Now Edison was studying his camera in his Fifth Avenue office. After watching it for a while, he sat back at his desk and read the script.
Edison's previous electric light company business is gone. After all, the market dominance of alternating current is too strong, and the shortcomings of the small transmission range of direct current are really unable to be applied on a large scale. All major companies have given up on the continued development of direct current.
After Morgan bought Edison's electric lighting company, he became even more enthusiastic about the alternating current business. Edison had spent a lot of effort competing, but it was the inevitable trend and he had no choice but to admit defeat.
So Edison turned to iron ore investment, but it was unsuccessful and even suffered a huge loss of two million US dollars.
Two million U.S. dollars at this time was almost 40 to 50 million U.S. dollars in later generations, so even though Edison was considered a wealthy man, it still had a considerable impact on him.
After that, Edison continued to invest in a cement factory. Thanks to the high degree of mechanization and low production costs of his cement factory, profits increased.
It took only a few years for the cement plant to make up for its previous huge deficit of US$2 million. At the same time, Edison felt that movies had reached a new stage, so he decided to make a longer movie, at least more than 10 minutes.
After all, he still holds the patent for the movie, which is a good invention that can make money. As the person who invented movies, Edison has a little story behind him.
Originally, a man named Prince had already shot and screened a film, but just as he was preparing to exhibit it publicly, he mysteriously disappeared on a train.
Prince's film patents disappeared with him. Some people linked his disappearance to Edison, his biggest rival at the time.
Prince took all the information about the camera on a train to the United States to apply for a patent again.
In the end, the person and his luggage disappeared together. It can be seen that the murderer's purpose may indeed be to need his information, or it may just be to clear the obstacles in the patent application.
Because as early as October 17, 1888, Edison also filed an application with the U.S. Patent Office.
He described his idea to invent a
"A machine for seeing with the eyes, much like a gramophone with the ears," which records and plays back moving objects, he calls it
"Kinetoscope". Judging from the timing, his application was made only three days after Prince screened the film for the first time.
In the years after Prince's disappearance, his widow and eldest son appeared as witnesses in one of Edison's lawsuits.
They appeared in court to obviously stand against Edison in order to prove that Edison's patent was not original.
And they speculated that Edison might have had something to do with Prince's disappearance. But the case failed due to insufficient evidence.
And Prince's eldest son is still trying to make his father's great invention known to the world. But in 1890, he was found dead in the woods.
Just as the mystery of Prince's disappearance remains unsolved, the truth behind his eldest son's death remains unsolved.
Everything has been lost in the long river of history. In short, since Edison's defeat in the DC War, his main focus has been shifted. On the one hand, he opened a cement factory to make money and made movies; on the other hand, as a
"Inventor", he is currently working on batteries. It is impossible for such a busy person to really calm down and be a pure inventor.
Edwin Bout, who was in charge of photography and projection at the Edison Laboratory, was also in the office.
"I think there is still a lot of room for change in this script." Edison said. Bout said: "But we have already started filming, and changing it now may delay the process." Edison shook his head: "We must change it. If we want to cause a sensation, we must show enough drama. People are very discerning now. , if you invest so much money but don't get the return you deserve, it will be a bigger loss for business, so you have to do your best." The movie they are planning to shoot is called "The Great Train Robbery". If there is one now According to box office statistics, it is definitely the first film to top the box office in the United States, and it lasted for nearly ten years.
Bout's status at this time was equivalent to that of a later director, while Edison was a producer. So Bout could only listen to Edison. He replied: "I think the first half cannot be modified, otherwise we will have to start all over again. The loss of manpower, material resources and time will be too great, and it does not seem to be in line with the commercial value you mentioned. "
"Of course not from scratch," Edison said.
"The previous parts are just foreshadowing. What we have to do is set up a climax at the end." The outline of the story of this movie is that four robbers rob a train, then donate money and escape, and are later chased by the police.
Edison continued: "We need to shoot a wonderful prairie gun battle at the end, which is in line with our positioning as a 'western film.'" Bout said: "I think it's good, but it's too difficult for photography. Big." Edison said: "This is an excellent idea. If it can be photographed, it will definitely sell well."
"But, sir..." Edison interrupted Bout: "Just do as I say. There will always be difficulties. The thousands of electric light experiments were even more difficult than this." Bout really felt very embarrassed, but The boss has spoken, what else can be done?
Edison's
The "idea" is indeed good, but how to implement the idea is obviously more important, otherwise it will be empty talk. Fortunately, Bout also had high hopes for this movie, so he could only scratch his head and figure out how to shoot the difficult gun battle.
——With the current anti-shake level of cameras, it still needs to be shot in motion. Just thinking about it makes people’s scalp numb.
"Dongdongdong!" There was a knock on the door, and Edison stood up.
"Have the battery materials I ordered arrived so soon?" When he opened the door, he saw a man in a suit and leather shoes.
"Excuse me, is this Mr. Li Yu's laboratory?"
"Li Yu?" Edison asked doubtfully,
"Which Li Yu?"
"It's the Li Yu who discovered Pluto and extragalactic galaxies in the newspaper." said the person outside the door.
"It's him," said Edison,
"You are looking for the wrong one. This is not the case. Although I took down the billboard, you don't even know that this is the Edison Company, right?"
"Edison? It turns out to be you! It's such an honor to meet you. I didn't expect to meet you here! My name is Haier, from the American Astronomical Society." Haier said.
"Astronomical Society?" Edison said,
"Is that what you want?" Haier said, "Yes, we want to grant the membership to Li Yu, but he has been away from Washington recently. It took a lot of effort to find him."
"As for that? To grant a membership to a person, you have to come over in person." Edison said.
"Mr. Edison, you may not pay attention to the current cutting-edge physics, mathematics, and astronomy. Mr. Li Yu is now an unparalleled presence in these fields. This time we have granted him the highest-level membership, which you can use to borrow Major observatories in the United States, for such a high honor, you must meet him in person." Haier praised.
Edison really couldn't understand advanced mathematical content, but at least he had read the reports in the newspaper.
"So that's how it is," then he said to himself,
"It's a pity that he doesn't know how to invent, otherwise he must be a good person when he called my laboratory." Edison's laboratory now has fourteen or fifteen experts in physics, engineering, electrical, and mechanics. Most of the inventions are actually made by their hands.
Haier said: "I'm really sorry, Mr. Edison, for disturbing you. I'll leave now."
"Wait a minute," said Bout, who was in the room.
"Li Yu you are talking about, the laboratory seems to be a three-story building four or five hundred meters north of the door."
"Thank you so much!" Haier said. Edison was surprised and asked: "Does he really have a laboratory on Fifth Avenue?"
"Yes," said Bout,
"I seem to have seen it some time ago." Edison thought for a while,
"I also went over to take a look, and there was a laboratory nearby. Even I didn't know about it." Bote said: "Sir was in the cement factory at the time, so it's normal that he didn't know." Edison said: "Since you know the place, you can Take us there." Li Yu's laboratory is indeed not far from Edison Company, and the three of them arrived there quickly.
"It looks decent," Edison looked at the building. Bout volunteered and knocked on the door.
Li Yu opened the door. Haier had seen him before. He took off his hat and saluted: "Mr. Li Yu, I finally found you. On behalf of the American Astronomical Society, I will grant you the status of a formal member." Li Yu took the certificate and actually used the box. I put on a watch, it’s quite ceremonial.
"Mr. Laoghaire, I asked you to come all the way."
"It's all as it should be," Haier said.
"The president has said that you must come to Washington in person in the future. We will hold a seminar for you. By then, most of the astronomers in the United States will come to listen." Li Yu said with a smile: "It is better to obey orders than to be respectful. ." Edison on the side said at this time: "Are you Li Yu?" Haier quickly introduced to Li Yu: "This is Mr. Edison, haven't you met?" Li Yu said in surprise: "It turns out to be you! I'm disrespectful. ." Edison is now the most famous inventor in the United States.
Edison said: "Quite young." I don't know if this sentence reminded him of Tesla.
Edison added: "I've heard of you. It's rare to have such great achievements in theoretical research." At least you have to have respect. Li Yu smiled and said, "It's even more rare to have such achievements as you." Edison Walking into Li Yu's laboratory, he saw the machines and four-wheel drive system components, as well as the electronic ignition system.
"Are these...used in cars?" Edison asked. Li Yu said: "Yes, sir, you have good eyesight."
"And the motor," Edison saw the electric starter of the electronic ignition system and asked again,
“Could it be that you want to make an electric car?”
"No," Li Yu said,
"What you see is a finished product. I just supply parts to other car manufacturers. It seems that all they make are gasoline cars." Edison shook his head: "Gasline cars are not good. Only electricity is the best solution. Plan." The current war between Edison and Tesla has ended with the victory of alternating current, but now the automotive industry
The winner of the “oil and electricity war” has yet to be decided. Edison is clearly on the streetcar side at the moment. Li Yu said: "No matter what energy source, it is inseparable from the transmission system. If they make electric vehicles, they can also use my solution." Edison looked at the four-wheel drive system: "I am studying batteries and preparing to put them on the vehicle. , based on the data from my laboratory, the cruising range is quite impressive. As long as the car can run far, electric vehicles will definitely have more prospects." The battery uses direct current, of course, which is Edison's specialty.
Whether now or a hundred years from now, the battery is the most critical indicator that determines the quality of an electric vehicle.
If placed in later generations, this sentence may still be a bit flawed, because the electronic control system is also critical, but for now, the battery is indeed the most critical factor.
Li Yu also knows that the current level of batteries is a big threshold for human technology. The direction of subsequent research and development is almost always towards materials, looking for suitable battery materials, anode materials, cathode materials and energy storage units.
As for improving the battery structure, that is a matter for later. Anyway, at the current level of technology, dry batteries are not yet popular, and battery packs are extremely heavy.
Li Yu said: "I'm afraid charging and discharging are still not convenient and safe enough, and according to mathematical models, the cruising range of electric vehicles will not be greatly improved simply because of the increase in battery size."
"I hate hearing about mathematical models," Edison said,
"Everything must be verified by real experiments." Li Yu was not easy to argue with, because Tesla had had many quarrels with Edison because of these mathematical contents.
Afterwards, Tesla even said personally: "The method Edison used was very inefficient, and he often did things with half the result with half the effort. Overall, I am a very unfortunate witness. If he knew some basic theories and calculation methods, It can save 90% of the effort. He ignored elementary education and mathematical knowledge, and completely trusted the inventor's intuition and American feeling based on experience." Edison and his team, who lacked sufficient scientific spirit and were led by diligent practice, all Has more than 1,000 patents.
However, Tesla, the theoretical inventor who was kicked out of the team and had scientific and theoretical literacy, owned more than 700 patents. In an instant, he was divided between the two schools of diligent practice and hard work on inventions and scientific theory-guided invention experiments. .
But Edison obviously still recognized his own model more. After all, at least his life was much more successful than Tesla's.
"Anyway, I have developed a new type of alkaline battery that uses sodium hydroxide solution to replace the sulfuric acid in the previous lead-acid battery. The safety and energy storage are much better." Edison said proudly,
"I heard that the Germans have made an electric car that is much faster than a gasoline car. However, the lead-acid battery used is too heavy. If you replace it with my alkaline battery, it will definitely have better results." It turns out that he is Think so.
There is indeed someone in Europe working on electric cars now, and it’s also a big celebrity—Ferdinand Porsche.
Yes, the founder of Porsche. Unexpectedly, Porsche originally built electric cars. What's even more interesting is that after Porsche built an electric car, it found that it was very fast and could easily pass 60km/h, but the battery life problem was extremely difficult.
So... Porsche suddenly had an idea and created the world's first hybrid car in 1900... He installed a gasoline generator in the car, which output electricity and then drove the wheel hub motor to make the vehicle run. , excess power can even flow into the battery pack and be stored.
However, this car is still very heavy. The battery alone is as high as 1.8 tons, and the entire vehicle weighs more than 4 tons, just like a small tank.
But even if they are so bulky, current fuel vehicles do not have any outstanding advantages in comparison, so the electric vehicle group is not weak at all.
