Naturally, the United States is the country where bowling is popular all over the world. In the early forties, bowling was as popular as baseball and American football, and there were about 6,000 bowling alleys in the United States, and in the future, Wal-Mart supermarkets in the United States did not play this number.

Before the fifties, there were no automatic bottle machines for bowling, so at that time, it was all manual bottle swinging, and the bowling alley would hire some children to stand behind the pins and be responsible for placing the pins. Like many waiters, these children are largely unpaid, and are paid by tips. In the United States, a country where tipping culture is prevalent, it is also a normal phenomenon.

In 1952, the advent of the automatic bottle swinging machine made the children who put the ball bottle unemployed, and the bowling sport has achieved a leapfrog development, the bowling alley no longer needs manpower to swing the ball, the management cost is greatly reduced, and it has become possible for one person to manage a bowling alley. Bowling alleys are also rapidly expanding throughout the United States.

At the height of bowling, there may have been more bowling alleys than gas stations in the United States, and there may be only one petrol station in a small town, but there may be two bowling alleys, even in a small village like Nevada.

Although American bowling in the forties was not as prosperous as it was more than ten years later, the 6,000 bowling alleys in the United States were still a big market.

The price of bowling balls made of resin is much lower than that of natural rubber, and the owners of those who open bowling alleys are not fools, and of course know how to choose.

Soon, all the bowling alleys in New York were using resin bowling balls, and then the branch bowling balls made by the Bakerland Company were transported along the railroad to Washington, D.C., to Chicago, and spread throughout the United States.

At this time, there was no need for the Beckland Company to send salesmen, and naturally there were agents of sporting goods who came to the Bakerland Company to place orders and earn the difference in price, a kind of bowling ball with a cheaper price, and there was no market at all.

……

Little Beckland watched the trucks pull the freshly produced bowling balls out of his factory, and his heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Prior to this, the main business of the Bakerland Company was to produce bakelite from phenolic plastics, such as light switches, instrument housings, telephone receiver shells, etc., and also thanks to the fact that Beckland Jr.'s father Beckland Sr. was the inventor of phenolic plastics, Beckland Company was able to do a good job in the bakelite business.

Little Beckland didn't want to make light switches all the time, he wanted to expand the company's business projects, so he also made many attempts to develop new products, but they didn't succeed. One of the more failed cases was that little Beckland missed out on polyamide compounds and nylon, the most popular textile material during World War II.

Now, through the production of bowling balls, the little Beckland company has finally found a leading product other than bakelite, and he is no longer the "Beckland who only produces light switches"!

Although the profit of bowling has not yet been counted, and even if the profit is counted, it will still be distributed to Chen Qiang, but little Beckland is already very satisfied, as a producer of bowling balls, he is very clear about the production cost of resin bowling balls, plus the shipment of bowling balls, he can estimate how much money bowling makes him.

"That Chen Qiang, is he the incarnation of Hermes? The last time he looked at the polyethylene pipe, he made a hula hoop, and this time he looked at the polyurethane, and he made a bowling ball again. This guy really has a sense of business. It's a shame not to be in business and to be an athlete with such talent. Little Beckland sighed to himself.

Hermes is the god of commerce in Greek mythology, equivalent to the Western god of wealth, and little Beckland compared Chen Qiang to Hermes, and also agreed with Chen Qiang's ability to turn stones into gold.

The next moment, little Beckland patted his head: "By the way, I also made a lot of new materials a few years ago, and I will show it to this Chen Qiang when I go back, maybe he can come up with any new products!" ”

……

In the laboratory of the Bakerland Company, Chen Qiang stood in front of the sample shelf, looking confused.

Next to him, little Beckland looked at Chen Qiang with anticipation, and asked, "How is it?" Seeing these materials, do you think of new products? ”

Chen Qiang smiled helplessly: "When you think of a new product idea as Chinese cabbage, you can think of it anytime and anywhere!" ”

"All the new materials I've developed in the last few years are here, think about it, what more can you do?" Little Beckland said unwillingly.

"In fact, there are many things that can be made of plastics, but the current level of technology, the toughness or strength of plastics is not enough, which limits the development of plastic products." Chen Qiang said.

"Then what kind of plastic do you need, how much toughness, how high strength, I may be able to make a research and development." Little Beckland immediately said that for the technopreneur, researching new materials is still his daily routine.

Seeing Little Beckland's enthusiastic look, Chen Qiang was really embarrassed to discourage his enthusiasm, Chen Qiang felt that it was better to find a way to deal with Little Beckland, so Chen Qiang said: "Have you ever made a thread out of plastic?" ”

"I've made the outer skin of the wire." Little Beckland replied truthfully.

"The kind of wire skin is not good, I am talking about a more durable wire, similar to sheep intestines!" Chen Qiang said.

"Is it possible to synthesize something like sheep gut with fiber? It's okay to give it a try, but it shouldn't be that hard. However, in terms of current materials, it is impossible to achieve the toughness of sheep intestines. Little Bakeland began.

"You can try nylon, which became popular last year, maybe this material can be made into a more durable thread." Chen Qiang opened his mouth to remind.

"Okay, I'll go back to the lab and give it a try. But what are you going to do with this thread? Little Bakeland asked.

"Of course, it's a tennis string." Chen Qiang paused, and then said: "The current tennis string is made of sheep intestines, the price is not cheap, and it is easy to decay after a long time. I think there will definitely be a market for a new tennis string that is cheaper. ”

"I almost forgot, you won the US Open. You definitely have a say in this! But that's just right, when I really research the new tennis string, we won't even save on endorsement fees. Little Bakeland began.

"That's right, when the time comes, I'll use a new tennis string to go to the US Open and win another championship and come back, which is better than any advertisement!" Chen Qiang nodded.

The history of the development of sheep intestine is almost the history of the development of tennis, the earliest people invented sheep intestine, is to use as a tennis racket tennis line, the first tennis string in history is an ordinary sheep intestine.

The tension of the sheep intestine is very good, and the biggest feature of using the sheep intestine as a tennis string is that it will feel very good when playing.

From the nineteenth century to the twentieth century, the level of human craftsmanship in making sheep intestines has been continuously improved, from the early sheep intestines that can only be used to be eight months old, to the later use of cow intestines, and then even the intestines of horses, donkeys, mules, and kangaroos.

In addition to the manufacture of tennis strings, it can also have surgical sutures, and the manufacture of various bowed string instruments. Even in modern times, most stringed instruments use steel strings, but there are still musicians who use gut as the strings of their instruments.

Sheep gut is a natural material, which is inevitably affected by temperature and humidity, and the durability is not particularly good, so if it is used to make tennis string, it will have a greater impact on players.

For example, in Wimbledon, it often rains during the game, and the tennis string made of sheep intestines will change due to the humidity of the air, and for players, it is likely that before and after the rain will be two different matches.

The durability of the sheep gut was not a problem in the forties, and the tennis players in the forties were not as skilled and strong as the later generations, and the sheep gut was still able to hold up. If it were in the future when tennis heavy gunners were everywhere, the sheep gut might not last a few serve shots before it would break.

Attenuation is also a major issue with natural materials. As time goes by, the attenuation of the sheep gut will become more and more severe, so the tennis players of that era will definitely change the tennis string more frequently than in modern times.

The biggest problem with using sheep intestine to make tennis string is the cost.

The main reason why tennis is called an aristocratic sport is because it costs a lot of money, and this money is spent on rackets.

A tennis ball is not worth a few dollars, and a flat tennis court is easy to find, but the price of a tennis racket is very high, and the reason why tennis rackets are expensive is because the tennis string is valuable. In the early days of tennis, it takes the intestines of three cows to make enough tennis strings for a tennis racket. That's why early tennis had such high requirements for dress, and if you don't dress neatly, you'll be sorry for the intestines of the three cows. At that time, only the aristocracy could afford to play the sport. For example, in a country like China, where cattle are particularly expensive, it is impossible to be willing to slaughter three cows to make a tennis racket.

The so-called "aristocratic sport" was really a sport that could only be played by the aristocracy at the beginning of its invention. For example, bowling was originally a religious ceremony, and in Europe at that time, ordinary people were not qualified to participate in formal religious ceremonies, participate in formal religious ceremonies, and let the bishop chant Shinto in front of you, it was the prerogative of the aristocracy, ordinary people, and the bishop was too lazy to take care of you.

Another example is billiards, early billiards were made of ivory, because wooden billiards and copper billiards will deform after being hit, and ivory is not easy to deform. However, ivory is a very expensive material, just imagine that in addition to the nobles, where ordinary people are willing to play ivory balls, accidentally break it and can't afford to pay for it.

In the future, due to the emergence of various new materials, tennis strings will no longer use sheep intestines, of course, there are some tennis rackets that advertise high-end, such as some luxury sports brands in France, will still use natural tennis strings. But high-level professional tennis players will definitely not use natural sheep intestines as tennis strings, after all, sheep intestines are too durable. Top players such as Federer and Nadal have their rackets specially made by sponsors, and the materials even contain a lot of high-tech elements.

Chen Qiang has some understanding of tennis strings, and the future tennis strings have single-core single-layer structural fibers, single-core multi-layer structural fibers, multi-fibers, and composite fibers, with a variety of materials, each with its own advantages.

Among them, the most popular is the single-core single-layer fiber tennis string, which feels very close to the natural sheep intestine and is more durable than the natural sheep intestine, and does not agree with the attenuation. What's more, this kind of tennis string is very cheap to build, so it is also the most popular. As for other kinds of tennis strings, many are developed from single-core single-layer fiber tennis strings.

The raw material of this single-core single-layer fiber is nylon, that is, polyamide fiber.

For Little Beckland, an expert in plastics, nylon is not a very new material, so Chen Qiang simply told Little Beckland that nylon can be used to make tennis strings, and whether Little Beckland can develop nylon tennis strings in the end depends on his ability.

If Little Beckland can study the nylon tennis string, Chen Qiang and Little Beckland, a pair of partners, will inevitably make a lot of money. The price of nylon is not high, if nylon is very expensive, it is impossible to make hundreds of millions of pairs of stockings sold all over the world, compared with sheep intestines, the price advantage of nylon tennis strings is too great, once nylon tennis strings come out, people will definitely choose cheaper nylon tennis strings, give up expensive sheep intestines, of course, there will always be that kind of deliberately forced people to continue to use sheep intestines.

Moreover, the emergence of nylon tennis strings can also reduce the cost of tennis, which is also a good thing for the promotion and popularization of tennis.

……

After the Japanese army landed in Zhejiang and Fujian, it launched an offensive in the second theater, and although Commander Yan of the second theater had five whole group armies and was also very good in weapons and equipment, he still chose to "preserve strength", and as a result, the Japanese army easily occupied the eastern Jindong region north of the Yellow River.

Subsequently, Japan began a new round of bombing of Chongqing, this time not only hitting the US Embassy in China, but also sinking a US gunboat parked on the Yangtze River.

This move was interpreted as Japan's retaliation against the United States, because not long ago, Japan occupied French Indochina, which is now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and in response, Roosevelt announced that he would freeze all Japanese assets in the United States, and at the same time Roosevelt also appointed MacArthur as the military commander of the United States in the Philippines, apparently to prevent Japan from attacking the Philippines.

Prior to this, Roosevelt also announced that all German and Italian assets in the United States would be frozen, German and Italian consulates in the United States would also be ordered to close, and their staff members would have to leave the United States within 10 days.

The United States' attack on Germany and Italy did not affect the course of the war in Europe, and on the European side, the war entered a new stage, and the German army finally aimed the spearhead at the Soviet Union after repeatedly attacking Britain without success.

On June 22, 1941, Germany tore up the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact" and launched an attack on the Soviet Union in three directions, such as Lithuania, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and other countries also sent troops to support Germany and launched an attack on the Soviet Union.

Among these countries, such as Finland and Lithuania, they all suffered at the hands of the Soviet Union, for example, Finland was deprived of territory by the Soviet Union, Lithuania was forced to join the Soviet Union, and so on. Now that there was an opportunity to oppose the Soviet Union, these countries, which had suffered at the hands of the USSR, naturally did not hesitate and immediately sided with Germany.

Several other countries are also Germany's younger brothers, and some countries have gained a lot of benefits in the process of Germany's conquest of Europe. For example, Hungary gained a lot of territory in the process of dividing Slovakia and Yugoslavia, and since it took benefits from the Germans, it naturally had to help Germany send troops to fight the Soviet Union. Romania, on the other hand, was promised by Germany that it could get half of Ukraine after invading the Soviet Union.

The war is also as recorded in history, the German army is triumphant, the Soviet army is losing and retreating, in just 18 days, the German mechanized troops advanced more than 600 kilometers, and just the first day of fighting, the Soviet army lost 1,200 aircraft.

The Soviet legions were repulsed one by one, the dissatisfaction of the three Baltic states and the western Ukrainian region against the Soviet Union began to erupt, and the Soviet troops fighting on the ground fell into the sea of people's war, and there will always be a large number of leading parties in the German offensive.

The USSR abandoned the Baltic region, abandoned Minsk, abandoned the ports of the Black Sea, abandoned Kiev. In the end, the Soviet Union had to adopt a scorched-earth war of resistance, which deprived Germany of supplies as much as possible. The leader of the Soviet Union even said in a public speech: "When our troops have to retreat, we must transport all the railway rolling stock, leaving not a single locomotive or carriage for the enemy, not a kilogram of grain and a liter of fuel oil for the enemy!"

Implementing a scorched earth policy in one's own country can be described as killing 800 enemies and losing 1,000 to itself, and the current Soviet Union is really being forced to the edge of the precipice.

In September, the Germans besieged Leningrad, a major Soviet industrial town, and prepared to launch an attack on Moscow.

Perhaps the only good news for the Soviet Union is that this year's winter came early, with the first snow in Russia just entering September.

However, this first snow, far from stopping the Germans' attack, made the Germans intensify their attack. At this time, the Soviets also had to ask the United States for help, and the Soviet foreign account Molotov urgently asked for American support from the American representative Avel Harriman.

The Americans did not expect that the Soviet Union would lose so quickly and so badly, and the United States would certainly not allow the Soviet Union to collapse so quickly, so Roosevelt urgently approved a billion dollars in aid. But if the Soviets wanted to receive this aid, they had to keep Moscow first. If Moscow is lost, the Soviet Union will not be far from its demise, and it will be useless to ask for assistance.

It was also at this time that Chen Qiang received a letter from Esther, and the movie he invested in was finally finished.

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Ask for a monthly pass, thank you.