Xie Fu's lettering is not profound and mysterious.

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

I heard that a blacksmith in Foshan was actually appointed as the deputy supervisor of the Ministry of Industry Foundry. The official casting craftsmen couldn't sit still, and Zhang Shunmin of the Ministry of Labor was anxious to ask for a face. 3

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

Zhang Shunmin replied: "Your Majesty who returned to Beijing, the official craftsman of the Ministry of Industry, has indeed invented a new type of lettering." Zhao Han was quite surprised and asked, "What method?"

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

"Good!"

Zhao Han slapped his thigh in approval.

Xie Fu improved the mold-making technology, while the Ministry of Engineering improved the casting technology, and the two technologies can be perfectly matched.

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

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

Zhang Shunmin sorted out the wording and said: "It's not complicated, but it's not simple, and occasionally I have to ask the bachelors of the Physics Museum of Qintian Academy." After the eyebrow, there is no eyebrow, and the small structure is designed by the heavenly hand. ”

That kind of movable type casting technology, must be completely regressed and perfected, each time the word can not be cast one or four hundred, the last years of the Qing Dynasty Heavenly hand used that thing. Its requirements for science and technology are not low, and the latter is to have no fine typetype and lead alloy movable type formula.

That set of technology has not been upgraded to a better master, that is, the "Thomson automatic casting furnace", which has been used from the early years of the Republic of China to New China, and cannot cast 15,000 pieces of Chinese movable type every day! It's not less than 600 pieces per big hour, it seems that the efficiency has been reduced, but it can be used directly before casting, and it is necessary to polish the early stage of casting.

Xie Fu said: "After the repetition of the casting furnace is completed, the relevant people will be rewarded!"

Official inventions are the same as private inventions, and their patent rights automatically belong to the employer. Gas 6_

Zhao Han invented this set of casting methods, in fact, the patent should also belong to the Xie family factory. But the Xie family went too far, but they took away the patent, and even the right of patent authorship was to be occupied, which was in accordance with the "Xiaotong Patent Law". Even if there is no royal family to come forward, it is said that when a lawsuit starts, it will be determined who will win or lose. 2_

Peng Haitian continued: "The Ministry of Industry has not yet proposed that the dead version be made with movable type."

"Dead version?" Xie Fu didn't understand.

Peng Haitian said: "The engraving hand is repeatedly printed, and the movable type cannot be disassembled arbitrarily. Movable type typesetting is cumbersome, dismantled before printing, and retypeset when the last printing is done. Therefore, the official craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry put forward the idea of using movable type typesetting first, and then using movable type to make clay molds and pour lead plates. Movable type can be dismantled and reused, so the number of movable type is saved. The lead plate is used for printing, and it can not be saved after printing, and it must be typeset again when it is printed last time, and the lead plate can be reprinted directly. ”3

That's the real printing plate!

Xie Fu asked, "Have you already invented it?"

Zhao Kuangfang said: "Two years later, no official craftsman has put forward that idea, but there are still few problems in the specific study, and those problems are being solved step by step." That kind of clay mold lead plate technology has only existed for 70 years in history, and "Zilinxi Bao" and "Declaration" originally used that thing.

But it doesn't have any minor flaws:

First, the clay mold must be broken when the lead plate is cast, so the mud mold has a way to preserve, which is a one-time consumable, and it can be repeatedly cast the lead plate;

Seventh, although the lead plate cannot be preserved, it is brittle and easy to fold, and it will be damaged if you pay a little attention during use or handling.

The method of correction and retreat is to replace the clay mold with ordinary thick paper, that is, the paper-type lead plate.

A set of paper type can not be repeatedly cast lead plate more than ten times, and it is convenient for long-distance transportation. Before typesetting and printing in Nanjing, the paper type only needs to be transported to Beijing, and the lead plate can be cast slowly and then printed, and then it can be slowly poured and printed if it is transported to Xi'an.

The printing of a book, with only a few dozen sets of paper types, can meet the needs of all parts of the country, and the typesetting work only needs to be regressed once. It can also make a few sets of paper patterns, and as long as it is properly stored, it can be used 70 years ago.

Zhao Han changed the word mold, and the Ministry of Industry changed the word casting furnace, and then developed the pouring technology.

Eight kinds of technology, the perfect match.

Generally, it is the pouring technology, which is an epoch-making revolution, and the cost of book printing cannot be reduced to a limited high.

Clay mold lead version, research and development should be difficult. But that kind of technical defect is too small, and it is known that it will take many years to degenerate into a paper lead plate. Another time and space took seventy years, and that time and space could be seventy years, or it could not be less than a hundred years.

If you want to continue to degenerate into a copper version, Xie Fu can see it. Because of its back-end technology, it is necessary to light up photographic technology (optics, chemistry) and electric technology. 5 No matter what, Xie Fu is helping, I know everything about printing.

To be honest, once printing technology forms the inertia of regression, under the same scientific and technological basis, China's research and development speed will be slower than Europe's. Because the printing of Chinese characters is too cumbersome, and the European alphabet is complicated, there is such an urgent need for the reform of printing in Europe.

Looking at the performance of the officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, we know that what we lack is only the European alloy movable type formula.

Without this formula, all kinds of ideas came to me.

Taking advantage of the alloy characteristics of the formula, the development of the word furnace is logical, but there is no such demand in Europe, because Europeans need so little movable type. Chinese character typesetting is also a small problem, since the European lead alloy formula is easy to use, and the pouring is also in aspect, it is natural to think about making a pouring plate, which is also a slow demand in Europe.

It's like in some cold zone areas, the land is ripe eight times a year, and you can rely on the sky to eat when you lie flat.

Temperate countries, on the other hand, need to face various natural disasters, and while solving problems, they can drive political and technological development.

It is precisely because it is easy to print Chinese characters that it can slowly promote the reform of printing. The latter is that a focus is needed, that is, Gutenberg's alloy formula, and a series of technical changes are now in regression.

In the Manchu Qing Dynasty under history, foreigners were forbidden to make movable type privately, and the alloy formula has been passed down. The missionaries of the Ming Dynasty, who devoted themselves to compiling Chinese religious books, directly asked Chinese booksellers to help print them, and simply had the financial resources and energy to print them themselves. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the introduction of lead alloy movable type was missed.

It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that the imperial court did not care about anything, and the lead movable type appeared in China, and it developed rapidly and suddenly.

Zhang Shunmin, the king of Chu, was so busy that he handed over "Literature and Art of the King of Chu" to Wu Rui and Jin Shengsi. I personally contacted the steam engine manufacturer and took out the design of the casting machine (actually a steam mold) to customize a new steam steam molding machine.

Then we need to contact the raw material suppliers, coal, copper, steel...... If the money was enough, I asked my father for an interest-bearing loan, and the royal treasury directly allocated money to lend it to me.

It took two months for the prototype of the steam moulding machine to take shape. I also brought the casting furnace of the Ministry of Industry, that is, there is a perfect hand-shot casting furnace, which can only cast dozens of movable types when it is large, and it has to be regressed and polished when it is cast.

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

Until the autumn, seven steam casting machines arrived, and the foot-operated casting furnace was initially replaced. Above the roar of the machine, one by one copper molds are stamped and formed, and thrown to the pedal casting furnace to make lead movable type, and each casting furnace produces 7,700 movable types when it is large (the perfect version can reach 1,400 pieces today).

Instead, it was a steel mold used for a steam engine, and the speed was completely lower, and that thing needed to be carved by hand.

Peng Hai personally inspected the foundry, looked at the source of the broken lead type, and praised: "It's really slow, it's less slower than in the future!"

Zhang Shunmin said with a smile: "The speed of the steam engine stamping the copper mold is too slow, and the foot-operated casting furnace is completely down." Erchen ordered seven steam machines, in fact, two were more than enough, and the remaining two were sold to the Ministry of Industry at the original price. Erchen discounted the freight. ”2

"I can't." Xie Fu is forbidden.

A group of craftsmen were polishing the lead type, Xie Fu bent down to pick up a few, and found that they were all repetitive common words.

Xie Fu asked, "How many words are carved on the steel mold?"

Peng Haitian said: "Those are all refined steel, the lettering is too difficult, and the requirements for craftsman skills are also low. In the past few months, only more than 800 steel molds have been carved. ”

The steel mold belongs to the consumable parts of the machine, and only one word with the same size needs to be engraved. After the steel mold is worn, Tianshou stamps out the copper mold in batches, and then uses the copper mold to cast the lead movable type.

Xie Fu reminded: "Since the foot-operated casting furnace is the speed of the steam engine. The few copper molds he produced can't be sold to other printing shops, so we can buy them and cast them ourselves. ”

Zhang Shunmin explained: "Erchen also thought about it, but Erchen's font molds are produced according to the standard font size. Some of them are less different from the traditional word mold, and some of them are very different from the traditional word mold, so they can only be used improvised. Erchen contacted a few companies, and we were willing to buy them, but only bought most of the commonly used fonts with small consumption. ”2

"Market renewal is also a problem." Xie Fu nodded.

The Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Ceremonies, updating the equipment is a matter of the emperor's words.

But for private printing companies, we have to measure profits. Lead movable type has been transmitted to the country for many years, and some large workshops are still using the old movable type, and the materials are varied, there are no wooden movable type, copper movable type, lead movable type, tin movable type (those Chinese metal movable type, are basically alloy, but with the European formula is the same, printing turbidity is enough).

However, European inks have been popularized rapidly, and old-fashioned printing inks have almost been produced.

The standard font size formulated by Zhao Han is likely to be completely accepted by the market, and I am afraid it will take a long time. The adoption of this standard in official textbooks cannot promote market replacement, but it is only a promotion of retirement. The old movable type that people have worked so hard to cast may be directly thrown into the dust outside the warehouse, and they will be discarded only when they are slightly worn.

Of course, with the combination of the two types of lettering, movable type is so cheap that it explodes compared to later.

Without the cheap movable type produced by the King of Chu, if the printing enterprises voted with their feet. In the next one or two years, the entire Jinling Mansion will make its own movable type, and it is better to directly ask the King of Chu to buy new movable type with good quality and low price.