Before you know it, it's already March.

In New York in March, the days have been completely warm, but it is still cooler in the morning and evening, and it is not until the end of the month that it is considered to be better.

"It's the last day of March."

After getting up in the morning and counting the date, John couldn't help but sigh.

It's been more than three months since he arrived in New York, and he has gradually become accustomed to his current life, maintaining a plain relationship with his grandfather, taking annoying classes five days a week, occasionally going out on weekends, chatting with friends, and experiencing the entertainment of high society more than a hundred years ago.

Yes, John met two new friends in a month.

One is named Funk Mendes, of British descent, whose family is a rich second generation who runs a textile factory, and is flamboyant and competitive by nature; One is Jack Raphael, of Italian descent, whose family owns three high-end hotels in New York. The two friends, both in their twenties, were introduced to Joshua by Guò, and were originally very unimpressed with John, but changed their attitudes quickly after two weekend parties.

No one dared to treat John as a teenager anymore.

After washing up and going downstairs to see his grandfather reading the newspaper, John first went up to say good morning, and then was about to go to the restaurant to eat together when the phone rang.

"So early?"

John's eyebrows furrowed, and he walked over and answered the phone: "Hello, this is Huntelaar's house!" ”

"John, I'm Joshua."

Mixed with obvious noise, Joshua's voice reached his ears: "Are you home today?" I just received a letter from Edison and would like to go over and talk to you. ”

"Edison letter?"

With a move in his heart, John hurriedly nodded and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you at home." ”

"I'll be there at about ten o'clock."

Joshua didn't talk nonsense either, and ended the call after the appointed time.

Nowadays, the telephone is so rudimentary, and every time they call, it is a challenge for them to constantly change their posture, so everyone tries to keep it simple.

When John was calling, old Huntelaar had been standing beside him, his eyes flashing, and he asked, "John, is there any news about your electric lamp patent?" ”

"I don't know yet."

John shook his head and said, "Joshua just said that Edison wrote him a letter, well, it sounds like he's in a good mood, but the details will have to wait until he comes." ”

After speaking, John turned his head to Hans, the butler standing next to him, and said with a smile: "Mr. Elber, Mr. Stone is likely to eat here at noon, please ask the chef to prepare it in advance." ”

"Yes, sir."

Hans bowed slightly, and agreed.

Old Huntelaar was obviously very appreciative of John's consideration, nodded slightly and at the same time showed a smile on his face, and said: "John, if Edison really agrees to buy a patent for a new electric light for 20,000 US dollars, will you really sell it to him?" You know, this is very promising, and I've talked to a few friends about it, and it's probably going to be a $100,000 a year industry in the future! ”

"$100,000?"

John was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "Sir, I personally thought you were underestimating this, in fact, I think this will be a million-dollar opportunity a year in the future!" ”

"Oh?"

Old Huntelaar's brow furrowed.

However, before the old Huntelaar could question, John continued to laugh and said: "I understand why you have doubts, after all, the cost of light bulbs is indeed a bit high now, and the cost of using them is certainly not low, only a small number of families and hotels and other occasions need it." But think about it, what if the cost of the bulb was low enough and the cost of electricity was cheap enough? When it is as low as a certain degree, I am afraid that the annual demand in the United States alone will be as high as one million! And what about Europe, Asia? ”

John is not exaggerating, in fact, ten years later, the annual production of light bulbs in the industry reached 4 million, and 20 years later it reached nearly 50 million! The U.S. patent is now valid for 17 years, which means it's a hen that produces golden eggs on a steady stream!

And......

Thinking of the longer-lived and brighter tungsten light bulb in the future, John sometimes wonders if it was because of the patent validity period that the tungsten light bulb was revealed so late. Otherwise, as long as Edison was willing to keep trying, it would have been possible to have this material for a long time, right?

After listening to John's words, after a moment of silence, old Huntelaar still shook his head: "Since the cost has really been greatly reduced, I think it is very difficult for ordinary people to afford it...... It's a promising thing, though. ”

"Uh......"

After a moment's hesitation, John did not continue to contradict his grandfather.

Even if he was a good businessman, the elder Huntelaar still couldn't see that long-term, he would not have thought that in just a few years, Edison would reduce the cost of the light bulb to a dozen or twenty cents a day, and he would not have imagined that more than twenty years later, a guy named Ford would directly set a minimum wage of five dollars a day for his workers......

"So let's go back to that question."

Seeing that John was a little unconvinced, old Huntelaar's eyes flashed, and then said: "Since you are so optimistic about this industry, why do you insist on selling the patent to Edison?" Why don't you want to do it yourself? ”

"Because I don't have the strength!"

This time, John did not hesitate and said calmly: "Even with your full support, I still can't solve the most fundamental problem, which is cost and time." We don't have a factory, we don't have enough technicians, and we can't reduce the cost to a sufficient level in a short period of time. You should know that at the cost of light bulbs today, it is impossible to replace traditional kerosene lamps and candles. ”

Speaking of this, John hesitated slightly, and finally chose to add a sentence in his heart: "Moreover, it is not enough to make a terminal in fact!" ”

When many later generations commented on Edison, there were many different opinions. For example, some people think that Edison was not a scientist, but at best a master, because apart from the Edison effect, he almost never made any contributions to the field of science, and basically relied on experience and existing theories to try. Some people also believe that although Edison had thousands of patents in his history, many of them were actually identified by the world's first research institute he founded, and they were only attributed to him.

But one thing that many people admit is that Edison was definitely a brilliant businessman!

Nowhere is this more evident than in the table for electric light and direct current. When the bulb was first produced, it cost more than $1, but according to Edison's calculations, if it wants to compete with traditional lighting such as kerosene lamps, it cannot cost more than 4o cents, so if you want to sell it, you have to take the risk of losing money. That's why Edison kept investing money and manpower to reduce costs, but when it dropped to 22 cents a few years later, he sold the right to manufacture the light bulb and didn't bother with it anymore.

Next, there is the famous battle between direct current and alternating current.

When he saw this paragraph on the Internet in his previous life, John sincerely admired Edison, and more than a hundred years ago, people knew that they would transfer the manufacturing of hardware terminals with lower profits and concentrate on providing software......

After listening to John's simple analysis, although old Huntelaar disagreed, because he had already said that this matter was completely left to John, he did not intend to interfere with anything. It's just that after such a few short minutes, his evaluation of his grandson has risen again!

"John."

Old Huntelaar's eyes flashed with a strange look, and he looked at his grandson and said with great relief: "Although I don't agree with your words, it's a good thing to have your own thoughts, hehe, you have once again impressed me." ”

The development of electric lights and batteries once surprised the old Huntelaar, but considering that there were corresponding theories before, John's work was just repeated experiments and a little bit of innovation, so the old Huntelaar didn't particularly care after a short surprise, but today's John's opinion made him see his grandson's talent in business.

This is his old job, and it naturally feels different.

Old Huntelaar didn't know that John, a physician, would not have thought of this if he had relied on himself, he was just a good porter......

John also knew his own family affairs, and seeing that his grandfather's expression was a little wrong, he smiled, scratched his head and said, "Because of the stalemate with Edison, I talked a lot with Joshua and them during this time, and learned a lot from them...... Hehe, it's not early, why don't we go have breakfast first. ”

John's diversion** still didn't work with old Huntelaar this time, but after taking a deep look at his grandson, he suddenly smiled, nodded, and said, "Okay, go have breakfast." ”

As he walked, old Huntlaar smiled and said, "Joshua is a good young man, you can associate with him more in the future, and you can get to know more of his friends......

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