I was busy for a month before the Lunar New Year, but now I'm suddenly free and have nothing to do.
As soon as Li Yue'e called, she stuffed a handful of melon seeds into her pocket and followed her out.
Lin Ying couldn't be like them, gossiping about everyone's business. But listening to them talk was quite lively.
However, a few days later, Li Yue'e's family also returned to their hometown, and Lin Ying stopped going out.
Sitting at home was boring, and Lin Ying thought about how she would need to clear the land after the snow melted. Rather than staying idle, she decided to try making some farm tools.
The reclaimed land wasn't Lin Ying's family's vegetable garden; it was just a small patch of farmland.
Judging from Zhao Qinghuai's words, he clearly wanted the troops to be self-sufficient.
However, they didn't give much to many people.
Before clearing land, it needs to be tilled. With current farming conditions, tilling machines are all located on farms, so it's impossible to do it here.
There's a lot of land to cultivate, but a shortage of manpower. So we have to find ways to improve farm tools to increase efficiency while reducing fatigue.
With something to do, Lin Ying became happy every day again.
She first went to Zhang Shanlin and asked him to take her to the farmers' homes to see the farming tools used by the surrounding farmers. After returning, she began to study them.
Lin Ying understood that there are generally three types of farmland cultivation nowadays. One is mechanized farming, and if they used that, Lin Ying wouldn't need to think about innovation. Unfortunately, that's not realistic. The entire farm only has one tractor. It's simply not their turn.
The second method is digging with a shovel. This is not only laborious but also slow. One person can't even dig one acre of land in a day.
The third method is to use a plow. Farmers say that using a plow to pull the land is much faster. Having oxen is ideal, as they can pull the plow directly. If there are no oxen, then people pull it by hand.
If there are many people and few plows, one person pulls and another pushes. If there are few plows and many people, two or three people pull.
Instead of digging with a shovel, Lin Ying turned her attention to the plow.
After asking many questions about plows and plowing techniques, Lin Ying went to town and looked at various farm tools. However, she still couldn't think of a way to lighten her workload.
Unable to come up with a solution, Lin Ying simply put down her pen and paper and went to the villager's house again.
Lin Ying went alone this time, and naturally she didn't forget to bring pastries with her.
As soon as Lin Ying arrived at the village entrance, she saw people drawing water. Watching the villagers turn the waterwheel and easily lift a bucket of water, Lin Ying suddenly understood.
She didn't go to the villager's house, but quickly ran back home to start drawing.
After that, I started making things at home, tinkering and hammering.
The compound returned to its lively state, and Zhao Qinghuai's Third Regiment had completed its patrol mission; February had ended and March had begun. Lin Ying's tools were finally finished.
Upon seeing Zhao Qinghuai return, Lin Ying couldn't wait to have him join her in testing whether the machine she had made could be used.
Actually, the principle behind this machine is very simple. It uses rollers.
A person is stirring a roller skate at the edge of the field, and the roller skate pulls the string to complete the entire plowing process.
However, the entire plowing process had to be carried out smoothly, so Lin Ying installed a fixed pulley at the line inlet. The rope needed to pass through this pulley to reach the large roller.
In this way, no matter what the line on the pulley looks like, the line and the plow will always remain in a straight line and will not wobble back and forth.
Of course, things are not as simple as they seem.
Unlike the pulley on the wellhead, where the force is downwards and it won't tip over as long as both sides are secured, this force is forwards. If this side isn't stable enough, pulling the pulley will cause it to tip over.
Therefore, the base of this wheel must be stable.
However, if the chassis is made too heavy, it will be difficult to move back and forth.
The first time they went out, the wheel tipped over because they hadn't considered this issue. Later, Lin Ying thought of putting stones underneath it, but unless the stones were large, it would still tip over.
Later, Lin Ying pulled a rope behind the wheel and tied it to a tree, placing stones underneath. This time, the wheel didn't fall over.
However, there are trees everywhere, and you can't just put up a stake everywhere.
It wasn't until Lin Ying herself stood at the back that she suddenly realized what was happening.
There was a need for someone to turn the gears here, so why couldn't she have that person turn them from behind? Because the direction of turning had changed, Lin Ying could only use the gears to change the direction.
Once this realization dawned on Lin Ying, her thinking became much clearer. She no longer limited herself to turning the wheel by hand, but instead used her feet to pedal it, just like a table saw.
Using the principle of a sewing machine, stepping on the pedal rotates the gears, which in turn rotate the pulley. The pulley then pulls the thread.
Because if a person stands on it, the machine won't be pulled down.
To save effort, the wheels and gears must be made larger.
Lin Ying and Zhao Qinghuai carried the machine to an open space. The ground was still frozen, and they were taking advantage of the good weather to test whether the machine could be made easier without tipping over.
This wasn't the first time Lin Ying had tried it. When everyone saw Lin Ying come out with something again, they all followed behind to watch and join in the fun.
Zhang Shanlin happened to be off work this time. Seeing how lively it was, he came over as well.
Lin Ying supported Li from behind while Zhao Qinghuai stepped on the pedals in front. The moment the gears turned, because the ground was ice, they didn't pierce the ice but instead slid out a section.
Lin Ying instinctively pulled on the plow, but to prevent the rope from breaking, she had to loosen her grip a little.
However, because the ground was slippery, she was also pulled forward.
This force is more than enough to pull the plow.
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