A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 347 The Father of the Telephone
In addition to the Machinery Hall and the Transportation Hall, the Electric Hall also grabs the limelight.Tesla, Zou Zhou and others also rushed to the venue.

Tesla said happily: "Boss, have you looked at the stock market? It's very good now. The market value has exceeded Mr. Morgan's estimate of 2000 million U.S. dollars!"

Li Yu said with a smile: "If radio can continue to play a role in St. Louis during this period, the market value may double again."

Tesla was too excited: "So, my stock will continue to make a lot of money? God, if my old friend Mark Twain, who has failed in investment and stock trading for decades, sees it, he will probably be so angry fly!"

Mark Twain in New York must have had several sneezes at this point.

Li Yu was in a good mood when he saw Tesla, and he was also happier.

Without Li Yu, Tesla would have fallen into a complete economic crisis this year in history.

Li Yu said: "Then it depends on the next performance."

Since the new radio factory in the Bronx, New York, was almost built, many newcomers were recruited during this period.

The process of recruiting was very smooth, because Li Yu firstly held the core patents in his hands, and secondly, he offered high-paying conditions, so talents were flocking to them.

Tesla quickly led people to build a radio station and set up a tall antenna.

The Electrical Museum invited Edison to be responsible for the overall inspection, and he was demonstrating the telegraph launch to the crowd with Marconi at this time.

Marconi regretted losing the order from the U.S. Navy last time, because he lost not only hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also more than half of the marine radio market, and he was heartbroken!However, he always believed that it was caused by his wrong business quotation strategy, and he was still very confident in his products.

"Visitors who come here today can send a telegram to them for free, and the receiving address can be Springfield City or Chicago." Marconi said loudly.

The visitors were really interested: "Free telegram?"

Marconi said, "Yes, it's free!"

Visitors said: "Is it like sending and receiving letters?"

Marconi said: "Yes, sir, but the telegram is much faster!"

A visitor said: "Springfield is more than 80 miles (120 kilometers) away from St. Louis, and Chicago is 250 miles (400 kilometers) away. Such a long distance can be reached in an instant?"

Springfield City is Springfield, the capital of Illinois. It is a transliteration of Springfield, and the literal translation becomes Springfield.The name is common in American cities, and there is a better known Springfield Armory as well as Springfield Rifles.

Marconi said to himself: "No problem!"

A visitor said: "Sounds good, but unfortunately my family is in Atlanta, can it be delivered?"

"Oh, Atlanta..." Marconi, who is Italian, thought over a map of the United States in his mind, and then said, "Is it in Georgia, and how far away?"

"Around 500 miles (800 kilometers)," said the visitor.

"I'm so sorry, we can't do that," Marconi said.

The visitor was a little dissatisfied: "Why? Has Atlanta declined to this extent?"

Marconi quickly said: "It's not like that, it's just because the distance is too far, we haven't set up a transit base station halfway, and it's really difficult to promote new technologies in the south."

The visitor asked: "So when can you do it?"

Marconi spread his hands: "I still have to say sorry, I don't know."

When the visitor wanted to continue asking questions, Li Yu's voice suddenly came from the side:
"Free to send and receive telegrams throughout the United States."

Looking at the map, St. Louis is located close to the geographic center of the United States.

Another reason why Li Yu dared to say that was because of this tall radio tower.

After the visitors heard it, they all gathered in front of Li Yu's booth.

"Can it be sent to Atlanta?" the visitor asked.

Li Yu said, "Of course, it's fine even in New York and San Francisco."

"Can I try it?"

"And me, I want to test and contact New York. I am away all the year round, so I really need this kind of equipment."

"Yeah, such a long distance, there is no other way."

"Everyone line up, don't squeeze, come one by one!"

The phone definitely needs a phone line, and there is no mobile phone at this time.

So when you watch war movies, you still take the masterpiece "Bright Sword" as an example. In it, Li Yunlong can often call the brigade commander, but there is no radio station.

Not only Li Yunlong, but also Ding Wei and Kong Jie of the "Shanxi Northwest Iron Triangle" also have such difficulties. They all said: "If I have a radio station, I will definitely ask my superiors." Don't even want to eat it."

The radio station at the headquarters can only reach the division brigade level.

Seeing this situation, Marconi was really helpless. He obviously had the first-mover advantage, but lost the big market in the United States because of his arrogance.

In fact, not only Marconi, most people still feel that the United States is not as good as Europe at this time, and that the Yankees can use what the Europeans have left.

Tesla and Zou Zhou were busy sending them telegrams.

Alans, a reporter from the British "Times", was also very interested in the powerful communication capabilities of Li Yu's radio station, "Mr. your radio skills to report."

Li Yu said: "You can buy it yourself."

The reporter asked: "I still have some questions. It just so happens that you came from the Qing Dynasty. It is not easy to find someone like you now. After all, you have some understanding of the situation."

Li Yu said: "If it's about military and political matters, I think it's better for you to ask the embassies of Japan and Russia."

The reporter quickly said: "I don't mean that, because we can't get real and effective information from them. So we want to rent a special ship as a news ship to go to the waters of Lushun, but the radio equipment on this ship must be stable. , to transmit messages over long distances.”

"The Times" is really rich, and for the first-hand news, it is willing to spend a lot of money to rent a boat.

Li Yu said: "Mr. Reporter, you mean to build a base station in Qingdao or Weihaiwei?"

The reporter said: "I don't understand technical matters, but our purpose is to be able to pass the news back as soon as possible."

Li Yu said: "It can be done. It just so happens that this batch of ours has high-power radio equipment specially used for ships."

The reporter said: "This is great! We got information from the US Navy that we know that there is such a useful radio equipment."

Historically, "The Times" did charter a Hong Kong merchant ship, the Haimen, as a news ship, and then relying on the Anglo-Japanese alliance, it directly flew to the front line with the British flag.And use the radio to send the press release to Weihaiwei first, and then send it back to the country.

During the Russo-Japanese War, The Times had a head start by radioing tens of thousands of words of factual reporting.

It just so happened that Li Yu's radio could become famous again.

Li Yu just felt the problem of telephone and telegram, and saw a few people in suits and ties coming to his booth.

The other party first introduced himself: "Mr. Li Yu, hello, I am from AT&T."

AT&T is AT&T. People who dealt with parallel iPhones a few years ago must be very familiar with them. Many of the hacked phones and card stickers are "American contract phones" from AT&T.

Li Yu shook hands with him: "Are you... Bell?!"

AT&T was originally the Bell Telephone Company.

"Unexpectedly, my name is still known by the mysterious, great and erudite scientific giant Mr. Li Yu." Bell laughed.

Bale is now in his fifties and in pretty good spirits.

Li Yu said, "You are famous far and wide."

Bell was very polite: "I can't compare to you! Your name is a household name. Now as long as I don't stare at it, someone in the company must be secretly watching the Star Wars series."

Li Yu also laughed and said, "I will entrust Collins Publishing Group to publish a Star Wars spinoff in a short time, and you will have to worry about it again."

Bell said: "I will definitely take a day off first and read it!"

Bell looked at the wireless telegraph exhibited by Li Yuly Company, and said, "I never thought you could overcome this key technology. I am here to represent AT&T to discuss patent royalties with you."

Li Yu's mind turned quickly, and he immediately understood: "Electronic triode?"

Bell nodded: "That's right. To be honest, the company now has a project to connect the East Coast and West Coast of the United States. This is a huge project. The copper wire needs at least 5000 tons, and the total length exceeds [-] kilometers. But when we designed it, we encountered great difficulties.”

The cost of this project seems to be twice that of the Panama Canal at the same time.

Not long after its birth, the communications industry quickly became a big money burner.

Li Yu said: "The difficulty Mr. Bell mentioned should be the weakening of the signal, right?"

Bell said: "It's really convenient to talk to smart people. You are right. We have tried many methods, and even added a lot of induction coils. Although it can effectively reduce the attenuation, it is still not enough, at least not to achieve unimpeded communication."

Li Yu said, "So you thought of a vacuum triode."

Bell said: "I have seen your patent, and I am amazed by the technology, which can amplify the signal by more than a thousand times. We will definitely pay the corresponding patent royalties according to the length of the call when we use your technology."

This is a super big customer, much bigger than the U.S. Navy.

Moreover, it is only a patent royalty, and there is no need to provide too much equipment.

When the line is connected, the annual patent fee will exceed the sum of all Li Yu's previous patents, or even much more.

Knowledge is money!
It's just that what really takes time is the long line erection process, and it will take many years to get through the phone.

At that time, Li Yu must have already set up many long-distance telephone lines in China.

It is naturally impossible for Li Yu to refuse Bell's request, because this is the inevitable way to use the triode after its invention.

"I will design a triode suitable for your company's telephone line." Li Yu said.

Bell said happily: "Great! I'm going to use your radio to transmit this matter back to the headquarters. Didn't you say that today's visitors can send a telegram for free?"

Bell showed a tour ticket in his hand.

Li Yu smiled and said, "No problem."

Really use everything.

At this time, the sound of the performance came from the China Village, and Li Yu invited, "Let's go and listen."

"I just happen to have been looking up, please," Bell said.

Just arrived at the gate of the Chinese village, the traditional Chinese palace architecture can make Americans very impressed.

Although the construction area is small and temporary, it is complete with five internal organs, consisting of archway, gate tower, octagonal pavilion, pool and a five-bay hall.

The China Village is in the middle of the pavilions of the UK and Belgium, and they were instantly compared. Even the Western media praised it as "the most beautiful example of oriental architecture at this expo."

"Jasmine Flower" was sung first on the stage. This song, which has been passed down for more than a hundred years, is also played in a western country for the first time.

In terms of art, China is really strong at this time.

The "New York Times" directly published an article on the same day and said: "Chinese music, just like Chinese culture, has been carefully crafted for centuries, and now it is displayed in the 'China Village' of the World Expo... Those who have heard Chinese music People will be impressed by its sonorous and powerful voice. With unique Chinese musical instruments such as gongs and cymbals, suona, and huqin, it shows the characteristics of blowing, pulling, playing, and singing; using pentatonic scales and using simple notes , can combine unforgettable and wonderful music... For the Chinese, music can be described as the best artistic conception of the unity of nature and man."

All kinds of beautiful words come alive on the paper.

Since then, Puccini's "Turandot" has also used the melody of "Jasmine".

After the song was played, Yang Xiaolou made his debut. Beijing opera, which was born for the stage, is very expressive.

Coupled with Li Yu's idea of ​​using cards to introduce the background of the story in advance, and typing out the English translation of the libretto, it would not make the American audience in the audience just watch the fun.

Of course, even if you understand the opera, you can only watch the excitement better.Even Li Yu couldn't understand Beijing opera, let alone Yankees.

Even so, Americans are still completely impressed by Peking Opera.

Major theaters in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia sent invitations one after another, hoping that Yang Xiaolou could perform in their theaters again.

As an inventor, Bell thought of the gramophone and film: "If it can be recorded, I want to spread it more widely."

Li Yu said: "They will perform for many more days, there are plenty of opportunities."

"Mr. Edison happens to be there too, and he's sure to be very keen on it," Bell said.

After Edison heard the excitement of China Village, he really couldn't help watching opera performances.

Even Tesla couldn't resist coming to take a look. He had listened to Li Yu brag about it countless times before, so he finally came here, so he definitely wanted to take a look.

Zou Zhou was quite helpless. He knew Chinese at least, so he didn't bother to take a look. Tesla was ahead of him.

Edison saw wave after wave of audience applauding, and the attraction of China Village continued to rise. He immediately regretted not letting the organizers of the World Expo install another movie theater. His ace movie "The Great Train Robbery" has just been released, and it is currently the top box office in the United States. champion.

It's just that the World Expo is not a film festival, and there is no such plan.

After the performance, Li Yu invited Bell to taste the food made by the Chinese chef, and he was full of praise: "My God, this is a delicacy that only angels can eat!"

Li Yu said: "What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg of Chinese cooking."

"If it's what you said, I'd like to live in China for a month and eat all the delicacies."

Well, I didn't expect Bell to say something very similar to Planck...

Li Yu said with a smile: "If you want to eat all Chinese delicacies, one month is not enough."

Bell didn't care: "One month is not enough, two months, um, three or four months is enough?"

Li Yu stretched out a finger: "Even if you stay for a year, you can not repeat the tricks every day."

Bell's eyes were full of envy: "You enjoyed so much food at a young age?!"

Uh, why does Li Yu sound like he's not just envious?

(End of this chapter)