Daming 1805

For the next period of time, Zhu Jingyuan wrote design plans and drew simple design drawings in the room when he had time.

Although it is possible to send faxes, the design drawings should be as few as possible, and should be sent out in one sheet as much as possible.

Use as many words as possible to describe.

After nearly ten days of tossing around like this, Zhu Jingyuan felt that he had basically explained the plan for the typewriter.

Just Yu Muxue checked it for herself, and then sent it to the telegraph office, and then sent it to the Ministry of Industry of the capital.

It is of course more than enough for a high-achieving student who graduated from a university to be a clerk for himself.

Zhu Jingyuan continued to write the design scheme of the mechanical computer.

Mechanical computers already existed, but Zhu Jingyuan planned to build a more mature one.

Even get ready to experiment with binary, using a light bulb switch to represent the result.

However, the structure of the mechanical computer itself is extremely complex, and the large computing computer is extremely heavy.

If you want to make it binary, it may make the structure a little simpler, but it will make it heavier.

If it is also programmable, there is enough computing power...

Input devices, memory, calculators, controllers, output devices...

After scratching his hair for more than ten days, Zhu Jingyuan sealed up his binary mechanical programmable computer scheme.

Don't be mechanical, go directly to the electronic tube!

The first electronic tube computer was not Eniac, which was completed after the war.

In fact, it was designed in the 30s, and a small one was produced in the early 40s.

But it's still not an easy job...

Before Zhu Jing finished drawing the electronic tube computer design, she suddenly received a message from the Ministry of Industry and Engineering of the Beijing Normal University.

Request for advice about design of typewriter.

Zhu Jingyuan put down his work, picked up the telegram sent by Yu Muxue and read it carefully.

The first is the customary strong admiration for one's own design ideas.

Zhu Jingyuan knew that most of them were sincere, because after all, his design copied the experience of cross-ages.

But seeing this kind of thing too much makes it numb.

Zhu Jingyuan glanced at it, skipped the sincere nonsense, and went straight to the actual content.

The craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry put forward suggestions for improving their designs.

This made Zhu Jingyuan a little curious and surprised, and continued to carefully check the content of their improvement suggestions, but soon found that he had been affected by inertial thinking.

Referring to the input method design logic of later generations, I took it for granted that typing on a typewriter is equivalent to typing on a computer keyboard.

But in fact there is a big difference between the two.

The craftsmen of Daming did not have this kind of inertial thinking, so they quickly discovered a more reasonable improved design.

In the Wubi input method, four keys produce one character, and the keys must be pressed in a fixed order.

If the keystroke sequence changes, another character will be typed out.

But on your own typewriter, you don't actually need to press the keys in order.

Because the Wubi input method on the computer is equivalent to each button being an axis.

My own typewriter has only four axes in total, and the relative positions of the four axes are fixed.

That is to say, there is already a physical internal order, and there is no way to exchange positions between the four axes.

The keyboard is actually divided into four groups.

Each group of keys controls an axis, and one key in each group corresponds to a face of the axis, or a traverse node.

The commands for each key are fixed.

The output will not change due to different keystroke sequences.

Therefore, there is no need to distinguish the order of keys in different areas, and they can even be pressed at the same time.

Like a piano chord, the four keys from the four zones are pressed simultaneously, and the four shafts inside rotate simultaneously.

The correct target Chinese character will be selected directly.

If you press the keys in order, the previous keys can be modified at will between the last key.

When the last key is pressed, the positions of the previous keys will take effect.

Conversely, if the Wubi input method also physically partitions the keyboard, you can also press the four keys at the same time to directly output characters.

This is actually the typing method of the speed recorder.

Multiple keystrokes at the same time, one word at a time.

Even the four keys of the left and right hands are pressed at the same time, two words at a time.

At the same time, the disadvantage of this design is also very obvious, that is, the theoretical encoding capacity will be greatly reduced.

The Wubi input method on computers of later generations uses a total of 25 letter keys.

The order is distinguished between the four keys, and the total number of codes that can be used is 25 to the fourth power, a total of more than 39.

If 25 keys are divided into four physical partitions, the number of codes accommodated becomes the product of the number of keys in the four partitions.

Six multiplied by six, then multiplied by six, and finally multiplied by seven, there are more than 500 codes in total.

This is absolutely not enough.

Zhu Jingyuan's design also has this problem.

Zhu Jingyuan made changes referring to Lin Yutang's design, but ignored that Lin Yutang's typing method and machine design were integrated.

Lin Yutang's keyboard has a total of 72 keys, which are divided into 36 initial codes, 28 suffix codes, and eight character selection codes. The number of keys in the three areas can be multiplied to accommodate 64 codes.

Zhu Jingyuan only needs 32 keys, which are divided into four groups on average, each group has eight keys, and the encoding capacity is 96.

More than 4000 numbers can accommodate all first-level commonly used Chinese characters, and can meet the daily needs of writing diaries and letters.

But professionalism is still not enough.

It is not enough in the government office and commercial environment, let alone literary creation and publishing related institutions.

Therefore, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry made suggestions to increase the number of keys and the corresponding coding capacity.

The main purpose is to increase the number of Chinese characters arranged on each surface of the small drum, corresponding to the number of keys in the corresponding key area.

If the corresponding keys are increased to sixteen, there will be a total of 190 codes.

It can also accommodate all Chinese characters in the "Universal Standard Chinese Character Table" appointed by Emperor Shizu.

After Emperor Shizu reunified the world, he once again carried out a book and writing operation.

Organize all Chinese characters in the world and determine the standard writing method of each character.

It was included in the "General List of Standard Chinese Characters of the Ming Dynasty", and the "Dictionary of the Ming Dynasty" including all standard Chinese characters was compiled.

Then, on the basis of this general list and dictionary, various rare words with special and exclusive uses were eliminated.

Selected [-] Chinese characters that can meet most of the writing purposes, and included them in the "General Standard Chinese Character List".

It also stipulates that the official documents, education and training, sign boards, publishing and printing, and literary creation of all levels of the government in the future must be the standard Chinese characters in this table.

Other rare and special characters can only be used for other artistic purposes such as private calligraphy.

As long as it can fully accommodate the general standard Chinese character table, this typewriter can meet most usage scenarios.

In addition, scholars from the Ministry of Rites suggested that the number of codes should continue to be increased on this basis.

Relatively common rare characters and various common variant characters are also included.

It can be used by the Ministry of Rites to deal with special historical books, record and compile documents related to rare characters and variant characters.

The Ministry of Industry suggested that an enhanced version be specially made to increase the number of Chinese characters on each side of the small drum to 32.

Double the number of codes to 380 four, which can basically meet the needs of the Ministry of Rites.

After reading it, Zhu Jingyuan realized that he had actually made a mistake in calculating the key and code.

The craftsmen pointed it out to themselves, but instead of saying it directly, they suggested a modification.

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and shook his head, and wrote a response in person:

"The masters of the Ministry of Industry and the gentlemen of the Ministry of Rites are very capable, so let's follow this plan.

"In the future, if you find omissions and mistakes in my planning, you can directly raise them without being so euphemistic."

When Zhu Jingyuan's news was sent to the Ministry of Industry, the working group specially set up for typewriters was busy.

Zhu Jing herself did not take the typewriter too seriously, but the relevant departments of the imperial court did not.

Although the current Ming Dynasty was rebuilt by Emperor Shizu, it has completed in-depth transformation and modernization on a large scale.

But in name and in essence, he is still the leader of oriental civilization.

Although Zhu Cihong raised the status of soldiers, the Ming court was still essentially a literati court.

Technologies related to writing, writing, and recording are the most valued technologies in the Ming Dynasty.

The typewriter is a typical technology in this category.

Although everyone thinks that writing Chinese characters is an art, the demand for its industrialization and standardization also exists.

It's not that Ming Dynasty didn't design typewriters, and it didn't mean that it didn't care about typewriters at all. It's just that no one made real typewriters.

Zhu Jingyuan's current design of the typewriter, the logic of its operation and the possible effects envisioned, all made the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Industry and even the emperor feel that their eyes were bright.

If this thing is raised to a political level, this invention can be promoted to the great merit of papermaking and printing.

Therefore, after Zhu Jingyuan's design was sent to the capital, it soon became a key project of the cabinet, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Rites.

Under the emperor's instruction, the cabinet led the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites to cooperate with each other to fully promote the research and development work.

When the craftsmen were trying to draw the drawings, they discovered the omissions in Zhu Jingyuan's design.

So the officials were asked to tell Zhu Jingyuan what to say, and at the same time directly adjust and modify the original design.

The Ministry of Rites recruited a large group of scholars to cooperate with craftsmen to analyze and compile coding rules.

Zhu Jingyuan's response was delivered, and the craftsmen and scholars breathed a sigh of relief after reading it, and then immediately continued to work.

Twenty days later, the first active typing machine was produced.

Since it is a test, there is no cover at all, and all mechanical structures are directly exposed to the outside.

Behind the four rows of metal keys, an eight-sided roller is mounted in a cavity.

Since the coding font library is not ready, the fonts on the drum are all blank. This time it is just to test the machine structure.

Behind the roller is a paper clip, and a specially made ribbon is separated between the paper clip and the roller.

There is a whole row of metal feet on the back of the paper clip to press the paper forward.

Qi Yanhuai, the master engineer in charge of machine design, pressed the buttons of the four zones in sequence, and the rollers in the cavity rotated accordingly.

After the four keys had been struck, a metal foot on the back of the paperclip struck forward, making a soft snap.

If the encoding is completed and the font installation is complete, then the first character will be typed out.

"It looks okay..."

Qi Yanhuai also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and continued to press those metal buttons, watching the drum in the cavity continue to rotate.

There were more than a dozen thuds, slaps, slaps, and then the machine suddenly stopped moving.

"This button is a bit laborious..."

Qi Yanhuai rubbed his numb fingers, lowered his head to check the structure in the cavity:
"Where is it stuck..."