Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 859 Wire Telegram

April 1651, 3, sunny.

Peng Zhicheng strode on the embankment of the Xingnan section of the Southern Cone Railway, followed by a group of staff in black railway uniforms—these were all members of the State Administration of Railways.This place is already [-] kilometers away from Xingnan Port. Strictly speaking, it is not within the boundary of Xingnan Port, but under the jurisdiction of Xinbao.Peng Zhicheng, a veteran of the army who is in charge of the national railway construction supervision, came to such a remote place in the south today, not because he was bored, but because he wanted to test the latest products of the Central Railway Company (now operating the Luomei Line and the Northwest Railway at the same time) : Wired Telegraph.

As we all know, in such a sparsely populated place on the east coast and facing serious security problems, the telegraph, a communication tool that can transmit messages in real time, has always been the focus of the Executive Committee's attention.Since the Central Railway Company continued to extract a considerable proportion of the profits of the Luomei Railway and invested it in the research of telegraph systems and lead-acid batteries a few years ago, the Executive Committee has been instructing the Government Affairs Council to issue a number of scientific research subsidies to the Central Railway Company. It also allowed the technicians of the Telecommunications Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences (currently there are only two or three kittens, and there is an urgent shortage of talents) to work with "China Railway" to develop the entire telegraph system.

The research and development of the whole system started from the research on dry batteries and storage batteries by the East Coast people many years ago.The East Coast Academy of Natural Sciences started from the voltaic pile, while doing basic research, while cultivating technical talents—mainly students from the high school affiliated to the Academy of Natural Sciences. Strict protection and monitoring - they also did it themselves, referring to the real objects on the time-traveling Yunsheng No. [-], and hand-made some rough electrical instruments. While training the students' hands-on ability, they also gave them a preliminary understanding of electricity. This is conducive to the subsequent theoretical study.

Later, they started the research and development of batteries, that is, to study how to convert chemical energy into electrical energy, so as to realize its utilization.Because of the impression from later generations, people on the east coast went straight to lead-acid batteries at the beginning, instead of taking detours to study other less reliable batteries like in history.

The positive and negative plates of lead-acid batteries are made of lead, and the positive plate is coated with a layer of lead dioxide. In the medium of dilute sulfuric acid solution (27%-37%), the lead dioxide on the positive plate will become a An unstable state of lead hydroxide, so that the positive plate is positively charged; while the lead on the negative plate will transfer the lead cations to the medium under the action of dilute sulfuric acid, leaving two electrons on the negative plate, As a result, the negative plate is negatively charged, so that a potential difference is formed between the positive and negative plates, and a relatively stable current can be formed as long as the external circuit is connected.

Of course, limited by materials, technology, and other factors, the lead-acid batteries manufactured by Dongan people are not satisfactory in terms of cost, capacity, lifespan, and voltage, and they need to be improved urgently.But these are all subsections. The big problem of having or not has been solved, and the rest is to gradually improve the details and improve performance.

In fact, the people from the Academy of Natural Sciences had completed the research and development of lead-acid batteries long before this, and even made a dozen of experimental products, but they were not very satisfied with this because of their high requirements, and they kept saying that they needed to continue. Improvement, so the trial requirements of many departments or units were rejected.But this time, the Central Railway Company couldn't bear it anymore and asked them to immediately finalize the production of the latest products, and then send them to the Nanconi Railway in Xingnan Port to provide power for the newly developed telegraph system.As for the battery's poor performance, low voltage, and small capacity, that's not a problem. Multiple batteries can be connected in series to increase the voltage. Besides, the telegraph doesn't need any high voltage, which is enough to handle it.

With the power supply, the wires are even simpler. People on the east coast currently use thin copper wires coated with tung oil purchased from the Far East—in fact, this is unnecessary. Under the environment, a lot of lacquer can be used as the insulation layer of wires, but for the sake of insurance, the Central Railway Company still luxuriously used copper wires with tung oil insulation.

As for the sending and receiving system of the telegraph, it is not too difficult to be honest, although many parts can only be made by hand (which results in high costs), although the service life of many parts is low, although the overall reliability of the system is not high ( Frequent failures), but it finally works, and in most cases, can receive electrical signals from far away.

At present, this telegraph sending and receiving system has actually been jointly conducted by the Academy of Natural Sciences and the China Railway Corporation for many small-scale tests before. Today’s test is a long-distance test with a transmission distance of more than 30 kilometers-the signal sending station For Xingnan Port, the receiving station was established in Zixinbao.

Such a long transmission distance is also the first time for China Railway Corporation. Therefore, although it is estimated that there is no need to set up a relay station in the middle, and the signal can definitely transmit such a long distance without attenuation, they still have no confidence in the end-after all, they know their own. As for housework, the quality of my own products is quite mediocre (or in a mess), and I really have no idea whether the transmission can be successful, so I can only fight for character.

The test was scheduled to start at 12:[-] noon. Half an hour had passed by this time, and Peng Zhicheng was still inspecting the completed railway section on the Gobi Desert.He looked carefully at the radian of the roadbed, drainage ditches (actually not necessary, the local area is arid with little rainfall), the shape of the railway tracks, etc., and took out his own small notebook to record things from time to time.But he was so serious, the group of people behind him seemed a little absent-minded. They turned their heads from time to time and looked west towards the direction of Zixin Castle, which surprised the herdsmen who occasionally passed by the roadside. Is it coming from the west?

"The 32-kilometer railway from Xingnan Port to Zixinbao has already been completed, and the 55-kilometer mileage from Araucan Port to Qingniwabao has also been connected a while ago. In addition, we have also built a branch line with a length of about 41 kilometers (the Black Mountain Coal Mine ——Qingniwa Section). In general, the total mileage of the Nanzhuo Railway is likely to far exceed the Xingnan Highway we built before, and will historically reach a total length of 416 kilometers (including branch lines). It has exceeded the 330 kilometers of the Northwest Railway, and it is the longest railway line in China.” An official of the Southern Railway Company who followed Peng Zhicheng immediately answered cautiously after hearing his question: “ At present, we have built a mileage of 159 kilometers on the Southern Cone Railway. In addition to the three sections that have been opened to traffic, we have also built some fine mileage intermittently in the middle. If we look at the existing personnel and mechanical equipment conditions, the distance from the whole It may take another four years for the entire line of the railway to be fully completed, that is, it will not be fully open to traffic until the end of 1654. Therefore, I suggest that the Executive Committee, the State Railway Administration and the Southern Railway Company increase investment and add more personnel and equipment to make this The railway can be completed ahead of schedule, which is extremely important for the increasingly heavy immigration transportation tasks and the transportation of Peruvian smuggled trade goods. It can be said that its significance cannot be overstated..."

Just as the official of the Southern Railway Company was complaining to Peng Zhicheng about his troubles, and was planning to ask for more assistance from the mainland, two riders galloped over from the west on fast horses, and soon approached.The leading rider skillfully reined in the horse, then opened his throat and shouted at Peng Zhicheng and the others with all his strength: "I received the message from Newcastle Railway Station, and the translator made the translation within 2 minutes." , is 'persist in the leadership of the Executive Committee for 100 years without wavering'!"

"Insist on the leadership of the executive committee for 100 years" is the message sent by the telegraph station at Xingnan Port. Peng Zhicheng and others knew it when they set off. The wired telegraph system designed and developed by them has been able to travel through a space of 32 kilometers through wires at least, and send messages to distant places in an instant. This is a remarkable achievement.

"The test is initially successful. The next step is to continue to improve, whether it is design, materials, or reliability. In short, we must continue to improve performance to make it more practical and lower cost." Peng Zhicheng said happily to everyone. , Then he emphatically called the officials of the Central Railway Company who followed him, and reminded: "First of all, congratulations on your achievement of this phased result, but I want to say that this is not the end, and then you must find ways to improve performance To ensure that the signal can be transmitted over a longer distance, Sandcastle, Qingniwa, Montenegro Coal Mine, Araucan Port, step by step. Of course, the construction of relay stations must also be carried out simultaneously, and the training of telegraphers and translators cannot be left behind In the future, this wired telegram will be a powerful tool for transmitting information. Think about it, the command sent by Xingnan Port, Araucan Port received it a few minutes later, what a miracle this is!"

In the arrangement of the Executive Committee and the Government Affairs Council, the wired telegraph will be built along the railway line first. In principle, a relay station should be built for each railway station. The distance between these railway stations is moderate, which will basically not cause large signal Amplitude attenuation.As for the operation, it is naturally handed over to the Central Railway Company. After all, most of the research and development funds and a considerable part of the technical personnel are provided by the company, so the patent for the cable telegraph naturally belongs to the company.It is foreseeable that when the cable telegraph is gradually popularized and promoted, this business will inevitably be rich in money, and it will become the second money printing machine under the China Railway Company that is constantly running.

"Don't worry about Supervisor Peng. Our company will definitely increase investment to enhance the reliability and durability of the system. At the same time, the training of relay stations and corresponding personnel will also be carried out at the same time. Please don't worry." The official of the China Railway Company immediately expressed his opinion after hearing the words. Said happily.

(End of this chapter)