1992: Starting with the Second Generation of Shipowners

Chapter 91 The Competition Begins

The county agricultural machinery company's compound is much more spacious than the service station.

It's a square cement courtyard. To the north, a row of factory buildings has been converted into competition areas, and to the south, a row of temporary sheds has been set up for the teams to wait.

Several farm vehicles were parked in the yard, their tires covered in dry mud, and old burlap sacks were piled up in their trailers.

A row of diesel engines and gearboxes were placed against the west wall, prepared for the diesel engine disassembly and assembly project.

Thick steel plates were stacked at the entrance to the welding workshop, while pine planks were already stacked against the wall in the caulking workshop, reaching waist height.

When Jiang Haiping stepped into the compound, the sunlight had just climbed over the wall.

He glanced back at the person behind him.

Ahai carried his tool bag, walking along while twisting his neck to examine the diesel engines by the west wall, muttering to himself, "Xichai or Weichai?"

Ah Guang followed beside him, clutching the registration book to his chest, his eyes constantly counting the teams in the courtyard.

Ding Haisheng walked at the very back, his welder's mask hanging on his tool bag, the lenses of his goggles gleaming from being wiped clean.

"Twelve teams." A-Guang opened the register, took a pen and drew a table on a blank page, "Three from the county, and nine from the communes below."

"Where does Moon Island rank?" Hong Xiaobing peeked out from behind. He had come along as a support staff member, carrying a bag of sesame candy and a pot of cold boiled water.

"We'll find out by drawing lots."

You sign in at the registration desk. The registration desk is in the middle of the courtyard, with a desk covered by a red cloth, on which are the sign-in book and a stack of number tags.

The cadre in charge of signing in wore black-rimmed glasses and had two pens clipped to the pocket of his Zhongshan suit.

When Jiang Haiping picked up his pen and wrote "Moon Island Fishery Machinery Service Station" in the sign-in book, the cadre looked up at him.

"Moon Island. You came in first place in the provincial inspection last time, so do your best this time."

Jiang Haiping nodded and drew four number plates from the lottery tube.

Ahai Diesel Engine Group No. 3, Ding Haisheng Welding Group No. 5, Lin Xiu'e Seam Filling Group No. 2, Zhou Haisheng Used Parts Management Group No. 1.

"Old parts management is the first one to go." Jiang Haiping handed the number plate to Zhou Haisheng.

Zhou Haisheng took the number plate, flipped it over to look at the competition instructions on the back, and then pinned the number plate to his chest.

The safety pin was a bit tight, and he had to use his fingernail to pry it on before he could fasten it. He ran his fingers back and forth along the edge of the number plate several times.

"Nervous?" Ah-Guang closed the registration book.

"My hands aren't shaking. My palms are just a little damp." Zhou Haisheng rubbed his hands on his work clothes a couple of times, then on his pants.

Ding Haifeng took the scoring details for the old parts management project out of his bag.

He was wearing a clean work uniform today, with the cuffs buttoned up neatly.

He read through the scoring rules again from beginning to end, and then walked up to Zhou Haisheng.

"There's still fifteen minutes left. Let's do one more simulation."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old gear.

This is his training equipment that he always carries with him. There are several very fine cracks on the surface of the teeth, which you can't feel at all unless you touch them with your fingers.

"Bearing housing 207, raceway wear 0.03, can be used for downshifting." Zhou Haisheng closed his eyes and slowly ran his finger along the gear teeth, stopping at the third tooth. "There's a crack on the tooth surface, about two millimeters long, and less than half a millimeter deep after two runs. It can't be used on the main unit, but it can be used on the auxiliary unit at a reduced speed."

"Feel the depth of the crack again."

Zhou Haisheng held the gear up to the light, running his fingers along the crack from one end to the other, and then from the other to the beginning. "Less than 0.4."

Ding Haifeng took the gear, used a micrometer to measure both sides of the crack, and wrote down the numbers on a piece of draft paper.

He glanced at the numbers and put the micrometer back in the box.

"All correct. Go ahead."

The old parts management competition area is located at the east end of the courtyard, with a wooden sign hanging at the entrance that reads "Old Parts Management Assessment Area".

Five worktables were set up in the competition room, each with ten old items covered with old newspapers.

The judges sat in the first row, their notebooks open, with pens resting beside them.

Zhou Haisheng glanced back as he entered the competition room.

Jiang Haiping stood at the door, clutching a loquat leaf he had brought down from the tree, and twirled it in his hand.

Zhou Haisheng turned around and walked to the front of workbench number one.

The newspaper was opened.

Ten old parts were lined up in a row: bearing housings, couplings, gears, gaskets, and flanges. Some were rusted, some were oiled, and one bearing housing even had dried seaweed stuck to its outer shell.

Zhou Haisheng picked up the first item.

He wiped the lettering on the bottom of the bearing housing with cotton yarn; it read "205," a specification that matched the one in the register.

I probed my finger into the inner raceway and ran it around from left to right, then from right to left. There was a very fine indentation on the surface of the raceway; if I scratched it with my fingernail, I could feel a slight bump.

He picked up the second item, the coupling.

The third one is the gear.

The judges' pens scratched away on the notebook.

During the competition, other worktables also started working one after another. Only the contestant at table number three was stuck on the first piece. He picked up the bearing housing, looked at it for a long time, put it down, and picked it up again.

The contestant on stage five held the gear up to the light, his hand trembled a little, and the gear almost fell off the stage.

Zhou Haisheng picked up the fifth item.

The sealing gasket was scratched with a fingernail along the edge; it was old and cracked, leaving a mark with each scratch. It's unusable.

The sixth item. A flange.

The seventh item. The eighth item was an old pump cover; he paused for a moment when he turned it over and touched the inner wall.

The pump cover has casting shrinkage cavities on its inner wall, but these are not on the pressure-bearing surface; they are on the edge.

This location does not affect pressure resistance and can be used.

He said his voice was a little dry when he said it was usable, and he coughed a little. "The casting shrinkage cavity is not on the pressure-bearing surface. It can be used after welding and grinding."

The ninth item.

The tenth item was an old water pump impeller. When he picked it up, he felt a very thin line on the back of the blade with his fingers, extending from the root of the blade towards the tip.

crack.

Ding Haifeng's words popped into his mind.

"You can't feel the depth of a crack just by touching it. The first time you touch it, you only feel the surface roughness. The second time, you can feel the depth. The third time, you will know exactly how deep the crack is."

He closed his eyes and traced the crack with his fingers three times.

The tactile sensation of the fingertip gradually becomes clearer as the surface becomes rough, forming a very fine indentation with a depth of about 0.3.

He almost yelled "It's ruined" when he touched it for the fourth time, but he touched it with his fingers again.

The cracks are short and thick, located only at the base of the leaf, and do not extend towards the tip.

His mind raced through Ding Haifeng's notebook filled with data, through the pump speed and centrifugal force, but he couldn't get it right.

He opened his eyes and turned the impeller upside down to look at it in the light.

"There is a short crack at the root of the impeller, about 0.3 cm deep and less than 1 mm long. The end of the crack is blunt and will not expand during use." He paused, and his voice gradually became steady. "It can be used in low-pressure pumps, with a pressure drop of two levels and a rated speed not exceeding 2,000 rpm."

The judge stopped writing and glanced at him.

He was an old master craftsman with gray hair, wearing faded work clothes with "Binhai Shipyard" printed on his left chest.

He stared at Zhou Haisheng for a while, put his pen down in his notebook, stood up, and walked out of the competition room.

Jiang Haiping stood at the door and saw the judges come out. He then broke off a loquat leaf in his hand.

The judge walked up to him and took off his reading glasses.

"Are you the leader of the Moon Island team?"

"Yes."

"Is that one inside a veteran member of your service station?"

Jiang Haiping glanced into the competition room.

Zhou Haisheng was putting the last old part back on the workbench. After putting it back, he ran his finger over the back of the impeller again, as if to confirm something.

"He only came this year. Less than six months ago."

The judge put his reading glasses back on, glanced back at worktable number one in the competition area, and then turned and left.

He took two steps and waved.

"What is the name of the entry number for the old documents management project, which is number one?"

"Zhou Haisheng".

The judge nodded, wrote a few words in his notebook, and returned to the competition room.

Jiang Haiping twirled the loquat leaf between his fingers and leaned it against the cement pillar at the entrance of the competition room.

During the competition, Zhou Haisheng was still standing in front of the worktable, waiting for the judges to check the scores.

Sunlight streamed through the window paper, making the beads of sweat on his face glisten.

Ah Hai squatted by the west wall, having already thoroughly examined the No. 3 diesel engine.

This is a Xichai four-cylinder engine. There are some signs of recent tightening on the fuel line connectors, probably because one of the previous drivers tightened them.

He took the torque wrench out of his tool bag and placed it on the ground. He then took the package of copper washers out of the old newspapers, arranged them on a piece of cardboard, and picked one up to examine it against the light.

The gasket edges are smooth and free of burrs.

"The person before me tightened the hydraulic connector, but I don't know if the torque was right." He pressed his finger on the hydraulic connector to test the tightness. "I have to tighten them all again."

"Twist it again when you get back on stage." Jiang Haiping walked over. "Now that you've twisted it, the judges will think you didn't do this step."

Ah Hai put the wrench back into his tool bag and squatted down next to the diesel engine to wait.

The wind was strong by the west wall, making a tuft of his hair stand up. He tried to press it down, but it stood up again. He just ignored it.

He had been waiting for almost an hour, and he kept talking, either about the torque value or the water temperature. The contestant squatting next to him kept moving to the side because of his constant talking.

When it was finally his turn, he picked up his tool bag, went to the center of the arena, and nodded to the judges.

The judge flipped through the score sheet. "Number three, Moon Island Service Station."

Ah Hai walked to the diesel engine but didn't start working immediately.

He walked around the diesel engine, bending down to look at the oil lines, belts, and bolts on the flywheel housing. After looking at it once, he walked around it again from the other side.

The judge's pen paused on the notebook, waiting.

"Let's do a visual inspection first." Ah Hai seemed to be talking to himself, or explaining to the judge, "Check for any loose joints and signs of oil leakage."

After completing the second lap, he drew a sketch in his notebook, marking six oil line connections that needed to be checked, and then picked up a wrench to start disassembling the first one.

The order of disassembly is the same as the order of reassembly, from the outside to the inside.

When I removed the fuel injector, I touched the needle valve with my finger and there was no carbon buildup.

When he reached the third oil line connector, he used a torque wrench to test the torque, and it was a little looser than the standard value.

He put down the wrench and wrote a line in his notebook: "The torque of the third oil line connector is insufficient, deviating from the standard value by about 0.3 Nm."

The judge made a few scribbles in his notebook.

When they put it back together, Ah Hai started talking again. "Pre-tighten the oil line connector first, then apply torque. Pre-tighten by hand, and apply torque with a torque wrench."

He used his fingers to tighten the fuel injector cap into place, and then slowly tightened it with a torque wrench. When the wrench made a soft "click", he stopped, without tightening it any further.

The judges' pens scratched on the notebook.

Outside the west wall, Ah Guang squatted on the ground, spreading the registration book on his knees and drawing circles.

He dared not look at Zhou Haisheng in the competition room, nor at Ahai by the west wall, so he took a pen and drew one circle after another on the paper.

Hong Xiaobing sat next to him, breaking the sesame candy in half, placing one half on his own lap and the other half on A Guang's lap.

"You eat it." Hong Xiaobing took a bite of his half and chewed it with a loud crunch.

Ah Guang picked up the sesame candy, took a bite, put it down, and continued drawing circles.

The door to the welding competition room opened slightly, and Ding Haisheng came out, hanging his mask on the tool rack by the door.

He has completed one vertical weld and one horizontal weld, and there is one overhead weld left.

He scooped up a handful of cold water from the tap and splashed it on his face, the water dripping down his chin onto the collar of his work clothes.