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  Chapter 988 984 [The Ministry of Industry also has supporting inventions]

  Xie Fu's casting method is not profound and mysterious.

  The breakthrough lies in the use of steam engines and steel molds, which can be stamped out of copper molds in large quantities and at low cost.

  I heard that a Foshan blacksmith was actually appointed as the deputy supervisor of the Ministry of Industry Foundry. The official typecasters couldn't sit still, and Zhang Shunmin, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry, begged for an interview.

   "Why, you also invented a new type of casting method?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

  Zhang Shunmin replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the official craftsman of the Ministry of Industry has indeed invented a new type of casting method."

  Zhao Han was pleasantly surprised and asked, "What method?"

Zhang Shunmin replied: "The original lead movable type, copper movable type, and copper-lead-tin alloy type in the Ming Dynasty are not as good as the European lead alloy movable type formula. After the full use of European lead movable type, according to the characteristics of this alloy, the Ministry of Industry has been improving. The method of casting. Now it has achieved results, and it is called a 'type casting furnace', which can cast fifty or sixty movable types per hour."

"it is good!"

  Zhao Han slapped his thigh in approval.

  Xie Fu improved the molding technology, while the Ministry of Industry improved the casting technology. The two technologies can be perfectly matched.

Zhang Shunmin continued: "Your Majesty, the reason why the invention of the type-casting furnace has not been reported is because it can be further improved. At present, the hand-clap furnace has been invented, and the Ministry of Industry is improving it into a foot or hand-crank furnace. Once the improvement is successful, movable type The casting efficiency can be increased by at least several times, even more than ten times!"

   "Is the improvement work complicated?" Zhao Han asked.

  Zhang Shunmin sorted out his words and said: "It's not complicated, but it's not simple either. Occasionally, I have to consult the bachelors of the Physics Museum of Qintian Academy. At present, there are already some outlines, and the general structure has been designed."

  If this movable type casting technology is thoroughly improved, it can cast seven or eight hundred characters per hour. It was used in the late Qing Dynasty. It does not have high requirements for science and technology, but the premise is to have fine type and lead alloy movable type formula.

   There is a more complex upgraded version of this technology, the "Thomson Automatic Type Foundry", which has been used from the early years of the Republic of China to the new China, and can cast 15,000 Chinese movable types every day! That is, more than 600 pieces per hour. It seems that the efficiency has been reduced, but it can be used directly after casting, and there is no need for the typewriter to polish it later.

  Zhao Han said: "The casting furnace has been improved, and everyone involved will give a big reward!"

  Official inventions are different from private inventions, and their patent rights automatically belong to the unit to which they belong.

   Xie Fu invented the casting method, in fact, the patent should also belong to Xie's factory. But the Xie family went too far, not only taking away the patent, but also occupying the right to authorize the patent, which is in violation of the "Datong Patent Law". Even if there is no royal family to come forward, whoever wins the lawsuit may lose or win.

  Zhang Shunmin continued: "The Ministry of Industry and official craftsmen proposed to use movable type to make dead plates."

   "Dead version?" Zhao Han didn't understand.

Zhang Shunmin said: "The engraving block can be printed repeatedly, and the movable type can be disassembled at will. Can the engraving block and the movable type take advantage of each other? The typesetting of the movable type is cumbersome, and it will be dismantled after printing, and it will be retyped after the next printing. Therefore, the official craftsman of the Ministry of Industry So he came up with the idea of ​​first using movable type for typesetting, and then using movable type to make clay molds to pour lead plates. The movable type can be removed and reused, thus saving the number of movable type. The lead plate is used for printing, and can be stored after printing. There is no need for typesetting, just take out the stereotypes and print again.”

  This is the real printing plate!

  Zhao Han asked: "Has it been invented?"

  Zhang Shunmin said: "Two years ago, an official craftsman proposed this idea, but there are still many problems in the specific research, and these problems are being solved step by step."

  This kind of clay mold and lead plate technology has only existed for forty years in history. "Zi Linxi News" and "Shen Shen" first used this thing.

   But it has huge flaws:

  First, the clay mold must be broken when casting the stereotype, so the clay mold cannot be preserved, it is a one-time consumable, and the stereotype cannot be cast repeatedly;

  Second, although the lead plate can be preserved, it is fragile and easy to break, and it will be damaged if you don’t pay attention to it during use or handling.

  The later improvement method was to replace the clay mold with special thick paper, that is, the paper type stereotype.

  A set of paper molds can cast stereotypes more than ten times repeatedly, and it is convenient for long-distance transportation. After the typesetting and printing in Nanjing, it is only necessary to transport the paper pattern to Beijing, and then it can be quickly cast and printed, and then it can be quickly cast and printed in Xi'an.

  For the printing of a book, only dozens of sets of paper types are needed to meet the needs of all parts of the country, and the typesetting work only needs to be done once. You can also make a few more sets of paper patterns. As long as you keep them properly, you can take them out and use them twenty years later.

  Xie Fu improved the type model, the Ministry of Industry improved the type casting furnace, and then developed the pouring technology.

   Three technologies can be perfectly matched.

   Especially pouring technology, that is an epoch-making revolution, and the cost of book printing can be reduced to an infinitely low level.

  It should not be difficult to research and develop clay mold lead plates. But this kind of technology has too many flaws, and I don't know how many years it will take to evolve into a paper-type stereotype. Another time and space took forty years, and this time and space may take twenty years, or it may take more than a hundred years.

  If you want to continue to evolve into the Tongzi version, Zhao Han will definitely not see it. Because of its front-end technology, photographic technology (optical, chemical) and electrical technology must be lit.

  No matter what, Zhao Han can't help, he doesn't know anything about printing.

  To tell the truth, once the printing technology has formed an improvement inertia, based on the same technology, China's research and development speed will definitely be faster than that of Europe. Because the printing of Chinese characters is too cumbersome, while the European alphabet is simple, the need for improvement in printing in Europe is not so urgent.

  Looking at the performance of the officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, it is clear that what they lack is the formula of European alloy movable type.

  With this recipe, all ideas come up.

  Using the alloy characteristics of the formula, the research and development of the type casting furnace is a matter of course, but there is no such demand in Europe, because Europeans do not need so many movable types. The typesetting of Chinese characters is also a big problem. Since the European lead alloy formula is easy to use and casting is also convenient, it is natural to think about making a casting type, which is not an urgent need in Europe.

  It’s like in some tropical areas, the land is cropped three times a year, and even if you lie flat, you can rely on the sky for food.

  Countries in the temperate zone need to face various natural disasters. While solving problems, they can drive political and technological development.

   It is precisely because of the difficulty of printing Chinese characters that the improvement of printing can be quickly promoted. The premise is that a focus is needed, that is, Gutenberg's alloy formula, and a series of technical improvements are currently being carried out around the alloy formula.

  Historically, in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, foreigners were prohibited from privately making movable type, and the alloy formula has never been introduced. However, missionaries in the Ming Dynasty devoted themselves to writing Chinese religious books, and directly asked Chinese booksellers to help them print them. They had no financial resources and energy to print books by themselves. The Ming and Qing dynasties completely missed the introduction of lead alloy movable type.

  It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that the imperial court had nothing to do with it. Only then did movable lead type appear in China, and it developed rapidly.

  Chu King Zhao Kuangping was so busy that he handed over "Chu King Literature and Art" to Wu Rui and Jin Shengtan. He personally contacted the steam engine manufacturer, and took out the design drawing of the casting machine (actually, the casting mold) to customize a brand new steam casting mold machine.

   Next, I had to contact the suppliers of raw materials, such as coal, copper, steel, etc. I didn’t have enough money, so I asked my father for an interest-free loan, and the royal family directly allocated funds to lend him.

   It took two months to complete the prototype of the steam casting machine. They also brought in the type casting furnace from the Ministry of Industry, which is a hand-clap type casting furnace that has not yet been improved. It can only cast dozens of movable types in an hour, and it needs to be polished after casting.

   Even so, the use of the hand-clap type casting furnace has to pay the patent fee to the Ministry of Industry.

   Until autumn, four steam casting machines were delivered, and the pedal casting furnace was initially improved. Under the roar of the machine, the copper type molds are stamped and formed one by one, and thrown to the pedal type casting furnace to make lead type. Each type type furnace can produce 400 to 500 types per hour (the perfect improved version can reach 700 to 800 types in the future).

   Instead, it is the steel mold used by the steam engine, which cannot keep up with the speed at all. This thing needs to be carved by hand.

  Zhao Han personally inspected the type foundry, looked at the continuous flow of lead type, and praised: "It's really fast, much faster than before!"

Zhao Kuangping said with a smile: "The speed of the steam engine stamping copper fonts is too fast, and this foot-operated type casting furnace can't keep up with it. Erchen ordered four steam machines, in fact, two are more than enough, and the remaining two are not as good as the original price." How about selling it to the Ministry of Industry? Erchen pays the shipping fee."

   "Yes." Zhao Han couldn't help laughing.

  A group of craftsmen were polishing lead movable type. Zhao Han bent down to pick up a few and found that they were all repeated common characters.

  Zhao Han asked: "How many characters are carved on the steel mold?"

  Zhao Kuangping said: "These are all refined steels. It is too difficult to engrave characters, and the craftsman's skills are also required. After a few months, only more than 300 steel molds were carved."

  Steel molds are consumable parts of the machine. For a character of the same font size, only one piece needs to be engraved. Before the steel mold wears out, copper type molds can be punched out in batches, and then the copper type molds can be used to cast lead type.

  Zhao Han reminded: "Since the foot-operated type casting furnace cannot keep up with the speed of the steam engine. Then the excess copper type molds you produce can be sold to other printing shops. They can buy them and cast their own characters."

Zhao Kuangping explained: "Erchen has also thought about it, but Erchen's fonts are all produced according to standard font sizes. Some are similar to traditional fonts, and some are very different from traditional fonts, so they can only be used. Erchen contacted several companies. , they are also willing to buy, but only buy a few commonly used typefaces with high consumption."

   "Market replacement is also a problem." Zhao Han nodded.

  In the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites and the Supervisor of Rituals, updating equipment is a matter of a word from the emperor.

  But for private printing companies, they have to measure profits. Lead movable type has been introduced to China for many years, and some small workshops are still using old movable type, and the materials are various, including wooden movable type, copper movable type, lead movable type, and tin movable type (these Chinese metal movable type are basically alloys, but they are made of European formulas. different, insufficient printing clarity).

  European inks are popularized rapidly, and the production of old-fashioned printing inks is almost non-existent.

   It may take a long time for the standard font size formulated by Xie Fu to be completely accepted by the market. The adoption of this standard in official textbooks can promote market replacement, but it is only a promotion. It is impossible for the old movable type that people have worked so hard to cast in the warehouse to collect dust, and they will be discarded when they are seriously worn out.

  Of course, with the combination of the two casting technologies, movable type is explosively cheaper than before.

   With the cheap movable type produced by the king of Chu, printing companies must vote with their feet. In the next one or two years, the entire Jinling Mansion will no longer make their own movable type, and it would be great to go directly to the King of Chu to buy new, high-quality and cheap movable type.

  (end of this chapter)