Chapter 342 Glass Industry
South Salzburg province, Mbeya city.
"The kiln is open!" With a cry.
The workers who had already been waiting by the kiln opened the kiln opening with iron fiber, and then a gust of hot air gushed out from the kiln opening.
"How about taking a quick look?"
Under the urging of the factory manager, fully armed workers entered the kiln mouth and began to carry the freshly fired porcelain. The weather in Mbeya is about 17 degrees, so it is not too hot to stay outside even if they put on cotton clothes. As soon as you enter the kiln, you can feel the turbulent heat.
After dawdling for a while, the sagger was carefully taken out by the workers. Under the expectation of everyone, the master began to knock the sagger open.
"Alas! It's a pity, this bottom is connected with the sagger, next one!"
Bad start, so the next sagger is opened.
"This glaze is unqualified, next!"
In the end, all the saggers were opened, and the result was unsatisfactory, the yield was only 15%, the quality of the finished product was also poor, the workmanship was rough, there was no glaze around the inner bottom, and the aesthetics were poor. However, this result was already in line with everyone’s expectations up.
"It's the first time! It's good to have this result. Don't be discouraged and continue to improve the technology. I believe that our Mbeya Ceramics Factory will lead the kingdom's ceramic manufacturing industry in the future." The mayor of Mbeya City comforted.
The porcelain produced by the Mbeya Ceramics Factory is coarse porcelain, that is, porcelain for civilian use. The porcelain in the Constantine Palace is imported from the Far East.
There are abundant kaolin resources near the city of Mbeya. The current preliminary survey by the East African government is about 3 million tons. It is a bonus when looking for coal mines. This is why the first porcelain factory in East Africa is located in Mbeya.
In East Africa, the current civilian utensils are mainly wooden or pottery products, and porcelain is definitely rare.
Porcelain in East Africa, excluding the porcelain in the palace, is mainly distributed in the coastal areas of East Africa, from Mogadishu to Mtwara, and even in the hinterland of Zimbabwe.
However, these porcelains are almost all products from the Far East, and they only flowed to East Africa along the trade route. Therefore, the porcelain fired by the ceramic factory in Mbeya City is the first batch of African porcelain.
East African porcelain technology mainly comes from Yanzhou Yi County in the Far East. Every batch of immigrants to East Africa has a basic file, so special attention will be paid to professionals.
In fact, it is no secret that porcelain is fired in Europe, and there are many porcelain factories, but the original people of East African immigrants were mainly rural people from Germany and the Far East.
European porcelain is not for ordinary people, and its popularity rate is far lower than that of the Far East. Therefore, the skilled workers of Mbeya Ceramics Factory are mainly from the Far East.
Among them, Qi Village in Yi County is the main one. Qi Village has a long history of pottery making. The pottery industry flourished in Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in Yuan Dynasty. It presents a prosperous scene of kiln fires and pottery making in every household, which has continued to the present.
Although Qi Village has a long history of firing ceramics, it is not very famous, after all, it is mainly a folk product.
If technical requirements are required, East Africa can send people to Jingdezhen to learn Buddhist scriptures, or obtain technology from Europe, but it is not necessary.
The establishment of the Mbeya Ceramics Factory has been regarded as Ernst’s franchise. After all, the needs of East African residents can be met with wooden and pottery vessels. It is enough to burn a little coarse porcelain to enrich the products in East African specialty stores. As for mid-to-high-end porcelain The products are directly imported, and there is absolutely no need to develop a porcelain industry in East Africa at present.
Of course, the main reason is, who will buy the porcelain produced? Not to mention competing with the Far East, it is impossible to compete with European countries. If it is produced, it will not make money, and naturally there will be no motivation to promote it.
At present, East Africa mainly promotes glass manufacturing, because a large number of Venetians have entered East Africa, which facilitates the development of glass manufacturing in East Africa.
The level of Venetian glass manufacturing is world-renowned. Just imagine, if there are many immigrants from Jingdezhen in East Africa, then East Africa will definitely promote the development of the porcelain industry.
Of course, Jingdezhen is only a representative place of porcelain production in the Far East, and Ernst didn’t need to focus only on Jingdezhen. There is also a huge demand for glass to win, that is, there is indeed a huge demand in East Africa.
First of all, glass can also be used to make utensils and porcelain, but the windows used in East African buildings must be made of glass. During the construction of the Civit Palace, a large amount of glass was imported from Europe for decoration.
Even the glass of the royal palace is imported, which is unreasonable. What's more, there is a lot of demand for government buildings in East Africa, as well as civilian houses.
Although East African dwellings have been unified into a German architectural style, there is basically no lighting. The windows are basically a whole piece of wood. They are opened during the day to let the sunlight in, and then closed at night to prevent mosquitoes from entering. It is possible to equip East African residents with glass windows. A little extravagant, but small pieces of glazed tiles can still be arranged.
In addition to the demand for glass windows, East Africa also considers the needs of scientific research in East Africa in the future. Although East Africa currently has no scientific research capabilities, it will sooner or later embark on this step, and experimental equipment, such as test tubes and lenses, all need glass.
The glass industry in East Africa is mainly distributed in Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Songgai. In addition to the professional workers in Venice, the Hexingen Commodity Company, a subsidiary of the Hexingen Consortium, was instructed by Ernst to set up a technical group, studying the large-scale production of glass.
The most important thing is to conquer the production process of flat glass. For this reason, Heixingen Daily Necessities Company has signed cooperation agreements with many German universities.
This is also a layout for the future automobile industry. The earliest cars did not have windshields. Drivers and passengers often wear goggles to protect against the elements, insects, and leaves and dirt from the road.
Although it is said that the development of flat glass may not necessarily be applied to automobiles first. After all, glass is a dangerous and fragile product, and it is dangerous to use it rashly in automobiles, but it will always be used.
As for when to install glass on the car, it depends on the needs of the market. When people are no longer satisfied with cars without shelter, the Heixingen consortium can take the lead in launching car glass. The technology is like squeezing toothpaste. Drain other people's wallets little by little.
Of course, now is fantasy time. The Hechingen Consortium has neither plate glass nor cars. It needs to continue to work hard to realize these two things.
In other words, Benz is still improving the engine, trying to miniaturize the engine and increase its power.
Under the instruction of Ernst, the frame has a general goal, but how to operate it and the mechanical structure design are still far away. Optimistically, it will take several years for the Hexingen consortium to launch the first practical car. .
As for why it takes so long, it is to make the car quite perfect when it is launched. The more complicated process and lower production cost will make the copycats explode in situ, and prevent the car structure from being too simple, and ordinary people can imitate it by rubbing their hands.
In addition, there is another reason, which is to wait a few years in East Africa. The automobile industry must start in East Africa. If this blockbuster product is first produced in East Africa, it will be of great use in enhancing the international influence of East Africa in the future, and it will also lay a solid foundation for East Africa. Kingdom's first-mover advantage in the automotive industry.
(end of this chapter)