Chapter 946 Preparation for pouring concrete
The engineering command unanimously decided to pour the bridge piers, because digging pre-placed wells and building dams every day, and not seeing anything, made them feel that the day when the project was completed was a bit far away, and they might not be able to build this bridge in this lifetime.
This situation was a huge blow to the entire engineering team, especially the captured slaves, who could not even see the completion of the bridge and the hope of being acquitted.
If the bridge piers could be poured now, and there was a bridge pier standing there, it would at least give everyone a little confidence and let them know that their efforts were not in vain.
Jiao Ce also agreed with their plan, so everyone began to prepare before pouring the bridge piers.
The first thing needed to pour the bridge piers was a large amount of sand and gravel, but there was no suitable source of sand nearby. The sand used to make concrete must not be sea sand, because sea sand contains salt and high alkalinity, which will destroy the structure of concrete.
Therefore, after everyone's discussion, everyone unanimously decided to pump sand from the two estuaries of Liuyang River and Qingshui River on Qiongzhou Island.
There are a lot of river sand resources at the estuaries of the two rivers, and this is also a freshwater area. Only two sand pumping equipment are needed to pump up all the sand in these rivers.
Jiao Ce happened to bring two high-horsepower water pumps for pumping sand. He only needed to load them onto two ships and send a few sand-carrying ships to follow, so that he could continuously transport freshwater river sand to the bridge construction site. Moreover, such work could properly clean up the silted waterways of the two rivers, which was a two-birds-with-one-
stone project. It might take ten days from the departure to the transportation of the first batch of sand for this sand pumping project, and they could just use this time to solve the problem of stone on the spot.
The most used material in concrete is crushed stone. Fortunately, there are many blasted boulders in the daily sandbag blasting place on the construction site. These stones can be crushed and used to make concrete.
Among the equipment Jiao Ce brought, there was a stone crusher like this. However, due to the huge size of the stone crusher, all of them were disassembled into parts and shipped in bulk. Otherwise, if there was a whole stone crusher, they probably didn't have a suitable crane or a professional port to lift it to the shore. Even if it was lifted to the shore, there was no car that big enough to pull it away.
At the temporary dock, the interns who followed Jiao Ce were holding a list of parts and directing the slaves to move the parts. Although these were just parts, any blade they took out weighed hundreds of pounds, and the slaves still had a hard time moving them. There were hundreds of blades like this, some of which were used normally on the machine, and some were spare parts for replacement.
After all the parts were transported to the construction site, the headquarters sent people to build a shed on it to protect the machine from rain and rust. Jiao Ce personally led people to assemble it for two days before assembling this big guy.
On the day when the machine was installed, the people in the command center came to watch again. This tall stone crusher, which looked like a two-story building, looked very majestic. The steam boiler next to it that provided power to the machine was also very huge.
Next to the boiler, the interns who followed Jiao Ce had already begun to direct the local craftsmen to burn the furnace, and soon the air pressure of the boiler was burned to the standard for starting the machine.
"Master Jiao, start it quickly. This is the first time I have seen such a big iron thing. It is really hard to imagine how terrifying it will be when this thing is turned." Among the onlookers, Zhuping stood at the front and said.
"Well, then start the machine. You guys follow and learn well. First, turn on the three-level knife roller, then turn on the conveyor, and then feed the stone into it." Jiao Ce immediately directed several interns and said.
"Okay, teacher, don't worry!" Several people agreed and started the operation.
First, open the valve that delivers steam from the boiler to allow high-pressure steam to enter the cylinder of the steam engine. The steam pushes the piston to reciprocate and do work, and then drives the connecting rod and gravity flywheel. The machine soon started to turn and a huge rumbling noise was heard.
Moving the primitive gearbox composed of some huge gears, the three-layer knife roller system of the entire stone crusher immediately started to rotate and began to make a humming idling sound.
At this time, the conveyor belt welded with angle steel was started, and stones could be put into it.
After the machine was fully started, Jiao Ce said to Zhuping and others, "Elder Zhu, now you can let them fill it with stones. Just put all the stones in the basket made of iron bars at the back."
"Okay, start working!" Zhuping also shouted, and the slaves quickly pushed the cart to move. Rocks as big as basketballs were put into the iron basket. The conveyor belt immediately took these stones to a high place and then threw them into the highest layer of the first-level knife roller.
The knife roller is composed of two sets of huge steel sheets, each of which is ten centimeters thick. The two knife rollers bite each other, and no matter what is thrown in, it will be crushed instantly.
As soon as the rock fell into the cutter roller, there were sounds of "crackling" and "banging". That was the sound of the rock being crushed, and the sound of the gravel splashing onto the surrounding steel plates.
The basketball-sized stone went in and immediately became the size of a fist and fell from below. Then it passed through a vibrating screen made of woven iron bars, which transported the stone to the next level and also screened out some gravel that was too small and put it into the next layer of screens. Stone powder was also screened out in the process.
The second-level cutter roller was a model smaller. Not only was the diameter slightly reduced, but the thickness was also much smaller. The fist-sized stone was thrown in again and then directly turned into a small stone the size of an egg. After that, there were two layers of vibrating screens. The stone bounced slightly on the vibrating screen and then entered the last level of cutter roller.
The last level of the knife roller has a smaller diameter, but the number of knife rollers has increased directly to four, and the thickness of each blade has become 2.5 cm thick. When an egg-sized stone goes in, it will become the size of a small walnut or date when it comes out again. Stones of this size can be used to mix concrete.
The broken stones fell from the knife rollers, rolled to the discharge port through a slide made of welded iron plates, and then quickly piled up to form a small mountain of gravel.
Many bigwigs in the command center, as well as the surrounding craftsmen and slaves, were all stunned by the sight of such a domineering machine.
To be honest, such a huge monster made of steel is shocking enough just to be placed there and looked up at it, not to mention that it is still running and showing strong work efficiency.
If you want to crush these stones into such small size by manpower, I am afraid that it will take a lot of people working day and night to produce so many. The key is that you can't guarantee that all the stones broken by manpower are almost the same size, but this huge machine can do it.
"Master Jiao, this stone crusher is really amazing. Is it also made by your institute?" A master craftsman in the command center couldn't help asking.
"Yes, this is a product of the Power Research Institute, but it is the idea and design ideas proposed by the leader. We just do some hard work to turn the leader's ideas into reality." Jiao Ce said modestly.
The working principle of the stone crusher, the entire workflow, and some design indicators, such as the need for three-stage knife rollers, the size of each stage, and the use of gear speed change to control the speed of the three-stage knife rollers, etc., all these design ideas were proposed by Luo Chong.
However, Luo Chong didn't move his hands. From drawing drawings to making parts molds, to the final parts processing and assembly, these tasks of the stone crusher were indeed completed by the institute. Luo Chong also did this to train their abilities.
When this group of researchers gradually become familiar with the research and development process of the machine and the principle of mechanical drive, I believe that one day in the future, when Luo Chong casually says what he wants to do, these people can design and manufacture a corresponding machine by themselves, and then his goal will be achieved.
"That's also amazing. The leader just said an idea, and you can make such an amazing thing. You and the leader are both amazing!" Someone next to him continued to praise.
"Master Xiao Jiao, is this the first stone crusher of our Han tribe? If so, we must commemorate it well." Zhu Ping also asked next to him.
"No, this is already the fourth stone crusher of our Han tribe. Each one is slightly different. The first one was used in the iron mine of Xingang County, which is specially used to process ore. The second and third ones were placed in the cement plant, which is the big one that needs stone crushing. The ballast used for laying railways in Xingang County was also processed by the stone crusher of the cement plant.
"At present, our research institute is still continuing to produce stone crushers. When I came, I heard that they were to be equipped for the coking plant and the Dongxin County coalfield. "Hearing Zhuping's question, Jiao Ce immediately introduced the situation of the stone crusher.
"So so many have been built? Our tribe is really amazing. I thought this one on our construction site was the first one!" Zhuping said with emotion.
"How is it possible? If it has not been actually used and tested, the chief will not allow the sample to be sent here directly, otherwise it will be impossible to repair it if it breaks." Jiao Ce said, shaking his head.
"Well, Master Jiao, you see we now have crushed stone, and the sand has been sent to the ship, what do we need to do next?" Another craftsman in the command team asked.
"Well, at present, we still have to determine which pier to cast. My opinion is that we should start with the three groups of piers on the shore, and then extend forward step by step, casting the piers while casting the bridge deck, so that it will be more convenient for us to transport construction materials forward later. What do you think?" Jiao Ce first suggested.
"We don't understand this reinforced concrete thing, we just listen to you. "Zhu Ping took the lead in expressing his opinion, and the others followed suit.
"Well, then we will start from the nearest pier, so that it will be more convenient to pour. Now we have only three problems to solve.
"The first is the water source. Mixing concrete requires a lot of fresh water. This is for you to solve. I can provide a small steam water pump and the corresponding operators.
"The second is to assemble the two steam concrete mixers. I will lead the team to complete this.
"The third is to weave the steel keel. Concrete needs steel bars as support to ensure the best performance in the position. Who will do this? It's best to find someone who can build bamboo houses. I think this thing may be similar to the structure of bamboo houses." Jiao Ce said the preparations that need to be done one by one.
"Leave the fresh water to me. At most, it's a matter of digging a few more wells. Although there are no rivers on the surface here, the groundwater is still sufficient. Sweet water wells can be dug in the living area, but it's a bit troublesome to transport it here. We may need to build some special water pumping trucks." A big man in charge of logistics in the command group immediately said.
"It doesn't have to be that troublesome. You can have someone dig a deep well, then use a water pump to pump water up, dig a canal directly to where we mix concrete, and then dig a pool to store water. This is much simpler than building a water pump." Jiao Ce immediately suggested.
"Okay, then I'll listen to you and dig a reservoir and a canal." The big boss in charge of logistics also agreed immediately.
"Then I'll be responsible for erecting the steel bars. Didn't Master Jiao say that that thing is similar to erecting a bamboo house? I'm afraid no one among us is better at building a bamboo house than me?" Zhuping also immediately took on the job of tying the steel cage. No one refuted what he said. After all, Zhuping was the elder who was responsible for construction in the Xin tribe in the past, and the Xin tribe was best at building bamboo houses. If he didn't take care of this job, who would?
"Okay, now that these three have been solved, let me talk about the last one. I forgot to mention that we still need a lot of wooden boards, wooden pillars, bamboo is also OK, as well as nails and hemp ropes, mainly to build a mold outside the steel cage. Who can do this?" Jiao Ce finally proposed a task and said.
"I'll do this. I've always been responsible for all kinds of carpentry on the construction site. Just some wooden boards, leave it to me. By the way, are there any requirements for the wooden boards, such as how thick, wide, and long they are?" A big man in charge of carpentry also immediately took the task and said.
"There are no rigid requirements for this, because I haven't poured so much concrete. Anyway, there is only one thing, that is, the wood should be dryer, and it must be hardwood, and it can't be deformed casually. You know this, otherwise if the mold changes, then the finished product will definitely be deformed." Jiao Ce thought about it, and then he said the precautions that he felt should be prone to problems.
"Okay, no problem, dry hardwood boards that don't deform, I'll take this task, and you can come to me if there are any problems." The big carpenter immediately patted his chest and said.
As a result, the last task was also taken up, and everyone immediately began to work separately, striving to start work on the day the sand was transported back in ten days.
(End of this chapter)
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