Lesson Six: The Power of Science

3
The state should not only act with great foresight, but also be able to wait patiently

It would seem that the young Soviet branch science in no way could compete with the German industrial institutes, which had the most powerful material base, excellent scientists and strong traditions. German concerns have long contained large research institutions. Here, well remembered the statement of Professor P. Thiessen: “Research is the foundation of technical superiority over the enemy. Research is the basis for worldwide competition. ” However, it is not enough to have power - you still need to use it properly.

People's Commissariat tank USSR industry was able to fully utilize its modest scientific resources. All research institutions and organizations that could bring at least some benefit were connected to solving pressing problems of tank building.

It should be noted that this was facilitated by the entire system of Soviet applied science, originally created to serve the interests of not individual firms and factories, but at least the industry. Incidentally, such a system does not necessarily derive from the socialist system: the first industry-wide scientific structure appeared in Sweden in 1747, as part of the so-called Iron Office. By the way, it still operates today under the name “Association of Steel Manufacturers of the Scandinavian countries”.

Departmental Institutions of NKTP

The Commissariat of the tank industry of the war years consisted of two main research institutions: the “armored” institute of the Central Research Institute-48 and the design and technological institute 8-SPPI.

SRI-48 (director - A. Zavyalov) joined the newly formed NKTP in the autumn of 1941, and was immediately evacuated to Sverdlovsk, closer to the new tank plants. In accordance with the regulation approved by 15 on July 1942 of the year, it became officially referred to as the State Central Scientific Research Institute of the USSR NKTP (TsNII-48). In the list of his tasks were:

“A) the development and introduction into production of new types of armor and armor, structural and tool steel, non-ferrous and various special alloys in order to reduce their deficient or becoming scarce alloying elements, improve the quality of products manufactured by NKTP plants and increase productivity the latter;

b) development and implementation of a rational wartime metallurgical technology in the industries existing at NKTP plants and armored plants of other people's commissariats, with the aim of maximizing the output of products, improving their quality, increasing the productivity of factories and reducing the consumption rates of metal, raw materials and materials;

Lesson Six: The Power of Science

Andrei Sedykh collage


c) technological assistance to factories in mastering new technologies or equipment for them, as well as working methods in order to overcome the bottlenecks and difficulties encountered in factories;

d) assistance in enhancing the technical qualifications of workers of NKTP factories by transferring to them the theoretical and practical experience of armor production and other productions of the profile of NKTP factories accumulated in the USSR and abroad;

e) organization of inter-plant exchange of advanced technical experience of plants;

e) development of the theory and new ways of using armor protection for arming the Red Army;

g) coordination of all research and development work carried out in the NKTP system on issues of armor, metallurgy, metallurgy, hot working and welding of metals and alloys;

h) comprehensive technical assistance to the design offices and other organizations and enterprises of other people's commissariats on all matters of armor production. ”

A visual representation of the scale of the activities of SRI-48 is given by its annual reports. So, in 1943 alone, proposals to reduce the amount of rolled dimensions used in 2,5 were developed and partially implemented in practice. Technical processes for forging and stamping parts of the T-34 tank were also unified for all plants, the technical conditions for their heat treatment were revised, welding processes for T-four and steel castings were standardized, a chemical-thermal tool grinding method was developed, a casting of tank towers was developed in the chill mold, new grades of armor steel: 68L for cast parts T-34, an improved version of 8С for rolled armor, and 3 - steel with high hardness in a highly extruded condition. At the Ural tank factory, the employees of the Scientific Research Institute-48 have worked and introduced into production an advanced high-speed steel grade, I-323. To this it is necessary to add the regular surveys of the defeats of the domestic and enemy armored vehicles, both at repair factories and directly on the battlefield. The received reports and recommendations were immediately brought to the attention of all the chief designers of combat vehicles.

Or, for example, information of a different kind: during January - October of 1944, the following reports of CRI-48 were discussed at meetings of the Technical Council of NKTP (where representatives of all plants were invited):

"Unified technological processes for the manufacture of castings of iron, steel and non-ferrous metals."

"Documentation for forging technology - stamping".

"The effect of strain rate on metal penetration resistance."

"Modern types of anti-tank artillery and the development of the reservation of tanks."

"Vysokoupuschennaya armor high hardness."

"Technological properties of low-alloyed high-speed steel Р823 and the results of its introduction into the production of the plant number 183".

"Increasing the strength of steel due to intensifiers (boron-containing additives, zirconium, etc.)".

"Increasing the strength of steel for heavily loaded gears."

"Improving the fatigue strength of crankshafts manufactured from steel grade 18ХНМА".

"Normal chemical composition and mechanical properties of steel grades used in tank construction."

And so - during all the war years. The load and pace are unbelievable, considering that at the end of 1943, the staff of TsNII-48 included all 236 workers, including janitors and technicals. True, among them were 2 academician, 1 corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 4 doctors and 10 candidates of science.

8-th State All-Union Design Institute of the Tank Industry (director - A.I. Solin) at the end of 1941, was evacuated to Chelyabinsk. In the first period of the war, all forces of 8SPI were turned to the tasks of the Commissariat for the placement and launch of evacuated tank and engine factories, as well as the development of simplified wartime technology.

By the middle of 1942, other tasks came to the fore: the unification of technological processes (primarily mechanical processing and assembly) and the provision of various scientific and technical assistance to enterprises. Thus, in the Urals tank factory, a team of scientists and designers of 8GSPI in the summer and autumn engaged in complex calculation of plant capacity, theoretical calculations of the tank transmission, reducing the range of ferrous metals used, improving the design and manufacturing technology of 26 machine parts, and unifying the cutting tool. The Central Standardization Bureau operating in 8GSPI created and implemented directly at enterprises standards in the field of drawing equipment, parts and assemblies of tanks, organization of measuring and measuring equipment, unification of tools, accessories, dies, and technological documentation. Thanks to the help of the bureau, the thirty-fours manufacturers were able to achieve complete interchangeability among the nodes: onboard gear, onboard clutch, gearbox, main clutch, drive wheel, track rollers with external and internal damping, sloth. The introduction of the bureau's development, according to 1944 estimates, has reduced the labor intensity in the industry by 0,5 a million machine hours per year. The quality of Soviet tanks and self-propelled guns was largely predetermined by technical control standards, also compiled by 8-SPI personnel.

A separate and important area of ​​work for 8-GSPI is the creation for army repairmen and repair shops of NKTP documentation on the restoration of tanks and engines of all types, including trophy ones and supplied by the allies. During 1942 alone, technical specifications appeared for overhaul and troop repair of KV, T-34, T-60 and T-70 tanks and В-2-34, В-2КВ and GAZ-202 motors, as well as albums of drawings for dismantling and installation of nodes T-34 and KV in field conditions.

Involved technological research institutes and laboratories

In addition to the main institutions, scientists from a number of design and technological institutions that previously operated in other sectors of the national economy worked on the tank industry.

It is known that the main part of the collective of the central laboratory of the plant number 183 consisted of employees of the Kharkov Institute of Metals, evacuated together with the company in 1941 year. At one time, in 1928, this scientific institution was established as a branch of the Leningrad All-Union Institute of Metals of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. The latter led his history from 1914 of the year and was originally called the Central Scientific and Technical Laboratory of the Military Department. In September, the 1930 of the Kharkov Metal Institute became independent, but it retained the same research topics: heat power engineering of metallurgical furnaces, technology of foundry production, hot and cold working and welding, physical and mechanical properties of metals.

The State All-Union Research Laboratory for Cutting Tools and Ignatiev Electric Welding (LARIG) located on the site of the plant number 183 in accordance with the order on the NKTP from 26 December 1941 year, and retained the status of an independent institution. The duties of the laboratory included the provision of technical assistance to all enterprises of the industry in the field of design, manufacture and repair of cutting tools, as well as the development of electric welding machines.

The first major result of the work of LARIG was obtained in July 1942 of the year: at the factory number 183, the introduction of boring multi-cutter units developed in the laboratory began. At the end of the year, scientists, applying new cutters of their own design and changing the modes of their work, achieved a significant increase in the productivity of carousel machines that processed the driving wheels of the tank. Thus, the “bottleneck” that limited the tank conveyor was eliminated.

During the same 1942 of the year, LARIG completed the work already begun before the war on the introduction of cast tool holders instead of the standard forged ones. This reduced the cost of the tool and unloaded the forge production. It turned out that the casting holders, although inferior in mechanical strength forged, served no worse than the latter. By the end of the year, the laboratory introduced shorter taps into production. This project also began before the war, and together with the institute 8GSPI.

During the war years, another enterprise at NKTP, Uralmashzavod, operated ENIMS, that is, the Experimental Scientific Institute of machine tools. Its employees developed, and UZTM manufactured a number of unique machines and entire automated lines used throughout the People's Commissariat.

Thus, at the Ural tank factory No. 183, the ENIMS brigade in the spring of 1942 “put on” the production of rollers with internal depreciation. She created the process and working drawings for the three fixtures and 14 positions of the cutting and auxiliary tools. In addition, the projects of multi-spindle drilling head and modernization of the carousel machine "ZHOR" were completed. An additional task for ENIMS was the development and manufacture of eight special machines for turning wheels.

The same thing happened with the handling of balancers. The ENIMS team was engaged both in the technological process as a whole and in the creation of a special tool. In addition, the institute took over the design and manufacture of two aggregate boring machines: one multi-spindle and one multi-position. By the end of 1942, both were manufactured.

Academic and university science

The most famous academic institution working in the tank industry is the Kiev Institute of Electric Welding of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, headed by Academician E. O. Paton. During 1942 – 1943, the Institute, together with employees of the armored corps department of Plant No. 183, created a whole range of machines of various types and purposes. In the 1945-m UTZ used the following auto-welding installation:

-universal type for welding straight longitudinal seams;
- universal self-propelled carts;
- the simplified specialized carts;
- installations for welding of circular seams with a fixed product;
- installations with a carousel for rotating the product when welding circular seams;
- self-propelled installations with a common drive for feeding the electrode wire and moving the head for welding seams on bulky structures.


In 1945, automatic machines accounted for 23 percent of welding work (by weight of weld metal) on the hull and 30 percent on the tower of the T-34 tank. The use of automatic machines allowed already in 1942-m only at one factory No. 183 to release 60 qualified welders, and in 1945-m 140. A very important circumstance: the high quality of the seam during automatic welding eliminated the negative consequences of the failure of machining the edges of armor parts. Throughout the war, the manual for automatic welding of armored structures made up by employees of the Electric Welding Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR in 1942 was used as an instruction manual for automatic welding machines in the industry.

The activity of the institute was not limited only to automatic welding. His staff introduced a method for repairing cracks in tank tracks using austenitic electrode welding, a device for cutting round holes in armor plates. Scientists have also developed a scheme for the flow production of high-quality MD electrodes and the technology for drying them on a conveyor belt.

Much less known are the results of work at the NKTP of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology. Throughout the war, he continued to study the problems of interaction between the projectile and armor, created various versions of constructive armor barriers and multi-layered armor. It is known that prototypes were manufactured and shelled at Uralmash.

A very interesting story is connected with the Moscow Technical University named after Bauman. At the beginning of 1942, the management of NKTP became interested in cutting tools with rational sharpening angles, created during the long-term work of scientists from this famous Russian university. It was known that such a tool was already used at the plants of the People's Commissariat of Armaments.

To begin with, an attempt was made to obtain information about the innovation directly in the Armed Forces Commissariat, but apparently without much success. As a result, scientists from the Mechanical Engineering Theory and Instrument Department of the Moscow Technical Technical University, headed by Professor I. M. Pesrozvanny, became instructors in introducing the rational geometry of the cutting tool at the NKTP enterprises. In the summer and autumn of 1943, quite successful experiments took place, and 12 in November was followed by an order from NKTP on the widespread introduction of such a tool and the direction of MVTU employees to plants No. 183 and No. 76. By the same order, the People's Commissariat ordered the 8GSPI institute to take part in the project and immediately prepare normals for the instrument with rational geometry.

The project turned out to be more than successful: the cutters, drills and cutters had more durability in 1,6 – 5 and allowed to increase the productivity of machines by 25 – 30 percent. Simultaneously with the rational geometry, MVTU scientists proposed a system of chip breakers for incisors. With their help, plant number 183 at least partially solved the problems with cleaning and further disposal of chips.

By the end of the war, scientists of the department of cutting MVTU them. Bauman made a special guide entitled "Guidance on the geometry of the cutting tool." By order of the People's Commissariat they were approved "... as mandatory in the design of special cutting tools at NKTP plants and in the further development of new 8GPI normals" and sent to all enterprises and institutions of the industry.

Another interesting technology - surface hardening of steel parts using high-frequency currents - was introduced at the enterprises of the tank industry by the employees of the electrothermal laboratory of the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, headed by Professor V.P. Vologdin. At the beginning of 1942, the entire staff of the laboratory consisted of 19 people, and 9 of them operated at the Chelyabinsk Kirov factory. As the object of processing, the most mass parts were chosen - gears of the onboard gearbox, cylinder liners and piston fingers of the B-2 diesel engine. After mastering the new technology, the percent of Chelyabinsk CZP thermal furnaces were freed up to 70, and the operation time decreased from tens of hours to tens of minutes.

At the Tagil plant number 183, HDTV hardening technology was introduced in 1944. Initially, three parts were subjected to surface hardening - the gun trunnion, the main friction clutch and the drive wheel roller axle.

The examples given are a list of research institutes and laboratories that created technologies for the tank industry of the USSR are not exhausted. But this is enough to understand: during the war years, NCTP turned into the largest scientific and production association of our country.

Swan, cancer and pike in the German version

In contrast to the USSR, German industry science was divided into close corporate bollards and the iron curtain was cut off from university science. In any case, a large group of scientific and technical leaders of the former Third Reich argues in the review “The heyday and decline of German science”, compiled after the end of the war. Let's allow ourselves to give a rather extensive quotation: “The research organization of industry was independent, did not need the help of any ministry, state research council or other departments ... This organization worked for itself and at the same time behind closed doors. The consequence was that a researcher from a higher educational institution not only knew nothing, but did not even suspect about the discoveries and improvements that were made in industrial laboratories. It happened because any concern was beneficial for reasons of competition to keep the inventions of its scientists in secret. As a result, knowledge did not flow into a common large pot and could only bring partial success for the common cause. ” The Minister of Armaments and Military Production A. Speer tried to unite industrialists in the system of sectoral “committees” and “centers”, to establish technological cooperation between the plants, but could not solve the problem completely. Corporate interests were paramount.

If sectoral institutes worked for concerns, then German university science in the first period of World War II was completely out of business. On the basis of the strategy of a lightning war, the leadership of the Reich considered it possible to complete it weaponswith which the troops entered the battle. Consequently, all studies that do not promise results in the shortest possible time (not more than a year) were declared unnecessary and curtailed. We read further the review “The heyday and decline of German science”: “Scientists were assigned to the category of human resources from which replenishments were drawn for the front ... As a result, despite objections from the arms department and various other institutions, several thousand highly qualified scientists from universities, higher technical educational institutions and various research institutes, including indispensable specialists in high-frequency research, nuclear physics, chemistry, motor-building, etc., were still at the beginning Oina drafted into the army and used to lower positions, and even as soldiers. " Major defeats and the appearance on the battlefield of new types of weapons (Soviet T-34 tanks, British radars, American long-range bombers, etc.) forced Hitler and his entourage to temper their rejection of intellectuals: 10 thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians were withdrawn from the front . Among them were even 100 humanities. J. Goebbels had to issue a special directive on the prohibition of attacks against scientists in the press, on the radio, in the cinema and in the theater.

But it was already too late: due to the loss of pace, research results and new developments, sometimes promising, did not have time to get into the troops. Let us give a general conclusion of the same review “The heyday and decline of German science”: “Science and technology are incompatible with improvisation. A state that wants to get real fruits of science and technology should not only act with great foresight and art, but also be able to wait patiently for these fruits. ”
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  1. +6
    28 February 2015 10: 08
    The longer I live, the more respect for the USSR. Many things about the country in which we lived were simply unknown to us. And much was taken for granted, although it was the result of the hard work of many people.
  2. 0
    28 February 2015 11: 04
    Strength in labor hi
  3. 0
    23 July 2016 19: 55
    Interesting article. Even now, such a vast experience of interaction would not hinder us for the defense of the country.

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