national surname chiming

Chapter 517 Let the Emperor Spontaneously Generate a Sense of Urgency

After explaining Robert Hooke's follow-up improvement direction of the "Hooke Steam Engine", he actually didn't expect Hooke to produce results in just a few years, because he was well aware of the difficulty and hardship of scientific research.

Historically, it took a full 82 years from Newcomen to Watt, which is equivalent to a cycle of about 80 years from "the zeroth industrial destiny" to the "first industrial destiny".

Of course, Zhu Shuren is also very clear that in the 82 years from Newcomen to Watt in history, not all people were engaged in research and development, at least more than half of the time was stagnant.And Daming can obviously cut off this wasted time.

To give the simplest example, in the original history, Newcomen built his steam engine in 1705 and applied for a patent at the British Patent Office, because it did not significantly improve productivity and was expensive.

After the calculation, the capitalists feel that there is no difference in saving money between using this thing and not using it. On the contrary, if they have to pay Newcomen a patent licensing fee, the income will be even less, and most of the saved money will be given to Newcomen. Earn it, and save yourself a little bit.

So the capitalists tacitly chose to ignore Newcomen’s invention directly, and waited and watched for 20 years in vain—in the “Patent Laws” of various countries in later generations, the protection period for invention patents is not basically 20 years. Is it about a year?

And the number of "20 years" was first copied from the British "Patent Law".At the beginning of the 18th century, there was no patent law in other countries on the earth, and only Britain had this law.

So the choice of capitalists is actually tantamount to waiting for 20 years, just to watch your patent protection expire and the Newcomen steam engine become a public technology, and then pounce on it without spending money in vain.

From 1705 to 1725 was completely wasted.

After the Newcomen steam engine was finally used in industrial practice in 1725, people discovered various problems that needed improvement.

But because Newcomen's 20-year patent period was wasted in vain, Newcomen didn't earn a penny in patent fees, so after he discovered the problem, he couldn't afford to continue his research and development work, and then spent another For about 15 years, he went around begging for alms from capitalists to invest in his continued research and development.

And this kind of encounter was not only encountered by Newcomen, but also by Watt 80 years later before the improvement was successful.After Watt took over the research and development of the steam engine, he spent at least half of Newcomen's time wasting the patent protection period and attracting investment.

It can be said that in the entire 82-year R&D cycle from Newcomen to Watt, at least 30 years were spent by capitalists waiting for patents to expire, and people who are delicious don’t spit out their bones in vain.There are still more than 20 years spent on poor inventors who continue to beg for research and development funds because they cannot recover their investment.The time really spent on scientific research must never exceed 25 years.

Of course, 82 of the 25 years can be spent on real research, which was already the fastest speed on earth at that time.

At any rate, the United Kingdom has a "Patent Law", but it has cultivated the habit of forcing capitalists to spend money for patents for more than 80 years.After Watt's success, the British scientific research investment system was finally established in the following decades and entered a blowout period.

At the same time, Germany and the United States did not even have a patent law (France followed up relatively quickly, but France did not take the lead in industrial production). They felt that it was "justifiable" for 80 years longer than the British until 1868. After Faraday invented the generator in [-], Demi felt that he should make efforts during the second industrial revolution, and only then began to catch up and establish the awareness of patent payment.

As for China in history... If you don’t blow it up, you have to think that it’s “justifiable” for about 120 years, and it’s not until the beginning of the 21st century that it really begins to gradually cultivate a social atmosphere of “wrongness” ( Although the patent law was enacted in 84, in fact, in the last 20 years of the 15th century, the country basically could be used for nothing, and the rule of law has not yet been established to that extent)
……

Zhu Shuren is well aware of the lessons of blood and tears in this period of history, so he also knows that the normal R&D cycle from Newcomen to Watt should never be 82 years, but a maximum of 25 years——

Even if he doesn't call Hook and let him play freely, as long as the research and development funds given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ming Dynasty are sufficient.At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ming Dynasty will take on the role of "helping the immature steam engines in the early stage and providing trial and error scenarios for industrial applications". Don't wait 20 years for the expiration to be worthless like Western private capitalists.

Then, Daming can save at least 60 years of human technological progress time, or even more.

This is the institutional superiority of the Ming Dynasty to conduct scientific research with the power of the state, and it reflects the greatness of the Ming Dynasty's greatness in concentrating its power on major tasks, without being dragged down by selfish white drifters to slow down the progress of human history.

However, Zhu Shuren is also very clear that in this era, it is not suitable to directly promulgate the "Patent Law" in the modern sense.

The reason is also very simple, because if the British patent law in the era of Newcomen and Watt is used as a blueprint, it means that "technical innovation needs to disclose the details of the principle in exchange for the monopoly protection of the court for a certain period of time."

To put it bluntly, when Newcomen applied for a patent on a steam engine, he had to disclose in detail how the thing was made and its principle and structure, so that technicians in the field could learn how to make it.Then, the imperial court protected him from eating alone for 20 years as a reward for encouraging him to go public.

However, many of the leading technologies invented by Daming are still concentrated in the field of biochemical environmental materials, and if the formulas in those fields are well kept secret, the number of years they can eat alone to reap the benefits is far more than 20 years.

Just like the formula of Coca-Cola in later generations, although it is no longer a secret in the 21st century, at least in the first more than half a century of Coca-Cola’s birth, competitors in the same industry could not test its ingredients, so Coca-Cola would not be so stupid as to give The formula is patented, and then the formula is published.In that way, you can only eat alone for 20 years at most. After 20 years, won't others be in vain?
Therefore, whether to promote the patent system needs to be combined with the times.Only when the era advances to the point where the industrial revolution is about to open, and many technological innovations are not applied for, under the dismantling and reverse research of knockoffs by others, will not survive the 20-year confidentiality period. At this time, patents will truly exert their power and continue to ensure people's technological innovation. Escort artifact.

But in any case, Zhu Shuren felt that the legislation and system construction of Daming in these areas must be matched to a certain extent. If the management system cannot keep pace with the times, "backward production relations restrict productivity" will eventually appear.

Now it has been 15 years of Xiaokang, and it is already the beginning of the "Third Seven-Year Plan of Ming Dynasty" that he formulated at the beginning.Although it has been delayed due to various changes, and Galdan in the Junggar tribe in the northwest has not yet been killed, Daming's own reform and farming development should not be delayed by the external environment, and what should be done still needs to be done.

……

So, after inspecting the samples of Hooke's Newcomen steam engine, Zhu Shuren retreated and pondered for half a month.I buried my head in writing and drawing, and made some policy plans on paper.
Then they left the customs and summoned the emperor's son Zhu Ciyu, his first assistant's cousin Zhang Huangyan, his second assistant's brother-in-law Fang Yizhi, and the wife of the president of the Academy of Sciences Fang Ziling. They held an internal meeting behind closed doors on how to continue deepening policy reforms in the next few years.

As for Shi Kefa, the original cabinet chief assistant, I would like to make a digression: Unfortunately, people are born, old, sick and die. 70 years old,

Shi Kefa was able to live to this age, which was considered a long life at that time. He died, and lived a very happy life in his later years. He lived in the nursing home specially provided by Zhu Shuren for more than ten years.

After everyone arrived, Zhu Shuren was not in a hurry to directly announce his thoughts, because his son was 30 years old after all, and he could no longer teach him to do things like he was dealing with young people. It would still easily cause depression and rebound, so Zhu Ciyu needed to be spontaneous. Feel the urgency to do something.

Therefore, Zhu Shuren took everyone to see Hooker's steam engine without talking about it.

That steam engine has been slightly adjusted compared to when Zhu Shuren saw it for the first time more than half a month ago. The main reason is that a cold start crank handle was temporarily added to allow the starting inertia to be established faster. The tossing and tinkering time can also be shortened by several minutes, and it looks smoother.

But other places have not been changed for the time being, after all, the time given to Hook is too short.

Zhu Ciyu and the others were also greatly shocked after seeing the steam engine relying on the power generated by burning coal and firewood to do work automatically. up.

And because it is not convenient to demonstrate the work of mining and lifting water in the research institute of the Academy of Sciences, the power output end of this steam engine was not demonstrated with the water pump. For more than a month, an experimental Xiaowan spinning machine with the largest number of spindles was temporarily refitted.

The traditional manpower Xiaowan spinning machine and silk reeling machine can generally pull five spindles or even eight yarns at the same time.Among them, the five-spindle spinning machine was manufactured as early as the 16th year of Chongzhen, and the eight-spindle spinning machine was also an old model in the second year of Longwu. It has been more than 20 years since then, and it has already been widely popularized throughout the country.

In the future, the Academy of Sciences has actually been tinkering with the subsequent improvement of spinning machines, silk reeling machines, and looms.

Even after Dong Xiaowan herself got older, there was no need for men and women to serve Zhu Shuren. From the age of 40, Dong Xiaowan gradually retreated and concentrated on going back to ponder the skills of her embroidery workshop at home when she was a girl. (Dong Xiaowan is only three years younger than Zhu Shuren, so he is already 50 years old now, and he has been thinking about looms for ten years)
Therefore, the subsequent 20 to [-] spindles, and even more spinning machines with spindle structures, have also been manufactured one after another, but there is no market test.Those with more than [-] spindles can be used for spinning machines powered by waterwheels. If there are more, the power output of waterwheels is not balanced enough, and it is easy to break down, so it only stays at the level of testing prototypes.

Strictly speaking, the speed of this mechanical development is not fast.In the Western history of parallel time and space, it also took decades for the spinning jenny to go from five spindles to thirty or fifty or more spindles after its initial birth.The follow-up is just a matter of engineering running-in and mechanical optimization, and there is no qualitative change.

But now, Robert Hooke has built the Newcomen steam engine, which finally provides a power source for spinning machines with more than thirty spindles.

At this moment, in front of the emperor Zhu Ciyu and other cabinet ministers was a steam engine made by Hooker, dragging a latest 48-spindle parallel spinning machine made by Dong Xiaowan himself at the output end.

Driven by the power of the steam flywheel, the twisting speed of the 48 spindles runs very evenly and smoothly.

The power output of the waterwheel-powered spinning wheel fluctuates, and once the power changes too fast, some yarns will easily break if the tension changes too much in a short period of time.

Zhu Ciyu knew exactly what this meant.That is to say, if we go back 40 years, to about ten years before Chongzhen, ten years before his birth, the spinning girls at that time still had to wind the spindles by hand.

But now a steam engine drives a largest Xiaowan spinning machine, as long as enough water and coal are provided, it can automatically produce yarn, which is equivalent to the spinning productivity of 40 civilian women [-] years ago.

This is a power that can be produced continuously as long as there is enough coal and water!

In order to protect and strengthen this force, and to allow this force to continue to evolve by itself, Daming really needs to adjust and protect the system.

The old "Law of the Ming Dynasty" and all kinds of stumbling blocks that have fallen behind must be adjusted.

Zhu Ciyu really wanted to change, but he suddenly felt that he didn't know what to do.Ever since, after at least five or six years, he has regained the mentality of actively seeking knowledge when he was young, and he can't help asking for advice:

"Father, you have seen a lot. My son really wants to make some drastic changes so that Daming's laws can adapt to this kind of power, but my son is confused for a while, and I can't think of where to start. Can my father give me some advice? "

Zhu Shuren laughed inwardly, this kid really wanted to ask for advice on his own initiative, so it wasn't because he liked to preach and was too fatherly.

"In the past 15 years, in the first half of my Ming Dynasty, I reformed the tax system, mainly abolishing the division of household registration, and increased the proportion of industrial and commercial taxes. In the second half, I implemented reforms in mathematics and science, added new channels for selecting officials, and handled Nanjing University.

Now that the law of reforming money and people has almost advanced, and the number of new scholars in the court and China is gradually increasing, it is time to attack the last and longest-standing disease of the Ming Dynasty.

Right now, we should change the official system, change the "Hui Dian", and re-enact the "Da Ming New Law" from the root, breaking through the old Taizu's "future generations can only add exceptions to the law, and cannot modify the original "Da Ming Law" to become a law." disadvantages.

Daming has been in power for nearly 310 years now, almost collapsed in the middle, but finally reborn from nirvana like Guangwu ZTE.Since ancient times, the Tang Dynasty has not been as long as my Ming Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty is only a few years longer than my current history.The ancestral law has completely exceeded the vitality of a dynasty, and fundamental changes must be made.

I believe that Daming ZTE's national power has been booming for decades, and that Ming Guozuo was older than the previous dynasty, so that people all over the world will see Daming's confidence and support this change. "

Zhu Ciyu nodded: "Okay, let's take a long-term plan and try to spend another five to ten years to gnaw the hard bones of the third stage."

-

PS: The new book "Brother Zhuge Liang" has been published
How about this, let’s make an appointment today, the new book will increase by more than 200 every day, and the old book will be updated to two more until the end of the book

(I now update four to five thousand words, and the second update is [-] words. There are still about ten more manuscripts to finish. If the new book is not added, this one will be finished in ten days. If the new book is added quickly, This book will be finished in five days.

If there is a second change, I will release it before 5:[-] pm. If there is no change, the increase in income on the day is too small, and it does not meet the conditions for adding a change. Please don't wait. )
(End of this chapter)