Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1946 Accumulator

Yet every day seemed very different.Qian Yuzhi gradually understood what this relay is, what shape the iron core is processed into is the best, how fast the hand-operated copper wire painting equipment should turn, and the paint used for wires of different diameters should be boiled in a paint kettle How long did it take to heat up... Li Jianai and Feng Shan became very close—they were girls of the same age, and they always work together, which is quite normal.

As for her and himself...Qian Yuzhi couldn't tell clearly, the kind of playfulness and intimacy that made his heart beat faster when they went shopping, chatting, drinking and going home together that day never appeared again, and the distance between the two seemed to have resumed. , but in the subtleties that are not easy to detect, it seems that there is a little tacit understanding and a little randomness.

"Yuzhi!" Feng Nuo's greeting interrupted Qian Yuzhi's distraction, "I'm going to the Ministry of Science and Technology for a meeting in the afternoon, and I won't be back today. Don't forget the security check when you leave."

"Okay, chief." Qian Yuzhi agreed, while secretly alerting himself not to be distracted.

This afternoon is a discussion meeting on the accumulator plan of the tabulating machine. Because the Ministry of Science and Technology is being relocated, it will be held at the Taibai Observatory, Dr. Zhong's old home.There are many precision instruments and equipment here, so the ground energy air conditioner was fully installed the year before last, and the security and drying measures are also very complete.

There were not many participants, and the meeting was held in the meeting room of the Taibai Observatory, also known as the second meeting room of the Ministry of Science and Technology.Feng Nuo had been to the first meeting room before, which was similar to a large lecture hall.

This is the first time for him to come to the second meeting room. The area is smaller than the first meeting room, but it is more than enough for such a small meeting.A set of 3m x 15m long conference table is not full at all in the room, and hand-woven rattan chairs are neatly arranged around the conference table.The Siamese teak floor is laid, and floor power sockets are installed at every other section.One side of the wall is an integral large viewing glass window, which has now been lowered with thick flannelette curtains.At one end of the meeting room, a huge projection screen brought from the old time and space is hung, and a high-resolution projector is also hung on the ceiling.The cables for projection are neatly connected to the reporter's position along the wall.Speakers can also use the microphones at the location, presumably the speakers at the four corners of the wall are for sound reinforcement.

"This is not inferior to the luxurious conference room in the old time and space. Dr. Zhong is so extravagant!" Feng Nuo was very surprised, but after thinking about it, "The Senate has its own intention to spend so much money here. Didn't the discussion meeting that was more related to the mechanical port be moved here today?" Thinking of this, he felt relieved.

At this time, the staff brought hot tea from the tea room next door and put it in front of the participants, and then quietly retreated out.

This meeting is different from the technical meetings in the past. There are two rows of chairs against the wall, which are the auditorium seats for the naturalized people.In order to strengthen the cultivation of naturalized civilian scientific and technological personnel, the technical seminars that only veterans participated in in the past began to relax the access conditions. A group of naturalized civilian students and technical personnel with solid basic knowledge and considerable talent were selected and franchised to participate in relevant seminars. seminar.

Because of their presence, the Truth Office will specially notify the elders before each meeting, and pay attention to "speech" at the meeting.Don't leak too much that you can't explain.

The naturalized people who attended the meeting included Zhong Xiaoying, Dr. Zhong's adopted daughter, Feng Shan, and a few students who were either veterans' students or outstanding geniuses in the selection group of Fangcaodi. Thirteen people.

As the pillars of future technology who can get in touch with "black technology", they realize the significance of being able to appear on such an occasion, so they are all cautious and excited.

There were no long-winded procedures in the meeting, and the topic of discussion on mechanical computers was directly entered.As the project team leader, Feng Nuo first reported the progress of the project, especially the development and improvement of the relay.Then, the meeting entered the next step, which is the discussion of the manufacturing principle of the watchmaking machine.

After research by the project team these days, there are roughly three ways to realize the accumulative function of the tabulator:

First, because the data on the punched card is punched in one column or several consecutive columns to represent the number of each bit, so the calculation of the sum only needs to count the number of times each hole in each column has been punched in all cards , this can be done with a simple counter.

Next, manually multiply the number of times of each hole in each column by the value of the hole and then sum, then the sum of each column is multiplied by 10 or 100 according to the tens/hundreds represented by the column, and finally summed After that you can.Although the final result needs to be calculated by another calculator or manually, the result of the tabulator at this stage needs to be manually copied in the record anyway.

This is not a real accumulator, but that's what Hollerith's tabulation machine does, and the mechanical design is the simplest. It only needs to let a relay or a relay-driven pallet fork move the number of dials to rotate.

Second, the main power gear is not directly meshed with the rotation shaft of the number disc, but the gear connecting the two is controlled by a relay. Only when a certain relay corresponding to the number 0-9 is energized, the main power can drive the corresponding mechanical structure Turn the dial.

At this time, the operation of the mechanical structure corresponding to 0-9 can be different when the dial is toggled, or multiple toggles, or multiple digits at a time, so as to achieve the purpose of accumulating the numbers of each hole together.As for the carry, it is the same as the first scheme, and it is completed by adding a relay between 9 and 0 of the low-digit disk to drive the high-digit disk to rotate.

Such a mechanical structure is slightly complicated, and definitely takes up more space. The advantage is that the accumulation of each column and each hole is combined, avoiding a large number of manual calculations for multiplication and summation, and even the carry problem can be solved.The numbers on the final counting plate are the result of accumulation, what you see is what you get.

Finally, it is simply a solution to build a binary accumulator with relays.It is not difficult in theoretical design.However, Dr. Zhong distributed the full-relay version of the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) blueprint built by a relay fanatic in the old time and space that he found in the meeting. The densely packed relays like a honeycomb in the profile picture made the scalps of the participants numb.A patient with trypophobia immediately asked to go out and rest for a while to "breathe the air".

Dr. Zhong explained that if only the function of the adder can be stripped from it, it will probably not be particularly complicated.However, the participants were probably already frightened by the ALU built by this lunatic, and they all shook their heads. Even Feng Nuo, who was looking forward to the plan, dismissed the idea. ——The main reason is that he knows too well the performance of the relays he developed by himself. Even if it is just to strip out the function of the adder, it also involves the mutual control between a large number of relays. The crude products produced now may not be reliable. sexual demands.

In this way, the third plan was abandoned at first, but Dr. Zhong still intends to continue experimenting to accumulate some experience for designing binary computers in the future. Feng Nuo also agreed to give priority to the development of more sensitive and reliable relays with smaller volume and lighter weight in the next step. For the experiment of this scheme - the premise is that the mechanical port can provide enough thin copper wire, and his local insulating varnish is still effective on the thin wire.

Next, the meeting had a lengthy discussion on the first and second plans. The veterans of the mechanical port said that there must be no problem with the first plan, and it can be trial-produced now when we go back. The second plan needs to be re-optimized. It depends on whether the performance of the relay provided by Feng Nuo is sufficient.

In the end, the project team decided to go to option one first.Because of the evaluation of all aspects, this plan has the least chance of going wrong—after all, the structure is simple and the action is reliable, and it is easier to achieve with their difficult material level.

"It's back to the level of 1890." Feng Nuo secretly sighed.This plan is not much better than the plan that was ridiculed as a "money detector" last time.But the punched cards have been in place for several months, and have been moth-eaten and moldy in the warehouse, and it is not always possible to let the data wait for the machine.Dugong's side, it's best to report good news in the near future. It's almost the end of the year...

At the end of the year, it is time to assess projects. If there are no results, at least a few papers must be mixed up as "phased results", otherwise there will be a famine in the Planning Institute and the Ministry of Finance and Economics.Feng Nuo is not a person who likes to socialize.

Then the veterans at the meeting had a lengthy discussion on the specific mechanical design, process, materials and supporting equipment of the watchmaking machine. The discussion was very detailed, so the meeting often became a marathon meeting-but it was very necessary: ​​the veteran The institute's industrial system is extremely incomplete, and almost any new equipment has to be manufactured from scratch.Coupled with the shortage of technicians and skilled workers, raw materials are even scarcer in variety.It is impossible to create anything by issuing design plans and drawings as in the old time and space.The whole equipment—whether it is a core component or a mere screw, must be implemented in every detail from raw materials to processing procedures.

Two weeks later, the first prototype of the tabulating machine was finally completed, and the Machinery Factory manufactured the various components of the mechanical system, including the two solutions for the main power, steam power and electric motors.Feng Nuo took Qian Yuzhi to assemble the relay control part.

Feng Nuo immediately moved the card to start the actual test, and the test results were satisfactory.In multiple tests, they entered the census cards of different communes and calculated the age sum of the population of the commune, and then compared the results with manual calculations, and there was no calculation error.This showed that the design of the tabulating machine was reliable, and Feng Nuo was greatly relieved.But the efficiency of the equipment is much slower than expected, and it can only process one card every 10 seconds.This time is too long, and only 6 cards can be processed per minute, which is limited faster than human power.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Next update Volume 51 - Guangdong and Guangxi Raiders Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)