Chapter 272 Unicycle
When Jiang Xuan left the Mountain Turtle Tribe, Shanjia still hadn't decided whether to accept the help from the Vine Tribe.
Although the tribesmen were not very well-informed, they were not stupid. They knew that the more tempting the conditions, the greater the price they would have to pay.
What's more, the Mountain Turtle Tribe is cautious by nature, and they don't believe that the Vine Tribe will help them for free.
They prefer equal exchange and feel more secure.
Jiang Xuan didn't force it. He believed that one day the Mountain Turtle Tribe would realize that only by following the footsteps of the Vine Tribe could they become stronger.
After dinner, Jiang Xuan returned to the tribe with a large amount of magical mushrooms obtained from the trade.
…
At the end of April, the warm and humid spring passed quietly, and the hot and rainy summer arrived.
“Huff, huff, huff…”
At noon on April 30th, the sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds and strong winds blew over, bending the treetops. The branches and leaves rubbed against each other in the strong wind, making a rustling sound.
“Boom…”
After a while, the dark clouds became thicker and thicker, and rumbling thunder was heard from the clouds. Snake-shaped lightning flashed back and forth in the clouds.
“Clatter…”
In an instant, heavy rain came from far away, like a waterfall, washing the ground wantonly.
It was raining heavily outside, but Jiang Xuan in the house was not affected much, because the roof tiles had been repaired not long ago, so there was no need to worry about leaks.
He was sitting at the table, concentrating on making a model with clay.
What he made was a unicycle.
In fact, two-wheeled or three-wheeled vehicles are more stable, but they also have higher requirements on road conditions.
To open up a flat road in the primeval forest near the Teng tribe is obviously a huge project that will consume countless manpower and material resources. Given the current productivity of the Teng tribe, it is simply unaffordable.
The unicycle is different.
The wheelbarrow is a very light means of transportation. It can adapt to various complex and difficult terrains and is very suitable for the places where the Teng tribe people live.
Jiang Xuan first pinched the frame, which had two longer handles. There were also two support frames below where the handles were connected to the body of the vehicle.
Finally, he pinched another wheel and glued it under the car body.
The unicycle was very simple to construct. Jiang Xuan quickly finished making it and placed it on the table.
The wheels and two support frames of the wheelbarrow are in the shape of a triangle, which firmly supports the entire vehicle and prevents it from tipping over.
"The most difficult parts of making a wheelbarrow are the wheels and bearings. A carpenter can always make a wheel with some effort, but the bearings are more troublesome."
Jiang Xuan frowned. The common ball bearings in his previous life could not be manufactured with existing industrial technology because they were too precise.
It is really too much to ask the tribal people to manufacture high-precision ball bearings.
But without bearings, having only an axle is not enough. The hole in the center of the wheel will become larger and larger, and the axle will become thinner and thinner. The wheelbarrow will soon be scrapped, and it will be very difficult for the person pushing it.
"What kind of bearings can be manufactured by the current rattan tribe and are strong and durable?"
The first thing Jiang Xuan thought of was the sleeve bearing, which has the simplest manufacturing method.
The so-called sleeve bearing is actually a wide metal ring on the axle, and a metal ring on the center hole of the axle, and lubricating grease is added in it, which can reduce the problem of rapid wear between the wood.
Of course, this type of sleeve bearing is essentially two metal rings damaging each other. Even if lubricating grease is added, it cannot avoid the fate of being worn out.
Moreover, the rattan tribe currently does not have a metal with high hardness, high toughness and wear resistance.
Whether it is bronze or gold, the service life of sleeve bearings is not very ideal.
The most ideal material for sleeve bearings is steel because it has high hardness, stronger toughness than bronze and better wear resistance.
However, it is not easy to produce high-quality steel. With the current smelting technology of the Teng tribe, they can only produce inferior iron that is unusable even if they try their best.
Therefore, Jiang Xuan rejected the plan of manufacturing sleeve bearings. This thing is difficult to push, not durable, and has low load-bearing capacity.
Jiang Xuan continued to think about it, and molded some ball bearing parts out of clay, staring at them, trying to find substitutes.
Jiang Xuan has a bad habit, that is, when he is thinking, his hands will unconsciously pick up some small things to play with.
Sometimes it was a small dead branch, which he broke into many small pieces.
Sometimes it is a small stone that he keeps playing with.
Today, he only had clay on hand, so he pinched a small piece of clay and twisted it constantly.
He thought hard but couldn't think of any alternative solution, so he could only lower his head in distress.
At this time, the small piece of clay had been twisted into strips, which were very round.
He stared at the clay that had turned into strips for a while, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he thought of a way to replace the ball bearings in the bearings.
That is to use cylindrical rollers instead of ball bearings.
First of all, it is much easier to manufacture a cylinder than a ball bearing, and it has a large force-bearing area, so the hardness requirement for the manufacturing material is relatively small.
Jiang Xuan vaguely felt that he seemed to have seen this kind of bearing somewhere in his previous life, but the impression was too vague and he was not sure.
Jiang Xuan immediately rolled some cylindrical rollers out of clay, then pinched the inner and outer sleeves of the bearing, and placed the cylindrical rollers into the gap between the two sleeves.
Although the workmanship was rough and the materials were wrong, Jiang Xuan immediately determined the feasibility of this thing after seeing the model of the cylindrical bearing.
The only thing you need to pay attention to is that a cover plate needs to be added on both sides of the cylindrical bearing to prevent the cylindrical roller from falling out.
However, having a model alone is not enough. We must make a real cylindrical bearing to know whether this thing can be used.
Jiang Xuan carefully took the wheelbarrow model and cylindrical bearing model made of clay and went to the woodworking workshop and smelting workshop.
At this time, the heavy rain had stopped, the dark clouds dispersed, the sky cleared again, and the forest was filled with the fragrance of grass and trees and rich water vapor.
He first went to the woodworking workshop, handed the model of the wheelbarrow to the owner Huai, and explained to him the method of making the wooden wheel.
The main body of a unicycle is not difficult to manufacture, it just requires the use of more mortise and tenon structures.
Since the Teng tribe had bronze tools, making wooden objects with mortise and tenon structures was no longer a difficult task, and they had accumulated a lot of experience.
The manufacture of wheels is a little more troublesome, but the Teng tribe now has tools such as rulers, and Jiang Xuan taught them how to draw a circle by connecting two points, so as long as they spend some effort, they can always make wheels.
After Jiang Xuan finished explaining the manufacturing method and precautions of the wheelbarrow, he said to Huai seriously: "The wheelbarrow is very important to our Teng tribe. You can think of it as a livestock that does not need to eat grass, drink water, or rest."
"With the wheelbarrow, it will be more convenient for our Teng tribe to transport things, and the tribesmen won't have to work so hard."
Huai nodded heavily: "Don't worry, Chief, I will make the wheelbarrow even if I don't eat or sleep!"
"good!"
Jiang Xuan patted Huai on the shoulder and said, "I believe in your ability. Work hard, and the tribe will not treat you unfairly."
Huai was even more excited when he got the leader's recognition. Without saying a word, he immediately picked up the tools, selected wood and started making the main part of the wheelbarrow.
Jiang Xuan stood aside and watched for a while, but didn't find any problems, so he quietly left and went to the smelting workshop.
After arriving at the smelting workshop, Jiang Xuan pointed to the clay parts and explained in detail the manufacturing method and function of cylindrical bearings to the workers who were good at casting bronze.
Cylindrical bearings are actually not complicated. The only thing that determines their upper limit of performance is the material and precision.
After listening carefully to Jiang Xuan's explanation, the workers immediately began to make ceramic molds and prepare to cast the parts of the cylindrical bearings.
That night, the first set of cylindrical bearing parts was produced in the smelting workshop.
However, during assembly, Jiang Xuan discovered that the inner ring and outer ring of the bearing did not match well, and the cylindrical bronze rollers were not of the same size.
The end result was that the thing they spent most of the day making was not usable and only had the appearance of a cylindrical bearing.
Jiang Xuan encouraged: "It's okay, keep working hard tomorrow, I believe you will succeed."
The warriors in the smelting workshop were not in a very good mood. They had greatly underestimated the difficulty of manufacturing this thing.
However, the tribesmen will not give up easily, not to mention they have the support and encouragement of their leader.
The next day, the third day... In the following half month, the soldiers in the smelting workshop continued to try to make usable cylindrical bearings.
On May 10th, the main body and wheels of the wheelbarrow were first manufactured by the woodworking workshop.
On May 18, the core component of the wheelbarrow - the cylindrical bearing, was finally successfully produced by the soldiers in the smelting workshop. Each cylindrical roller was manually polished and proofread to ensure that the rollers were of consistent size.
On May 19, the first unicycle of the Teng tribe was built by Jiang Xuan himself! "Finally it worked!"
Jiang Xuan checked the wheelbarrow one last time and found nothing wrong, so he put some things on it and pushed it out.
(End of this chapter)
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