Chapter 408 - Manipulating Temperature

Ah, no choice. He could only trade this away. Zhan Wuya was heartbroken. Although the premium Dahongying were already last year's cigarettes, he had carefully preserved them and the flavor hadn't changed at all.

This stuff—flicking out just one could accomplish many things. Now he actually had to give away an entire pack. Zhan Wuya was pained beyond measure.

Finding Ma Qianzhu and after much persuasion, spending countless words plus one pack of cigarettes, with the additional promise that he would be the first to try the ice machine once it was built, he finally obtained two bottles of refrigerant.

"Without the P12, my air rifles won't work anymore—"

"You can play with real guns—I'll specially build you a machine gun later..." Zhan Wuya perfunctorily replied while stashing the two bottles of F12 in his bag.

After battling through the night and disassembling and adjusting the equipment countless times, a large block of pure white ice finally appeared in the condenser! Zhan Wuya and Liang Xin were instantly energized—this thing actually could work!

Zhan Wuya rushed back to his office to find his insulated cup and packed this first block of ice to send to the Supervisor—with a slip of paper stuck on it reading "Good News," then he went all the way there as if beating drums and gongs.

Liang Xin called the cafeteria, asking them to quickly bring over some insulated containers. These crude insulated containers used kapok and cotton as insulation material, specifically used to transport popsicles from the Fengcheng and to transport live seafood.

In the end, this ice machine could produce approximately 2 kilograms of ice per hour when running. Honestly, the efficiency was a bit low. But Liang Xin noticed that their insulation measures were too poor. If strengthened, the ice-making efficiency would be even better.

The Industry and Energy Committee producing such a thing made everyone very happy. After all, transporting ice from Bopu was inconvenient. Now with this device, they could enjoy frozen food anytime, anywhere. Immediately someone proposed installing one in the cafeteria first. Others proposed simply dismantling all the air conditioners they had and converting them to ice machines—after all, there were only these few air conditioners, and giving them to anyone wasn't good. Better to dismantle them all and make ice blocks that everyone could enjoy.

In fact, the call for producing refrigeration equipment had been quite strong recently, not just from Ziminglou. The communications center needed ice to cool equipment. The explosives workshop needed ice to lower temperatures to ensure production safety. The cafeteria needed to preserve food. The Ministry of Health needed to preserve corpses for dissection...

The transmigrator group's number of refrigerators was pitifully small—nobody had thought of this at the time. The Fengcheng's cold storage was a bit far from Hundred Ren City, and the ship's cold storage was maintained by auxiliary engines burning precious diesel. Ma Qianzhu had always hoped the Industry and Energy Committee could develop refrigeration equipment more economical than the ship's cold storage.

The Industry and Energy Committee had already held several meetings on this issue. They had long found a relatively simple, feasible, and economical method to meet Ma Qianzhu's requirements, which was the gas refrigerator Liang Xin mentioned.

The so-called gas refrigerator used gas heating to boil concentrated ammonia water. The ammonia vapor produced was cooled to condense the water vapor within it, while the ammonia gas condensed into liquid ammonia. Then at the entrance of the evaporator, it mixed with hydrogen. Due to different partial pressures, ammonia diffused violently from the liquid ammonia into the hydrogen, causing the evaporator temperature to drop and producing the cooling effect. Afterward, the ammonia gas was absorbed by dilute ammonia water to become concentrated ammonia liquid again, while the remaining hydrogen returned to the evaporator. So the gas refrigerator achieved cooling through gas combustion heating, circulating three substances—ammonia, water, and hydrogen—through pipes. The cooling temperature could reach as low as minus 40°C. Efficiency was extremely high.

Ammonia water was no longer a problem now that the 800-ton synthetic ammonia system had begun initial operation. Hydrogen was a byproduct obtained during the process of electrolyzing salt to make alkali.

Using this principle, it was possible to manufacture small refrigerators at the household level. By 20th-century standards, gas refrigerator technology was quite low-level. But in Lingao's 1629 industrial system, manufacturing small gas refrigerators had many practical problems that couldn't be resolved, especially regarding materials and processes. For example, the fire-resistant ceramic on the burner head and the zinc alloy die-cast parts for the burner housing—none of these could be solved immediately. Furthermore, the highly efficient insulation materials needed for the cabinet body were also what they lacked.

Since they couldn't make fine precision versions, the Industry and Energy Committee decided to manufacture a large "gas refrigerator" to reduce the technical difficulty of manufacturing—if they couldn't make small fire-resistant ceramic burner nozzles, large cast-iron burner nozzles were certainly possible—in reality, they were preparing to build a gas cold storage facility.

This cold storage was first built at the cafeteria—the cafeteria itself had ample biogas supply, and now also had coal gas. Fuel was abundant. As for insulation materials, using only kapok or cotton couldn't effectively insulate. So Zhan Wuya used the most common ice storage method of the ancients—building the cold storage underground and using soil for insulation. The major ice cellars of old Beijing all collected ice in the twelfth lunar month, stored under conditions of just earthen cellars, covered with straw mats and piled with dirt. When sealed until the next summer when the ice cellar was opened, ice block losses were negligibly small.

The Lingao Construction Company first excavated a rectangular cellar with one open side in a small hillside at the farm. After tamping down the floor and walls, they laid perforated bricks. Then insulation materials were added to the inner walls.

The Industry and Energy Committee had neither foam plastic nor asite. The only natural insulation materials that could be supplied in large quantities locally in Lingao were kapok and diatomaceous earth. To ensure effectiveness, the Industry and Energy Committee alternately applied multiple layers on the cold storage walls. All piping used yellow copper components. After installing the cold storage, a layer of straw mats was laid on top, then completely covered with thick earth. Only an access passage connected to the surface. The passage had double wooden doors inside and outside, with thick insulation material installed on the doors. The machinery plant personnel tried to make them fit the door frames as closely as possible, applying several layers of leather belts as sealing material. The cold storage's combustion chamber was set up on the surface, using coal gas from the farm's supporting coal gas generator for heating. Lingao had much rain, so finally a house was specially built over the entire underground cold storage for shelter, with drainage ditches on all sides.

After ignition, the cold storage ran continuously for 24 hours, proving that this cold storage could reach a minimum temperature of minus 16 degrees and maintain it stably at that level.

Everyone was quite satisfied with this. The theoretically achievable minus 40 degrees had no special significance for the transmigrator group. Minus 16 degrees was already sufficient for long-term storage of various fresh foods, making ice blocks, and producing various cold drinks.

Because they had built a cold storage that could cheaply produce large quantities of ice blocks, it not only met dietary needs but even served the role of air conditioning to some extent—large blocks of ice taken from the cold storage and placed in rooms to naturally melt, this traditional cooling method quickly spread through the transmigrators' dormitories and offices. To prevent everyone from rushing to get ice, the Planning Commission, after meticulous calculations, issued ice tickets. Besides each transmigrator's personal daily allocation of several kilograms of ice, each department had different allocation standards based on needs.

Lingao Telecom's communications machine room also finally became somewhat cooler—not just for comfort, but also beneficial for ensuring proper operation of equipment. Since entering summer, Lingao Telecom's equipment, besides using enhanced ventilation for cooling, had adopted a rotating power-on method to prevent excessive heat from causing accidents.

Indigenous workers working in high-temperature environments also enjoyed the coolness of ice. This treatment moved many workers—being able to use ice in summer was a luxury of the wealthy. Now ordinary commoners like them could actually enjoy it. Although in the enormous workshops, this bit of cold air couldn't offset much heat, as Xiao Zishan often said: "Sometimes, the common people just want the rulers to show a basic attitude."

Due to the strong demand for ice blocks, the Industry and Energy Committee soon organized the construction of a second and third cold storage. With accumulated experience, construction techniques became increasingly skilled, the cold storage's energy consumption further decreased, and the probability of malfunctions also greatly reduced.

With the completion of the professional fishery cold storage and supporting gas station at Bopu, under the Planning Commission's orders, the Fengcheng's cold storage ceased operations. After this major power consumer shut down, the Fengcheng's auxiliary engines' operation was reduced to the minimum power needed to maintain the ship's own systems to save fuel. After this cold storage that had run continuously for nearly a year shut down, the Navy Club's influence in the Executive Committee dropped sharply. The Fengcheng was no longer a place certain committee members were eager to visit. This result was probably the most unexpected.

Of course, letting this cold storage sit idle was a pity. Another task the Planning Commission gave the Industry and Energy Committee was: research how to use coal gas to drive the ship's auxiliary engines to generate electricity, so it would completely stop using the stored diesel?

"Theoretically speaking, of course it's possible." Zhan Wuya said with a smile. "In reality..."

"What, not realistic?"

"It's not that it's unrealistic, but unnecessary." Zhan Wuya said, "The ship can obviously use external power connections."

Modern ships could completely use shore power after entering port, and the Fengcheng naturally could too.

"Plainly put, as long as we expand the installed capacity of the Bopu power station, the Fengcheng's auxiliary engines would have absolutely no need to continue generating power."

Zhan Wuya continued: "Of course, using coal gas to replace diesel as fuel for the auxiliary engines to generate electricity is also theoretically possible, but the piping installation would be a major problem."

The implication was that it was utterly unnecessary.

Xiao Zishan reminded him: The auxiliary engines were large generator sets. Their output power alone was greater than all the traction engines in the entire Bopu power station combined. The Planning Commission wouldn't let such a large generator set stop running. When the time came, Bopu might even have to rely on the Fengcheng's auxiliary engines for power generation.

"Hmm, true. But marine auxiliary engines—such large equipment—I've really never worked with them before. I'm not confident."

"Anyway, this matter can be studied slowly. Don't worry about it," Xiao Zishan comforted him. "You should think about how to actually manufacture a real gas refrigerator."

Xiao Zishan felt that before long, it would be possible to equip every transmigrator's residence with a small gas refrigerator—provided they could safely lay gas pipelines into homes. Perhaps in the future, they would even install gas lamps in indigenous residences.

As for the animal-powered ice machine that Zhan Wuya had painstakingly built, it was safely transported to Guangzhou. Shortly after, Mo Xiao'an received a telegram: "Urgently make thermos bottles and large-mouth insulated barrels"—ice was being produced, but there was nowhere to store it.

Mo Xiao'an sighed and got up to head to the glass factory. He suddenly realized: actually, thermos bottles were also quite a nice trade product!

Making thermos bottles was already child's play for the glass factory. Especially after they had fairly mastered mold-blowing techniques, they had achieved a breakthrough in what had previously felt like the most difficult part—blown forming. With molds, they no longer had to rely on the hand-feel of blowing workers and could manufacture hundreds or thousands of identical finished products.

The key to a thermos bottle was the inner flask. The inner flask was essentially a glass bottle with a hollow interlayer. In manufacturing, what was actually used was a technique of combining large and small bottles.

First, workers dipped a small amount of glass liquid and blew it into a glass bubble. After slight cooling, this glass bubble continuously dipped more glass liquid and was constantly swung and blown larger. Then it was elongated and quickly placed into a mold, rotated and blown fully. Opening the mold produced a bottle blank.

Then the glass workers repeated this work, only using a smaller mold. In fact, in the glass factory, blowing and forming inside molds was done using compressed air for batch production. Now they didn't have compressed air available, so they still used manual labor for the time being.

Mo Xiao'an watched a young man named Huang Zhongshan skillfully blowing bottle blanks one after another. His movements were so fluid they could be called flowing like clouds and water. He couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

"He's the fastest and best among the apprentices." Xiao Bailang sat on a wooden crate wiping his sweat—he now managed both the ceramics factory and the glass factory—wherever he went, he got roasted.

"Talented, I suppose."

"Pity that talent alone can't make blown glassware."

To date, all slightly complex products from the glass factory were almost entirely mold-blown or mold-pressed. The skill of making various products using only blowing plus scissors and pliers had not yet been mastered by the factory workers—because the transmigrators themselves didn't know how either.

"We need to capture some European glass craftsmen!"

"Where would there be European glass craftsmen in Asia?" Mo Xiao'an said. "The Europeans who come to Asia are basically scum."

Xiao Bailang didn't respond. He was watching the operation of the entire workshop, checking if everything was in order. Recently the weather had been hot, and with Ji Situi away at the coal chemical plant for long-term trial production, labor discipline at the glass factory had become somewhat lax. As soon as Xiao Bailang arrived at the factory, he cracked down on labor discipline.

Xiao Bailang didn't bother with any political ideology work. He directly sent several slackers to the labor reform camp—they were only released later under Wu De's intervention. But as a result, production efficiency in the factory improved considerably. Now when his eyes swept across, the entire workshop fell silent.

"This approach of yours won't work." Mo Xiao'an couldn't help but remind him. "Using only coercion won't win hearts."

"I know, I know—use both kindness and authority." Xiao Bailang replied perfunctorily.

"Fine, I'll have the food factory send some kvass over here."

"Chief, the gas station says they can send gas now..."

"Okay. Have them deliver it." Xiao Bailang put on his dark glasses and walked to the newly installed coal gas nozzles—a row of gleaming brass nozzles. He waved his hand: "Let's begin."

Several workers turned on the valves. Red flames immediately shot from the burner heads. Xiao Bailang put on thick work gloves and carefully adjusted the flames until they jetted blue.

"Prepare for joining!"

Huang Zhongshan quickly used tongs to bring over the two glass bottle blanks—one large, one small—that had just been blown and brought from the annealing furnace. Xiao Bailang first heated the bottom of the large bottle and the neck of the small bottle with the coal gas flame, then used a blade to neatly cut them off. Then he slipped the small bottle into the large one and filled the space between the large and small bottles with three small pieces of cork.

Properly speaking, asbestos particles should have been used, but the Industry and Energy Committee could only temporarily use substitutes. Their function was to maintain equal spacing between the inner and outer bottles so they wouldn't wobble. Another function was to strengthen the structural strength of the flask. After the flask was made, the only connection point between inner and outer bottles was at the mouth, which was prone to cracking when filled with water. With asbestos embedded, it was equivalent to adding three additional support points.

Next, he heated the large bottle with the small bottle inside to a semi-molten state over the coal gas flame. The critical step was about to come. Xiao Bailang's expression was serious as he pulled the semi-molten glass liquid with pliers, carefully pulling the bottom gap closed. This procedure seemed simple but had certain technical requirements for manual operation. It required not only sealing the bottle bottom smoothly and tightly but also leaving a thin glass tube. Modern thermos bottle companies all used automatic bottom-pulling machines to complete this.

Xiao Bailang tried several times without success. His face was flushed red from the coal gas flame. He put down the pliers to catch his breath and told the others to try. After several attempts, they finally sealed this bottom as required.

Next came the silver plating process. The thermos bottle flask was plated using silver nitrate. The plating agent was injected through the small glass tube reserved at the bottom into the space between flask walls. With the basic supply of three acids and two alkalis now available, this wasn't an issue at all. Finally, after pouring out the residual liquid, a layer of bright silver remained on the entire glass flask wall, shiny like a mirror.

The workers let out an amazed sigh. In fact, they had already witnessed the transmigrators' "secret technique" when making mirrors. Among the crowd, quite a few greedy eyes were fixed on the residual liquid being poured from the flask.

After silver plating, workers poured in distilled water to rinse once and dried it. Xiao Bailang first used the coal gas flame to heat the glass tube at the bottom red-hot and pulled it thinner, then inserted an exhaust tube—this simple exhaust pump was designed and manufactured by Zhong Lishi, a very simple exhaust type that could barely reach a crude vacuum level.

While pumping air, he used the coal gas flame to heat the outer bottle, promoting gas expansion for faster gas extraction. Of course, the crude exhaust pump couldn't measure the extraction status. Xiao Bailang had previously used the most primitive method—repeated trial and experiment until finding the optimal extraction time.

(Chapter End)