Kai Fu Han

Chapter 492 Preface Clock
In his spare time, Liu Xinqi would record his experiences of later generations as "imaginations". He has recorded more than ten notebooks, each containing one hundred thousand words.

These notes are collectively called "Design Notes" and were copied by people in the research institute.The Institute has a system that allows researchers to select ideas they are interested in for research after completing the work arranged by the Institute.

A researcher from the Second Research Institute took more than seven months to make a clock based on the clock part in the "Imagination Notes" and gave it to Liu Xinqi as a New Year's gift.

The clock dedicated to Liu Xinqi is a version that has been improved by the institute and is usable.

The overall clock is seven feet high, six feet wide, and weighs six hundred kilograms. The time is not accurate enough. The cumulative error in one day is about ten breaths, which is equivalent to one minute.Therefore, when the sun is available at noon every day, the time needs to be adjusted according to the position of the sun.

The inside of this desk clock is a pendulum clock. The other parts of the pendulum clock are simply installed in a large casing, leaving only the upper dial exposed.

Compared with the "Gold-plated Copper Rolling Curtain White Ape Birthday Bell" dedicated to Emperor Qianlong by later Europeans, it is very different.

"Gold-plated Copper Curtain White Ape Presents Longevity Bell" is composed of upper, middle and lower layers as a whole.After the bell was wound, the canopy on the upper floor turned and the unicorn shook its head from side to side with the accompaniment of the music.At the same time, the middle-level roller curtain rises, and the fairy ape walks out of the arch, leans forward and kneels, stretches his hands forward to break open the fairy peach, and the little ape also moves his arms up and down in the shape of offering a peach, which is very interesting.The sailboats and lions on the base move forward and backward freely under the accompaniment of music, and the elephant's eyes, nose and tail also start to turn.

Later Liu Xinqi only watched the video of the National Palace Museum exhibition on the Internet, which was shocking. Western countries could produce such sophisticated machinery in the [-]th century, and the Qing Dynasty did not complain about losing.

In comparison, the clock given to Liu Xinqi by the Second Research Institute is very simple. There is only a pendulum clock structure in the large cabinet.

The swinging pendulum swings by the mutual conversion of gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy.

Simply put, when the pendulum is pulled up, it will swing down due to the influence of gravity. After reaching the lowest position, due to inertia, the pendulum clock will continue to rush past the lowest position. After swinging to the highest position, all kinetic energy is converted into potential energy, and it swings back again.This reciprocation drives the mechanical watch on the upper part of the pendulum clock to rotate.

Theoretically, the pendulum can swing forever, but due to the existence of air resistance, mechanical resistance, and part of the kinetic energy being converted into kinetic energy for the operation of the mechanical watch, its swing will gradually decrease and finally stop.According to the idea in Liu Xinqi's "Imagination Notes", a clockwork mechanism can be made to provide energy to keep it swinging.

A researcher from the Second Research Institute took a fancy to the idea of ​​a pendulum clock and applied for funds to conduct research. Mechanical watches, pendulum clocks and other components were quickly developed, but in the end they got stuck on the clockwork.Because there is not enough high-quality material to make the spring leaf, the force accumulation and release force of the spring are not uniform enough, which ultimately makes it difficult to control the speed of the clock.

Among the seven months of studying pendulum clocks, two months were spent studying mechanical watches and pendulum clock components, and four months were spent studying clockwork and cooperating with steel mills to refine suitable spring steel.The last month was spent improving it, and finally made a usable one.

……

Chai Gou handed over the saltpeter field to his younger brother at the beginning of the third year of Jingyan.

Chai Gou's younger brother was very lucky. He was the only one of the strong men in the village who was forcibly conscripted by the puppet Qi to attack Southern Zhao with him, and he was the only one who managed to come back alive.

After his brother came back, the village chief came to him and told him that he could go to Jeju Island or the Liaodong Peninsula. The Xinghan League would provide a five-year interest-free reclamation loan, as well as free travel expenses, reclamation tools, and a year's rations.He promised his younger brother that he could cultivate one hundred acres of land, and the cultivated land would belong to his younger brother. The land would be tax-free for the first three years. Starting from the fourth year, he would only need to pay [-]% of the grain tax every year.

His younger brother had experienced a lot since leaving home this time and was unwilling to leave home again. Chai Gou had to let his younger brother run the saltpeter field with him.Originally, one person in the household could be responsible for the nitrate field, but it seemed a bit wasteful to accommodate two strong laborers. After the income was divided equally, it became not very impressive.

In the end, Chai Gou returned to Penglai again and applied for the academy's recruitment of craftsmen.

At the beginning of the new year, the alliance leader's mana was restored, and he cast spells on the institute to enlighten many immortal soldiers and generals. These immortal soldiers and generals all needed ordinary people to help them, so the institute recruited craftsmen aggressively. Even if they didn't know anything, they could apply as long as they could read. .

Chai Gou learned more than 100 words while in the labor camp and was originally not qualified. However, because he had work experience in the labor camp and independently built a saltpeter field, he was hired under special conditions.

The first research project that Chai Gou entered was the "Pendulum Clock Research Group".

The research team consists of three researchers. The researchers are responsible for making some precision parts, and other ordinary workers do some carpentry and blacksmith work according to the researchers' requirements.

During the research process, Chai Gou learned more words, arithmetic, and came into contact with a new world.

I have seen forging hammers driven by steam engines, and mechanical processing machines such as lathes and drilling machines.

The pendulum clock was quickly manufactured. This was the first time in Chai Gou's life that he had seen such a precise object.The entire pendulum clock is composed of hundreds of parts, each of which is very delicate.The strangest thing among them is the clockwork. There is a slender spring leaf inside, which is very thin and very long, more than ten meters in length. Finally, it is curled up to the size of a fist. It is an ingenious work.

But this clock, which in Chai Gou's eyes could already be called a peerless treasure, seemed to be somewhat unsatisfactory when it was handed over to the alliance leader, who pointed out several flaws.

Fortunately, I gave you a word of encouragement at the end:
"You have done a very good job. Although this clock has many shortcomings, its advantages are also outstanding. I like it very much. The birth of the clock has directly improved the accuracy of time to a higher level and contributed greatly to the scientific and technological development of our Xinghan League. Yes. With an accurate timing tool, many research experiments in the future can be more accurate. And with this big guy, small clocks are just around the corner, keep up the good work."

After presenting the treasure to the alliance leader, Chai Gou was given a ten-day holiday by the research team leader, allowing him to go home to visit relatives or stay in the institute, and allowed them to watch the alliance leader's "Imagination Notes".

Chai Gou, who was worried, stayed home for two days and then returned to the institute and borrowed a transcribed version of "Imagination Notes" from the team leader.I had always heard that this notebook was a fairy book, but I thought it was a bit exaggerated.When he actually saw this book, Chai Gou felt that his imagination was really lacking.

It turns out that cars can run by themselves; people can not only fly into the sky, but also enter the sea; sound can travel thousands of miles, and images can be saved on paper...

"I really want to meet you."

Chai Gou's heart echoed the common sentiment of everyone who had read this notebook.

(End of this chapter)