Chapter 60 Waterwheel
Qin Yao stayed at Carpenter Liu's house until two or three in the afternoon, finalized all the details, and drew him a detailed blueprint in scale, and then went home with a rumbling stomach.
The sun was shining brightly at noon, and Liu Dafu's family had just finished harvesting the wheat and were already burning the wheat stalks. Looking around the fields in the village, one could see farmers busy at work.
The large piece of fertile land near the river on the east side of the village all belongs to Liu Dafu's family. Every year when the spring plowing season comes, villagers come to his house with chickens and ducks, wanting to rent his land for farming.
Qin Yao remembered Old Man Liu's advice that it would be better to rent Liu Dafu's fertile land for farming as soon as possible.
But now, whenever she thought of the exhaustion of working in the wheat fields a few days ago, every cell in her body was screaming: Run!
Forget it, there is still some time before spring ploughing. First, she will get the hydraulic stone mill out to see how it goes. If the situation is not good, it will not be too late to find Liu Dafu.
With an idea in mind, Qin Yao began to work on her water-powered stone mill.
She first cleared a piece of flat land near the bridge on the north bank of the river near her home.
Then he went downstream and brought back two huge rocks weighing several hundred kilograms.
For the whole day, except for eating, drinking water and sleeping, he spent the rest of his time hammering on the stone with a pickaxe.
After five days of hammering, two millstones with a diameter of 80 cm and a thickness of 20 cm were produced.
Then he knocked a hole in the center of the millstone, installed the shaft and wooden handle, and a large mill was ready.
At the same time, news came from Carpenter Liu that the parts of the waterwheel had been prepared, and he sent someone to ask her to assemble them together to avoid mistakes.
Qin Yao went there after breakfast and worked with Carpenter Liu in his yard for a whole day, building a waterwheel as tall as a person.
The bearing was also ready, and the two men were eager to see the results. After chewing a few bites of dinner, they carried the waterwheel and the bearing to the river.
The villagers had some free time after dinner and saw Qin Yao hammering and hitting things by the river these days. They were curious about what she was doing.
At this moment, seeing her and Carpenter Liu carrying the waterwheel and other things towards the river bank, they all followed curiously.
When Qin Yao and the other person arrived at the river, all the free people in the village came.
People from the Liu family's old house were also among them. Qin Yao didn't even have to ask them, as her brothers and sisters-in-law came over to help.
The main reason is that I want to know what Qin Yao has done as soon as possible.
The adults dispersed the children who came over, and under Qin Yao's command, they put the waterwheel into the river channel she had cleared. They filled the base with stones, and it began to turn steadily in the water.
This is only the first step. The next step is to connect the millstone and the bearings of each part.
No one else can help with this process, only Qin Yao and Carpenter Liu can do it.
Fortunately, Qin Yao is very strong, otherwise she would not be able to lift these heavy wooden stakes by herself.
After the assembly was completed, Qin Yao shook it to make sure it was stable, then personally moved the huge rock that she had placed by the river in advance, blocked the river with the big rock, causing the waterwheel to stop turning, and put the wooden stake at the other end of the millstone onto the waterwheel, padding the gap with a wooden block and tightening it.
After the assembly was completed, it was already dark, with only a hint of orange sunset remaining in the sky.
But the number of villagers on the bridge not only did not decrease, but increased compared to before.
The village chief and Liu Dafu were attracted by the excitement here. Liu Ji lit a torch and took it down from his home, and the open space was illuminated.
Qin Yao went down to the river, removed the large rocks that were blocking the river, and quickly ran to the shore.
"Splash!" The river water rushed into the narrow river channel, forming a strong impact force. The waterwheel began to turn at an increasingly faster speed, driving the bearing shaft to rotate with great force, transmitting the force to the handle above the millstone, and the millstone slowly turned.
"It's turning! It's really turning!" Carpenter Liu shouted excitedly.
Qin Yao ran over quickly to look at the millstone. Maybe because of the large water flow at the moment, the rotation speed was quite fast.
"Did it really turn by itself?" The village chief came over curiously, and everyone made way for him.
Qin Yao nodded and smiled, and asked Liu Ji to go home and get the wheat that had just been sifted.
Liu Ji was more excited than anyone else and ran home quickly to get the wheat.
He watched with his own eyes as Qin Yao tinkered with it by the river for five or six days, and today he actually made such a big waterwheel, and even made the millstone turn by itself. How magical it was! It was enough for him to brag about it for half a year.
"Here it comes, Mai is here!"
Liu Ji rushed down with two buckets in his hands, one empty and one full of wheat.
He actually knew to get an empty bucket to catch it.
Qin Yao took the wheat, grabbed a handful and put it into the hole in the middle of the millstone, and immediately heard a creaking sound of grinding.
After a while, the ground wheat grains fell out. Qin Yao pushed them with her hand, and they fell into the wooden trough next to the millstone, and then automatically fell into the empty bucket along the slope.
The village chief couldn't wait for Qin Yao to be so slow, so he scooped up a bucket of wheat and poured it into the mill himself.
The crumbs from the first grinding fell out with a clatter, and after grinding it twice more, it became fine flour.
Night had fallen, the torches on the river bank cast a bright light, and from time to time there were voices of surprise and delight from the people in the center.
"This grind is faster than a human can make, and it doesn't take much effort. Madam Qin, how did you come up with this great thing?"
Qin Yao said that she saw it in a book, and also tried to test everyone's willingness to pay for the use of their own water mill.
Liu the peddler jumped up from the crowd and asked, "Mrs. Qin, would you be willing to use your water mill for our benefit?"
After asking, afraid that Qin Yao would think he was using it for free, he immediately added: "I'm not using yours for free either. If you tell me the rules, I think everyone will be happy."
Liu Ji immediately tugged at Qin Yao's sleeve and said that for such a good thing, he must charge more for its use.
Qin Yao hadn't figured out how to set the price yet, but seeing that many people were eager to try, she responded loudly:
"It's really too late today. Everyone should go home first. My water mill is not completely finished yet. I will inform everyone after I finish it in two days and come up with a rule."
The villagers thought about it and realized that the water mill was indeed very simple and there was not even a shed. If it rained, the crops would be ruined.
She told Qin Yao to remember to post the rules after she had cleaned up and tell everyone that they were waiting to use her water mill.
Liu Dafu was the one I wanted to hire the most. His family had a lot of grain, and it would be exhausting to grind the grain by one person, so five people were specially hired to help grind the grain.
It would be much easier if we could use Qin Yao's water mill.
You only need to send one person to watch over and pour the grain into the millstone, and the people who originally took turns pushing the millstone can be freed up to do other things.
Some people wanted Carpenter Liu to make one for their family.
Carpenter Liu told him, "To make a water mill like this, the wood processing fee is at least two taels of silver, not to mention the two large millstones. These were all carved out by hand by Madam Qin herself from the river to find large rocks and brought them home."
The villagers immediately gave up the idea of making a water mill at home.
Why not use that two taels of silver to build a water mill? You must be crazy!
(End of this chapter)