For the mixed layout of graphics and texts, it is a big problem at the moment.

Whether it is a newspaper or a book, the text content is very simple, it can be arranged with movable type, but if you want to insert pictures and special figures, you must carve them out of a separate wooden board and then print them together in an iron plate with typesetting.

The newspaper has also tried, but as Chen Ping said, the cost is too high and the speed is too slow, and it is easy to carve a wooden movable type, but to carve a complete and clear painting on a large template, it takes at least two craftsmen who are proficient in painting and carving to complete, and it takes two to three days.

The kind of technology that Liu Erwa in Qinghe Town used to carve the cover at the beginning couldn't be put on the table at all.

Later, once a large number of reference books come out, such as nine chapters of arithmetic, such as the compendium of materia medica, such as geometry tutorials, such as books on making agricultural tools or building roads and bridges, a large number of graphics need to be inserted when printing, and they must be clear.

Chen Xu pinched his chin and looked at Chen Ping and a group of people.

Chen Ping and a group of people also looked at Chen Xu with blank eyes.

For them, Chen Xu is the only one who can solve this big problem.

A disciple of the immortal family who can create such an immortal technique as fireworks, such a trivial matter as mixing pictures and texts should be difficult for the omnipotent little marquis.

Chen Xu pinched his chin and thought for a long time, the skin on his chin was almost taken off, and he began to search in his memory, carefully recalling what other materials and methods could quickly and easily make printable plates.

To make a plate, it is indispensable to be a draftsman and engraver, which is almost impossible to bypass, but the only thing that can save time and effort may be the material, because to make a carved plate, the processing of wood alone is very complex and time-consuming, requiring the use of solid and delicate dry wood with wood grain, sawing into the required size and shape, thickness and movable type also require almost exactly the same, and then polish flat and smooth, and then hand over to the painter to paint, carver carving, each of these steps can not be omitted, and once the printing is completed, This painstaking engraving is basically useless, either lost or shelved, and over time, thousands or even tens of thousands of fast engravings will slowly accumulate in the warehouse, which is a great waste.

But if you want to find a material to replace the wooden board, but also to be able to achieve the same effect, waterproof, ink absorption without swelling, and not easy to damage, at least to be able to continue to repeatedly ink and print hundreds of thousands of times, this material seems to be ...... It can only be stone or pottery.

So Chen Xu agreed to help solve this problem, but he had to go back and find someone to study it.

Next, Chen Xu went to the newly organized 100 forums and periodicals office of the newspaper to visit An Yuliang.

An Yuliang was invited to edit 100 forum journals, but now it is still in the preparatory stage, only he is the editor-in-chief, and he also brought three students as helpers, and he does not come to work every day, but the newspaper will transfer the collected submissions to him, and then he will take them back to Weihe University to read carefully, and select some good articles from them for careful consideration.

An Yuliang happened to be in the office today, and after the two drank tea and exchanged for a while, Chen Xu left the newspaper to go to the Academy of Sciences.

Summoned a few craftsmen who were proficient in painting and carving and inquired, and several craftsmen all agreed to use pottery plates to make engravings, because carving patterns and words on clay tablets has been passed down for tens of thousands of years in human history, and in ancient times, people knew that they could use this method to retain words and graphics, and as long as the carving was put into the furnace to be fired into pottery plates, as long as it was not broken, it was printed hundreds of thousands of times, even if it was tens of thousands of times, there was certainly no problem.

So Chen Xu handed over this task to several craftsmen to study and design.

The clay board is different from the wooden board, it is very easy to make, only need to use the delicate clay to make the clay, and then make the clay board with the right size and shape, and then you can paint and carve on it after drying, and the carving is completed and fired into a clay board, and an illustration is completed, and the clay board can be made in large quantities and reserved, and it can be used directly when needed, and the cost can be said to be dozens of times smaller than the wooden board, almost negligible.

The earliest movable type printing was made of clay movable type, which was invented by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty.

Chen Xu didn't know it, but because the woodboard has always been used for engraving and printing in history, he didn't turn this corner.

For the improvement of printing, in fact, Chen Xu originally thought about using clay type, but considering that clay type and wooden type, each one has to be carved by hand, which is a great waste, far less fast than using the pouring method, so directly make movable type steel molds, and then pour melted bronze juice, so that it can cast a movable type in an instant like coinage, and even if it is lost or damaged, it can be mass-produced at any time, unlike clay movable type, which needs to be made first, then carved, and then put into the kiln to fire. There may also be deformation and damage, and it may also be damaged during use.

Regarding movable type printing, in addition to the earliest clay movable type invented in China, the West invented movable type of lead.

Although the melting point of lead is much lower than that of bronze, it can be melted at about 400 degrees, but lead is toxic, and it may pollute the water and soil in the smelting process or production process and poison the workers.

In 1812, Napoleon led hundreds of thousands of troops into Russia and was frozen to death in the severe cold, the main culprit was the buttons made of beautiful tin on the military uniform, because the tin buttons were turned into powder at extremely low temperatures, and the military uniform could not be buckled to protect against the cold, and only 10,000 of the 600,000 troops in the retreat returned to mainland France, and the rest froze to death on the way back.

Therefore, the use of bronze with the most developed smelting technology has become the preferred material for Chen Xu's casting type, first of all, now the copper mines have been nationalized, and the bronze products of the people will be replaced by steel products in the next few years, and the bronze will soon be withdrawn from the lives of ordinary people.

Because Vice President Zhang Cang now takes a group of craftsmen and craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences to soak in Chen Xu's Qinghe Courtyard all day long to design, install and manufacture tap water systems, the Academy of Sciences has been much quieter recently, and there are many fewer people.

In the past few months, Tang Ting and his three helpers have continuously improved the glass manufacturing process, melting and smelting hundreds of various substances, and the messy glass-like utensils produced are piled up in piles in the shed.

It was the hottest time of midsummer, as soon as he walked into the room of the glass research room, Chen Xu felt an unbreathable heat wave rushing towards his face, Tang Ting and the three helpers were all wearing burlap coats and cowhide gloves were busy working around the smelting furnace, the bellows were pulling, the flames in the coal furnace were red, and the four of them were all sweating, as if they were fished out of the water.

"Wow~" While Chen Xu was walking, he accidentally kicked over a pile of glass products, and they were scattered all over the ground in an instant.

"Master Hou!" The sound alarmed Tang Ting and the three helpers, and when they turned around, they saw Chen Xu hurriedly running up and saluting.

"On such a hot day, didn't all the labs be notified of the holiday in the past three days?" Chen Xu said with a frown.

"Hehe, I don't have anything to do on vacation, it's better to come and study glass, Hou Ye, come and see, the glass we fired recently is much better, there are almost no bubbles!" Tang Ting picked up a linen cloth that exuded a strong sour smell and wiped the sweat on his face and said with a smile.

On the workbench, there are many glass products, there are plates, cups and saucers and some other strange shapes of utensils, these things are light green and light blue in different colors, and the texture is transparent, Chen Xu picked up each one side by one and looked at it carefully, and found that there were indeed a lot fewer bubbles inside, if the requirements were not high, this transparency would definitely not have any problem with making utensils in daily life.

It is impossible for Chen Xu to make glass, he only knows that the basic composition of glass is silica or silicate, and silicate is widely found in nature, sand, quartz, crystal, crystal ore and other substances with high transparency can be used to smelt into glass.

Last time, in order to make a telescope, Tang Ting melted a piece of Chen Xu's crystal stone, and successfully poured out a few qualified lenses, Chen Xu let a few little waiters polish the soccer football for half a month, and finally made two monoculars, the effect is not bad, if the weather is clear, you can see people seven or eight miles away, and even see the action clearly, that is, almost seven or eight times the effect, but it has been hidden at home, because crystal is a rare gem, once Qin Shi Huang knew that crystal can make this kind of clairvoyant mirror, I am afraid that there will be people all over the world to find crystal stones, and in this wild era, there will inevitably be countless people who will die in the mouths of wolves, insects, tigers and leopards in the wilderness because of this order.

One of the main reasons is the problem of process.

The lenses manufactured by the pouring method have a slight frosted glass effect, which needs to be repeatedly polished and polished with porcelain paste and suede to achieve a completely clear and transparent effect, otherwise it is not a big problem to see the near place, and it is a blur to see the distance away, and the mirror of the crystal glass that is given to the water softly, Chen Xu also polished it for more than ten nights before finally achieving the delicate effect.

Therefore, before there are more advanced glass manufacturing methods and cutting and grinding tools, it is still very difficult to mass-produce glass products that achieve optical glass effects.

But after looking at these latest glass products on the workbench, Chen Xu felt that the civilian-grade glass technology was fully mature.

The civilian level, that is, to make a glass window, make some cups and dishes, make some lampshades or ornaments, etc., the quality requirements are not high, and the utensils made of glass are crystal clear, for these primitive ancient people, the temptation is greater than porcelain silk or even gold.

I heard that when the first Europeans arrived in the Americas, they exchanged a large amount of gold and jewelry from the local natives with glassware that was not worth anything at all.

Therefore, once the glass factory opened, Chen Xu believed that he could also exchange glass for a large amount of gold jewelry, and then he could also transport it to the Western Regions or even Central Asia, West Asia or Europe through caravans to exchange for more gold jewelry.

A glass bottle, how can you exchange it for half a catty of gold, a glass mirror needs at least a catty of gold, otherwise you will lose money psychologically.

Chen Xu thought about it slightly, and a little person in his mind began to drool, and he couldn't stop it.