King of German Mercenaries

Da Vinci worked very seriously. As one of the most outstanding mechanical engineers of his time, Da Vinci was also very proficient in mechanical manufacturing. Although Da Vinci is not very proficient in the manufacture of clockwork, it does not mean that he will not.

Under the strong onlookers of Marin, Leonardo da Vinci showed how to build gears and clockwork...

But what surprised Marin was that Leonardo da Vinci made the gears and clockwork by hand (nonsense, where is the machine for him?), but also did not use any high-precision measuring instruments.

For example, when making gears, Da Vinci first calculated the size, and then made a rough measurement to make a mold and cast a billet. Then, take the blank and start hand sanding. After grinding for a while, I took out a "standard" reference for physical comparison. After the comparison, if there is no problem, put it into use directly, if there is a problem, continue grinding... If the grinding is too far, it will be smaller than the standard reference size, and it will be scrapped directly...

Marin looked a little dumbfounded:

"Ada, didn't you calculate the size in advance? Why do you have to grind it?"

"What's the use of calculating it? The error is still too big..."

Then, through Leonardo da Vinci's explanation, Marin knew that the smallest unit of length in Europe was actually an inch in this era...

Moreover, Europe does not currently have a vernier caliper in the modern sense. Only the United Kingdom has a ruler similar to a vernier caliper - a caliper ruler. Of course, because this caliper ruler does not have a precise scale, the measurement is not very reliable.

It stands to reason that the manufacture of gears and springs should be regarded as very precise devices, requiring very precise specifications and scales. However, in this era, when people manufacture precision parts, the units that can be accurate are only estimated to be about one-tenth of an inch, and the accuracy is less than 1 mm. So Marin often saw Da Vinci rework and regrind when he watched Da Vinci make the gears and clockwork. Because, although the previous calculation is not bad, due to the large measurement error, the parts often do not match and need to be re-polished. And once it gets too worn, the part has to be scrapped.

In this era, the difference between a master craftsman and an apprentice, in addition to knowledge, is in the grinding craftsmanship. For example, the craftsman of the big craftsman is good at grinding parts. When it is close to the scale, he will be very careful, so that few parts are worn out and the yield is high. And for those apprentices, when the control is not good at the critical moment, the parts are scrapped. Even if it is not scrapped, due to poor manual control, the running-in between parts is not very good.

Moreover, it is also very difficult to check the quality of workpieces in this era. It is necessary to take out "standard" workpieces to carefully compare them against the sun, which is a test of eyesight.

Unlike later generations, the parts are all sized, and the quality inspector can see how big the error is just by holding a vernier caliper in his hand. Then check the table to see if it is within the allowable error range, and then you can judge whether the workpiece is qualified...

"If only there was a vernier caliper!" Marin said with emotion.

Before he could make vernier calipers, though, Marin had to get his weights right first.

Because, in this era, there is no measurement of centimeters and millimeters, and Marin needs to define it himself. Moreover, the vernier caliper is very precise, and the lowest scale of the ordinary vernier caliper has reached the level of 0.1 mm. Basically, 0.1mm vernier calipers are absolutely enough in this era. Even, at the industrial level of the 19th century, this scale is sufficient.

However, because there are no scales for meters, decimeters, centimeters and millimeters yet. So, Marin first of all, needs to "create" such weights and measures by himself.

But for European weights and measures, Marin is most familiar with imperial units. For example, length, one inch = 2.54 cm. And the weight, one imperial pound = 453.59 grams...

So, to deduce how long a standard centimeter is, just figure out how long a standard inch is. Then, according to the principle of 1 inch = 2.54 cm, you can quickly find out how long 1 cm is.

Then, every 10th of a centimeter is a millimeter…

At the same time, 1 standard imperial pound is equal to 453.59 grams. Therefore, as long as you get the standard weight of 1 British pound (in general, all countries cast copper rights as a standard weight reference), you can infer that 1 gram is a variety of...

To this end, Marin arranged to go to England, tried every means to contact the British court, obtained the standard data of feet, inches and British pounds, and brought it back to Den Burg.

Marin then deduced the lengths of 1 centimeter, 1 decimeter, 1 meter and 1 millimeter under Leonardo da Vinci's astonished gaze. Then, with more imperial pounds, the weights in grams and kilograms were deduced.

After that, Marin arranged for craftsmen to use copper to create standard reference copper rulers of 1 meter and 1 decimeter, and also used copper to create standard copper weights of 50 grams, 500 grams and 1000 grams, as the standard reference for weight . After the reference materials were prepared, the standard items were sealed and wrapped in paper. Take it out for comparison and use only when needed.

After the weights and measures were settled, Marin began to ask Leonardo to help build the vernier calipers. Then, under the theoretical command of Marin, Da Vinci, who had good craftsmanship, created a very standard copper vernier caliper, and the scale used was also accurate to 1 mm. Although, it does not reach 0.1 mm, but it is also enough. Because, in the era of hand-made devices, 1 mm is already a very precise scale. As for that error, experienced craftsmen can actually feel it.

With vernier calipers, Leonardo da Vinci made gears and clockwork much simpler. For example, when the gear is cast in sand, it is not necessary to take out the standard reference, but can directly make the mold according to the standard size, and then start casting...

Marin also told Da Vinci that the vernier caliper can actually be accurate to 0.1 mm, but due to the level of manufacturing process, it is difficult to manufacture a vernier caliper with an accuracy of 0.1 mm. Of course, with Da Vinci's craftsmanship, if you spend more time and scrap a few more, you can also manufacture a vernier caliper with an accuracy of 0.1 mm.

Hearing Marin say this, Da Vinci was also interested. So, he suspended other affairs and concentrated on making vernier calipers. Finally, after scrapping dozens of them, three relatively standard copper vernier calipers were made.

With such a high-precision vernier caliper, Da Vinci himself felt that it was much simpler to manufacture gears and spring drums. In the past, Da Vinci needed to take out real objects for repeated comparisons to see if the quality of the gears and the mainspring were qualified. Now, if you want to know if the size is standard, just take out a vernier caliper card and measure it, then you can easily get it. In this way, Da Vinci, who was originally not good at making clockwork, also made a clockwork with a very standard appearance.

Of course, only the form factor. As for quality, Da Vinci said frankly that standard spring drums are made of refined steel repeatedly forged by excellent blacksmiths. The steel wheel built by Da Vinci is simply made of wrought iron provided by Marin. Although the size is very standard, the internal stress is not right and needs to be adjusted.

However, for Marin, a traveler, he knew that the spring steel with the best elasticity is best used for the spring steel wheel. The simplest spring steel is actually a kind of tool steel (high carbon steel). And the kind of steel bar that was repeatedly forged was actually heated and forged by blacksmiths repeatedly, which reduced the carbon content of pig iron and turned it into high carbon steel.

Therefore, for the steel bars that people in the Middle Ages seem to be difficult to process, Marin knows that it is actually easy to manufacture, as long as the carbon content of the steel is kept at 0.62~0.90% (belonging to the grade with the lowest carbon content among high carbon steels, close to The level of medium carbon steel), add a little manganese (the content is about 1%, specifically 0.90~1.20%, but in actual control, it is not so accurate, as long as it is almost usable), and then after a simple heat treatment, you will get the lowest in future generations Grade spring steel - 65Mn steel.

With 65Mn steel, the quality is not much better than the steel bars that the current blacksmiths have repeatedly forged with pig iron bars. Moreover, because it does not need to spend so much labor for repeated forging and processing, the cost and man-hours can be greatly reduced.

In fact, many steel knives in ancient China used this similar "thousand-forged" method to repeatedly heat and forge a piece of pig iron to reduce and consume its internal carbon content, and finally obtain steel, also known as "hundred-forging". steel". The so-called fine iron is actually obtained in this way.

However, through scientific methods, Marin can directly smelt pig iron or wrought iron into steel, which eliminates the need for repeated forging. Not only saves man-hours, but also greatly reduces costs. Also, the quality of the two is about the same.

Of course, to produce qualified 65Mn steel, Marin also needs some time and the help of some craftsmen. However, since Marin is the technical guidance of the traveler, it is only a matter of time before 65Mn steel is produced.

Once the 65Mn steel is produced, the production of clockwork does not require repeated heating and forging by the blacksmith, and it takes a lot of energy and fuel to process the pig iron bars into steel bars. At that time, the production cost of the mainspring steel wheel, chain and spring can be greatly reduced.

And if the production cost of these parts is reduced, then the production cost of the original high-cost revolver can be reduced a lot. In this way, the mass production and arranging of revolving muskets is greatly facilitated.

...

Because of the improvement of weights and measures and the appearance of vernier calipers, Leonardo found that it was much easier to process spring drums, chains, or springs. As long as you remember the size and position of the part with the best properties, and put a cursor caliper to measure it, you can accurately judge whether the part is qualified or not. Then, according to the standard requirements, let the craftsman make slight adjustments and processing. In this way, the production of precision parts is much more convenient...

The only trouble is that Da Vinci seems a little uncomfortable with the new weights and measures. Even if the value is measured, I always convert it to the old size in my mind. However, Marin believes that the standard decimal weights and measures, which are popular in later generations, are much more convenient than the old weights and measures, both in calculation and memory. As long as you use it for a long time, you will feel that it is more convenient and practical than the old-fashioned weights and measures...

UU Reading Books welcomes all book lovers to come and read, the latest, fastest and most popular serial works are all in UU Reading Books! Mobile users, please read.