I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 62 Who says three-wheeled vehicles can't have tracks?
The success of the 12.7mm heavy machine gun, which can be used both for anti-aircraft and anti-tank purposes, greatly boosted the morale of everyone.

This indicates that the military now possesses preliminary air defense capabilities.

To say that no one in the entire team, from top to bottom, is worried that an air raid might cause enormous damage to the industrial base that has been painstakingly built up would be a lie.

The entire team has gone to great lengths to protect this nascent industry.

Besides the comrades in the internal security system who are doing everything they can to uncover potential enemies hiding within the ranks.

The comrades in the Special Branch were also racking their brains to find ways to interfere with the bald-headed government and Yan Xishan's understanding of our team's industrial development.

Even if news reaches their ears, they must be made to believe it.

Nowadays, those peasants have at most built a few iron smelting furnaces to forge some swords and spears.

At most, they can repair those broken rifles, and that's about it.

In addition, Chen Chang's factories here are extremely scattered.

They are mostly hidden in the countless gullies and valleys of the Loess Plateau.

Furthermore, each factory was concealed from the air, and its color was made to blend as closely as possible with the background color of the earth.

Used to deceive aerial reconnaissance.

With the current observation and aiming capabilities of aircraft, it is difficult to achieve observation and aiming at an altitude of one or two thousand meters.

It is extremely difficult to carry out precision bombing of key factories and locations hidden in the mountains and valleys.

Moreover, nowadays, neither fighter jets nor bombers carry a large amount of ordnance.

Even the Japanese Ki-1 Type 93 heavy bomber, which had the largest bomb load.

Theoretically, it can carry one and a half tons of bombs, but in reality, being able to carry one ton of bombs to carry out a mission is already quite remarkable.

Moreover, with its speed of over 200 kilometers per hour, it would be impressive if it dared to fly at an altitude of less than 1,000 meters.

In the face of a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun, it would be tantamount to suicide.

Chen Changzai's armor-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary shells are not so easy to defend against.

Although the quantity of tungsten, a rare metal, is currently extremely limited.

Chen Changzai felt it would be a huge waste to use this extremely precious tungsten on high-consumption items like tungsten alloy steel armor-piercing projectiles.

Chen Changzai also needs to use this limited amount of tungsten where he needs it most.

Although he has very little tungsten, he currently has enough molybdenum.

Therefore, based on the current situation, Chen Changzai developed a high-carbon steel-based molybdenum alloy steel armor-piercing projectile.

Although its effect is not as good as that of tungsten alloy steel armor-piercing projectiles.

But it also depends on what kind of target you are dealing with.

When dealing with the Japanese's thin-skinned but heavily armored planes and tanks.

This high-carbon steel-based molybdenum alloy steel is perfectly capable of handling the task.

Adding molybdenum to high-carbon steel not only increases its hardness but also its toughness.

This solves the problem of high-carbon steel being hard and brittle.

To prevent armor-piercing projectiles from suddenly shattering or breaking upon contact with the target.

Armor-piercing incendiary rounds, which increase the power of armor-piercing projectiles, are a nightmare for aircraft and tanks.

Although Chen Changzai currently has no white phosphorus, and even if he has some yellow phosphorus, it is unrealistic to extract large quantities of white phosphorus.

The quantity is far from enough, and the danger is too high.

However, once electricity was available, he could extract magnesium powder from dolomite.

This metal can also be used as a high-temperature incendiary agent in armor-piercing incendiary bombs.

The burning effect of magnesium powder and the instantaneous high temperature of over 3,000 degrees Celsius were enough to cause the Japanese planes and tanks to suffer devastating secondary damage after being penetrated.

To make this incendiary bomb, you only need to mix magnesium powder, potassium nitrate, and fluorite powder with a binder, stir these three materials in a certain proportion, make them into a stick, insert it into the tail chamber of the warhead, and then seal it.

Potassium nitrate in this mixture provides oxygen, aids combustion, and increases the flame temperature.

Fluorite powder lowers the melting point of magnesium powder.

The propellant at the front of the propellant stick is designed to ignite the magnesium powder with the flame that is set off after the projectile hits the target.

Tracer rounds are one of the three types of ammunition used in anti-aircraft machine guns.

Because magnesium-aluminum alloy powder is needed, aluminum powder is a key material in this process.

However, the workshop for producing electrolytic aluminum is still under construction.

Although the power supply of a single 100-kilowatt generator unit still limits the production capacity of electrolytic aluminum.

Although the output is still small, it has solved the problem of whether or not there is any.

Moreover, if the capacity of one electrolytic aluminum workshop is insufficient, then several smaller workshops can be built.

If one generator isn't enough, build more generators.

If one electrolytic cell isn't enough, then build several more.

At least it ensures that the items can be retrieved when needed. Moreover, the fact that these small workshops are spread out makes it safer.

Why is electricity considered the core of the second industrial wave?

With electricity, many things in industry can be made.

Without electricity, many ideas are just castles in the air.

For example, non-ferrous metals such as magnesium, aluminum, and molybdenum, as well as rare metals, cannot be mass-produced without electricity.

Welding on industrial steel requires even more electricity.

Electric welding machines may seem inconspicuous, but they are indispensable in industrial processing.

The bullet issue needs to be addressed step by step. The 12.7mm bullets currently in use are sufficient to meet the needs of the existing machine guns for the time being.

"Is everything ready?" Chen Chang asked his student as he walked into the machining workshop.

"It's all set up, teacher, but it hasn't been installed yet."

"Since you're here, teacher, could you please take a look and give it your feedback?"

In one corner of the workshop, a three-wheeled vehicle with its tires removed is parked in the designated assembly area.

There are two thick wooden blocks under its rear axle, at which point its two wheel hubs are suspended in the air.

In the open space behind the vehicle, apart from the two wheels that had just been removed.

There are also two triangular tracked walking mechanisms, which are placed to the side and waiting to be installed.

Chen Changzai first came to the two triangular tracks and took a look.

It is basically consistent with the drawings I provided.

The reason he managed to create two of these things is...

It was also caused by his negligence.

After the three-wheeled vehicles came out.

Chen Changzai believes that as long as its tires are widened and its treads are deepened, its grip should be sufficient for it to climb out of the muddy area on its own.

However, during the formal testing, he discovered that the tests were less effective when conducted in a mud trough mixed with weeds.

Its grip was not as good as Chen Changzai had imagined.

Although the current results have already made everyone who participated in the test feel very good.

But Chen Changzai was still very dissatisfied.

Moreover, Chen Changzai did not only intend for this three-wheeled vehicle to undertake transportation tasks.

He also wanted this three-wheeled vehicle to take on the role of a fire support platform.

But now, the tires of this three-wheeled vehicle are trying to withstand the recoil of a 12.7mm anti-aircraft and anti-tank machine gun.

It's still a bit difficult.

This is especially true when firing at high altitude.

Because when firing at high altitude, the recoil of the machine gun is almost entirely absorbed from below, which puts too much pressure on the two tires.

Although Chen Changzai also added four hand-cranked mechanical screw outriggers to this three-wheeled vehicle.

But you still have to get down and shake it, right?

What if an emergency occurs and there's no time to get down and stretch your legs? The battle still has to be fought.

At that moment, Chen Changzai suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He recalled the triangular rubber tracks that manufacturers of three-wheeled vehicles in later generations added to their modified vehicles.

That thing can exist as an accessory; it's very easy to install and remove.

It's the same as installing a tire.

Its drive gear has five screw holes, which are located in the same position as the tire rim.

There are two or three road wheels underneath to bear the weight, and two screw tensioning rollers at the front and rear to adjust the track tension.

Once this is installed, its ability to navigate muddy terrain will definitely be better than that of tires.

Moreover, it has a large contact area with the ground and strong impact resistance, and can completely withstand the recoil transmitted from a 12.7 mm machine gun.

It can even withstand the recoil of some small cannons.

With this little gadget installed, it can fight and move at the same time without needing to get off and put out its outriggers.

The more Chen Changzai thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

So he drew a set of blueprints and had his students build a set according to the blueprints, then put it on the vehicle and test it.

This can also be seen as a preliminary preparation for his students to conduct research on the tracked chassis of tanks in the future.

　Thank you to all my friends who have supported me.

　　It's a bit late today, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)