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   Chapter 945 941 [Electrical]

  In order to absorb shock and reduce wheel wear, ancient carriages often wrapped straw and other things on the wheels.

  The so-called tires of today's carriages and wealthy carriages have similar functions. Straw is too rough, and cloth and leather are too expensive, so sisal is woven into car tires and covered with a layer of steel wheels. The shock absorption effect is negligible, mainly to prevent the steel rim from directly rubbing against the ground.

  In the beginning, ramie was used, which has poor wear resistance, and it took several times to change to sisal.

  Of course, there are also a few vehicles that wrap a layer of wooden wheels on the outer layer of steel wheels, but the production cost is much higher than that of using sisal. And it is very easy to fall off, and it is troublesome to repair if it falls off. It is not as convenient to replace the outer layer of sisal.

   The sisal tires are very thickly woven, otherwise they would not be nearly one hundred.

  The bicycle that Zhao Han asked craftsmen to make had already been made. In the circle of rich kids, it was popular for a while, and then no one cares about it, because there is no merit to speak of, it is just a new plaything for the pursuit of fashion.

  In today's China, the folk invention center is not in Nanjing, but in Suzhou and Guangzhou.

  The counterfeit product center is in Hangzhou. Whenever a new product appears in Suzhou, as long as it can make money, Hangzhou merchants and craftsmen will imitate it in minutes.

  More than 60% of the national patent lawsuits are filed either in Suzhou or Hangzhou. The commercial lawyers in the two places are not only numerous, but also more and more professional. They have already thoroughly understood the "Datong Commercial Law" and "Datong Patent Law".

  In Suzhou at this time, there are a group of rich sons who graduated from middle school or university and are too lazy to be officials.

  The inventions of Suzhou craftsmen basically have practical value. But these rich kids from Suzhou have all kinds of strange inventions, and most of them are useless.

  While Li Quan was riding in a rickshaw, in a private garden somewhere in Suzhou, an outrageous inspection of invention results was being carried out.

  A Javanese slave bought from Nanyang sat on the bench tremblingly. Opposite him are more than a dozen wealthy sons from Suzhou, surrounded by a huge wooden box.

  There is a small hole at the front of the wooden box, through which the slave is projected in, and reflected to the frosted glass above through the 45-degree upwardly inclined mirror. The inventor of this object, a son named Gu Huansheng, covered the frosted glass with translucent white paper, covered his head with a black cloth, and used a charcoal pencil to outline the image of the frosted glass.

   It took about half an hour, and the portrait of the slave came alive on the paper.

   "This thing is done," Gu Huansheng said while holding the portrait he had just created, pointing to the wooden box, "I will call this invention a portrait machine!"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

  The other sons laughed loudly when they heard the words, and then began to mock.

   "Brother Gu is a great talent, and he invented something useless."

   "This machine is really good. The portraits it draws don't seem to be weaker than Western sketches. It's just that Western sketches don't need a big machine like yours, and it doesn't take so long."

   "Not bad, not bad, brother Gu really has my demeanor, and none of the various inventions are useful."

   "..."

  Although these young masters ridiculed all kinds of things, they were very interested in this thing.

   Poor Javanese slave, sitting on the bench and not moving. Brothers took turns to experience the portrait machine, especially those who don't know how to draw, and they were even more excited after drawing the portrait.

   Such an inconspicuous invention already has the basic principle of a camera.

  In the evening, the slave with back pain was sent back to eat and rest. These princes and buddies invited them to eat, drink and play, and finally even moved the portrait camera to Taihu Lake, and paid famous prostitutes to act as models without moving.

  Among the painting boats, push cups and change cups.

  Famous prostitute Cui Yan is a rare Han girl nowadays. Her mother was a prostitute. After going back and forth, she became a famous prostitute, and was quite sought after by gentry and merchants.

   "Young Master Gu invented this thing, which is really amazing. He can pick up charcoal to draw without any drawing skills." Cui Yan said flattering words while pouring wine.

The rich man next to him named Li Minzhong laughed loudly: "Miss Cui is scolding people. We people only invent useless things. Those so-called useful things can be invented by craftsmen. You said Brother Gu's To make an invention useful is to regard him as a craftsman."

   "Yes, yes, three glasses of wine!" Everyone booed immediately.

   "Little girl said the wrong thing, she should be punished with wine." Cui Yan drank three cups in a row, and then said, "Your inventions may be useless today, and it will be famous in the world in a hundred years."

   "Hahaha, I'm afraid it will make the world laugh." Everyone laughed again.

  They are all the sons of wealthy businessmen, used to being extravagant and licentious, and they don’t even work as officials, because these days, officials are very tired, and they will get involved in some cases if they don’t pay attention.

   At the same time, they come from new-style education, and those with the lowest educational background are middle school graduates or dropouts. I know a little about traditional poetry and prose, and I also know a little about mathematics and physics. They all think that they have learned both Chinese and Western, and they always want to do something earth-shattering.

  A group of...products of social change and educational change, who are somewhat confused about history, present and future!

  During the dinner, Gu Huansheng murmured while drinking: "Can you use some kind of potion, smear it on the glass, and let it dry up to form a portrait?"

   "You invent a potion, let it paint by itself." A rich man named Cheng Jingming joked.

  Gu Huansheng was still saying: "This kind of potion needs to respond to light, but where can I find it?"

   "Brother Gu, the beauties are in front of you, the house is full of friends, don't think about such absurd things. Drink, drink!" Another son interrupted.

Gu Huansheng drank a glass of wine, pointed to the top of the painting boat and said: "Thunder and lightning often burn the house. Why do fires seldom happen this day when there is a lightning rod? This lightning can shine and ignite things. What is it? ?”

   Lightning rods were made by Zhao Hanrang. They were first installed in the Nanjing Imperial Palace and government offices, and gradually spread to major cities over the past ten years.

  People don't understand its principle, they only know that it can avoid thunder and fire, and think that it is the dragon spirit of the emperor to guard against thunder. Therefore, the lightning rod has folk titles, such as Long live iron, real dragon beard, Tianzi town thunder ruler and so on.

  Even when installing the lightning rod, Taoist priests were invited to do it, kneeling towards Nanjing to ask the emperor to breathe.

  In fact, as early as the Han Dynasty, the ancient Chinese discovered static electricity, but they confuse static electricity attracting objects with magnets attracting iron. And half a century ago, the British also invented a machine that generates static electricity by friction. But no matter the east or the west, they don't know what it is, and it has nothing to do with the lightning in the sky.

  Gu Huansheng continued to mutter: "If the lightning is brought down and connected to my portrait camera, can it leave a portrait on the glass surface?"

   This is purely out of thin air, and it has some kind of mysticism.

  Cheng Jingming said: "Even if you can paint with lightning, what's the use? Do you have to wait for the lightning to come every time you paint?"

Gu Huansheng shook his head: "Lightning can ignite houses and split trees. It must be the creation of Qi (matter) mentioned by Qintianyuan. The lightning rod is made of iron and connected to the ground, which means that this kind of electricity can be transmitted through iron. Conduction. It has been transmitted to the ground and absorbed by the earth, so the house is safe and sound."

   "That's very true." The rich guys nodded, it's impossible for a fool to pretend to be someone who can mess with their circle.

  Gu Huansheng continued: "The house is made of wood. Electricity cannot be introduced into the earth, but it burns by itself, which means that wood is not conductive."

  Li Minzhong said: "But people standing under a tree to shelter from the rain will also be struck by lightning. How can this be explained?"

   "Rainwater conducts electricity!" said a son named Tan Tingguang.

  Gu Huansheng said: "Steam engines can be used to weave coal, but can electricity also be used to turn machines?"

  Cheng Jingming said: "Electricity and water are both natural creations. Water can drive waterwheels, but at least it flows in rivers. Even if electricity can run machines, you can't summon lightning at any time, right?"

   "Then Brother Gu will become a Thunder God? Hahahaha!"

  Everyone laughed again. These guys are heartless and always like to tease each other for fun.

  Gu Huansheng asked: "Can electricity be made by humans?"

   "How?" Cheng Jingming asked back.

  Everyone was at a loss.

  They all know about static electricity, and they subscribe to the "Acta Physica Journal" of Qintian Academy every issue. Some people in Qintian Academy are already studying static electricity. However, the name is not called static electricity, but it is called shell magnetism, which is thought to be a kind of magnetic force.

  The reason why it is called "shell magnetism" is that static electricity was discovered in the Han Dynasty, which was generated by rubbing objects with tortoiseshell.

  The earliest record of this thing is the "Chunqiuwei" of the Western Han Dynasty. Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty probably did detailed experiments and elaborated in "Lunheng".

  Wang Chong's point of view is that the tortoiseshell absorbs weeds and the magnet attracts iron needles, because they have the same aura as each other. If the auras are very different, they cannot sense each other.

Li Minzhi suddenly said: "Acta Physica once said that His Majesty intended to change the name of magnetism to static electricity, but the scholars of Qintianyuan did not want to change it. Could it be that His Majesty is correct? That magnetism is a kind of static electricity. Electricity!"

Suddenly, a young man named Dai Chengyan said: "Actually, I am also studying Maoci. Two months ago, I went to the library of Yang's family to borrow idle books, and I borrowed a copy of "Natural History" of the Jin Dynasty. It is recorded in it that , Today, when people comb their hair and take off their clothes, there are those who comb easily and untie knots with light, and there are also crackling sounds. Isn’t this just a magnet? Since it is magnetism, why is there light? And there is a crackling sound?”

   "Of course," Li Minzhong slapped the table, "I took off my clothes at night, and I also found dim light and heard the sound of barking."

  Gu Huansheng clapped his hands and said: "This magnetism is what your Majesty called static electricity. Both lightning and static electricity have electric light. The sound of static electricity is like the thunder of lightning in the sky."

  The understanding seems to be correct, but it seems a bit outrageous. They regard thunder as the sound of lightning.

Cheng Jingming said in admiration: "Your Majesty is the one who knows everything from birth. It's a pity that the gang of Qintianyuan's wine bags and rice bags, His Majesty has clearly pointed out what kind of magnetism they are still insisting on. The magnetism of the fart is obviously static electricity. !"

  Gu Huansheng said: "From now on, I will study static electricity and lightning instead, and I must make electricity myself. Then the electricity will drive the machine, and the electricity will be used to make the portrait machine draw!"

   "Count me in!" Li Minzhong laughed.

  Cheng Jingming shook his head and said: "Staying in Suzhou is not very interesting. I want to go to sea to see it. I heard from overseas returnees that there are strange things outside the four seas. I feel itchy in my heart. Who wants to go to sea together?"

   "I won't go." Everyone refused.

Cheng Jingming said: "If you don't go, I will go by myself. "Datong Monthly" said that His Majesty funded a scholar to form a Four Seas Trading Company. He returned home safely from the Americas last year and discovered the Tanzhou Islands on the way. I will go What is the name of the scholar who took refuge in you?"

   A group of technical geeks shook their heads. They were not interested in this, and of course they couldn't remember Li Quan's name.

  (end of this chapter)