However, it was still a bit difficult to make a gas welding machine. Even the rubber tube was not made, so what could be used as the gas pipe? But it was not impossible to make it forever. When the Han tribe could extract rubber from the Eucommia forest, there would be a solution to the problem.

Acetylene lamps were invented in the 17th century. They were very common before the invention of electric lights. There were many of them in China in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Kerosene lamps are prone to black smoke. When you light a kerosene lamp to do your homework, your nostrils are often smoked black. However, acetylene lamps are not like that. If the gas is not sealed well, it is easy to produce odor. This is caused by the impure content of calcium carbide, so it was also called a "stinky gas" lamp at that time.

Its principle is very simple. It is a chemical principle that calcium carbide will react directly with water to release acetylene, a combustible gas.

The original acetylene lamp is divided into two parts, the upper and lower parts. There is a cylindrical groove on the top, and a few pieces of calcium carbide (calcium carbide) are placed in it. There are some gaps under the calcium carbide box, which is not sealed. Then put the calcium carbide box with gaps in a basin of water, and water penetrates into the calcium carbide box through the gaps, reacting to generate acetylene gas, and then spraying gas from the side or the upper lamp nozzle, and then igniting it with an open flame.

At that time, most acetylene lamps were made of cast iron or copper. They were ugly, large, and very heavy. There were also design flaws. They could not control the penetration rate of water, so there would often be excessive acetylene coming out, which would produce a strong odor and easily explode.

But if Luo Chong, who lived in the era of electricity, were to make an old gadget from hundreds of years ago, he would definitely not make such a mistake again.

The gas lamp that Luo Chong had in mind also had two parts, the upper and lower parts, but the calcium carbide box was placed at the bottom, and a water leak was installed on it. The water addition speed, that is, the speed of the acetylene reaction, was controlled by dripping. In this way, the reaction speed could be strictly controlled, and no excessive gas would be produced. This not only solved the problem of unpleasant odor, but also prevented explosions due to the sudden release of excessive acetylene, and could do better in terms of safety in use.

The craftsmanship can also be made more sealed. Cast iron and copper are too heavy and expensive. However, because of the development of stamped currency, the Han tribe now has metal rolling technology, which can roll out very thin copper and steel plates, or copper and iron sheets. In this way, the stamping equipment can be used to make the shell of the gas lamp, and finally the soldering or gas welding technology can be used to weld the sealed shell. In addition, the glass cover can be windproof and focus light, which can improve the safety and practicality by several levels. It is not only more beautiful, but also convenient for large-scale production.

This thing is not technically difficult, and trial production can be started now. When the coking plant is put into operation, there will be a steady supply of calcium carbide (calcium carbide). Although the Han tribe cannot make every household burn coal now, it can still make every household burn calcium carbide. There are only a few lamps in a family, and at most a few small flames. How many stones can be used.

The most important thing is that calcium carbide can be "charged". Acetylene is a hydrocarbon gas. Calcium carbide (calcium carbide) and water (hydrogen oxide) produce acetylene (carbon hydrogen gas) through contact reaction. According to the law of conservation of mass, the carbon ions of calcium carbide and the hydrogen ions in water merge and escape, so what is left is a compound of calcium and oxygen, that is, "calcium oxide".

What is calcium oxide? Isn't it quicklime or gangue in coal mines? Put it together with coke and heat it again, add carbon elements (charge it), and it will become calcium carbide (calcium carbide) again.

In other words, this is a reusable thing, and what is really consumed is only the carbon in the coal mine.

How cheap (ω)

On the way, thinking about the things that need to be developed in the near future, Luo Chong took his team of followers to Sitong County. Sitong County also started construction at the beginning of this year, but it is a land transportation hub connecting many places, so there is no shortage of various materials. Things coming from any direction are the closest to here, so naturally, they must first meet the needs of Sitong County itself.

Moreover, in order to build Sitong County at the beginning of the year, Luo Chong specially transferred hundreds of slaves to work, so the construction speed was very fast.

Sitong County is a rammed earth city. It is also very large. It is a rectangular city that is long from east to west and short from north to south. It is 500 meters wide and 900 meters long. It is built on the mountain. To the north is a dark forest full of black ironwood. To the south is an east-west road, which is the main land transportation route from Liuyang County to Ruyang and Hanyang counties.

Across the road from this road is a large area of ​​farmland belonging to Sitong County. The irrigation water source is drawn from the confluence of several streams in the forest in the north. In order not to affect land transportation, a secret passage was dug under the road as an artificial underground river for water diversion.

Its shape is actually to dig a well on each side of the road, and then dig the two wells from the bottom of the well to connect them, so that water can be diverted around the road.

(End of this chapter)