Chapter 1940 - Relay

"I work as an apprentice at the General Machinery Plant."

"I don't have a place to live for the time being. Your attic upstairs is still empty, can I live there? Don't worry! I will pay you the same rent as before."

...

Qian Yuzhi was usually not a person without ideas, but at this moment he seemed to be led by the nose. Li Jianai dominated the conversation and showed Qian Yuzhi her work ID and identity card. Within a few minutes, the matter was decided. Li Jianai picked up a small rattan suitcase at the bed's end and walked toward the simple stairs, "Help me bring the bedding over. Thanks."

At this moment, Qian Yuzhi heard a growling sound from her stomach. Li Jianai's face immediately turned red. She turned her head and gave Qian Yuzhi a preventative glare, as if implying that if he dared to mention it, he would be in trouble. Qian Yuzhi had to pretend he didn't hear anything and carried the bedding behind her.

The attic used to be his sister's bedroom, so the bed and furniture were all ready-made. It was cleaned spotlessly—it could be seen that Li Jianai was a very good tenant.

"Alright, I'll reluctantly live here then." Li Jianai sat on the bed and said, "I won't return the key to you. I usually eat in the canteen and definitely won't cook—so don't think about mooching meals off me. I wouldn't do it even if you paid for the food..."

"I eat at the factory too." Qian Yuzhi felt somewhat stifled; inexplicably it turned into him intending to take advantage of her. He suddenly remembered something, "This... men and women are different, living in one place..."

"Hey hey, I didn't expect your mind to be so old-fashioned. Didn't you live with a girl in the past? There are many girls' things in this room."

"That was my sister..."

"Since you care so much, consider me your sister—cousin will do. Coming to stay with you temporarily..."

Qian Yuzhi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These female students from the College of Arts and Sciences were really bold, living under the same roof with a man of similar age just like that? Was she not worried or afraid at all? Or did she trust too much that he was a gentleman?

Qian Yuzhi found himself surprisingly kind today. Not dragging Li Jianai to the police station was already polite enough, yet he'd even agreed to rent her the room. In the past, he and this girl would both be considered "improper," though rural people didn't pay much attention to this—a man and a woman living in one house basically meant they were a couple. Could it be that this girl was really interested in him?

Looking at Li Jianai's uniform, he thought of Teacher Xiao Feng again, and his heart felt somewhat restless, just like every teenager entering puberty.

"I'm going to sleep now." Qian Yuzhi felt his face heating up, so he hurriedly went downstairs.

Feng Nuo walked toward the train station panting heavily. He was going to take the small train to the steel plant in the Ma'ao Industrial Zone. After walking briskly for less than ten minutes, he was somewhat out of breath.

This won't do, I need to exercise...

Feng Nuo said to himself silently.

He was probably among the most otaku-like people among the Senators. Administrative leaders of various Senate institutions usually had to take considerable time to go down to the grassroots for inspection, but he sat in the office all day. If there was any exercise, it was walking back and forth between the server room and various offices.

Walking onto the platform, he was already sweating profusely.

This can't go on. If the capital collapses before the revolution succeeds, it would be a huge loss.

Feng Nuo said to himself silently. He still couldn't help but sit down on the waiting bench.

It wasn't peak commuting time now, so there were very few people on the platform, mostly messengers from various departments carrying dedicated communication backpacks. He slumped on the bench, remembering what a certain Senator from the electrical department said just now—feeling very unhappy in his heart.

The current punch card machine system was a dedicated machine for the census, not yet a general-purpose machine. Therefore, in the design, the tabulating machine only retained the functions of counting the number of cards and counting the number of cards meeting certain punching conditions—the latter could actually be achieved by a sorter plus the former. But it did not have the functions of an accumulator or even a multiplier like the tabulating machines in the old timeline. Feng Nuo also knew that this configuration reduction was indeed suspected of cutting corners, but the logic required to implement an accumulator with relays was slightly complex, and he didn't even know where the relays were right now. So he planned not to do the accumulation function for the time being. Anyway, the census was one card per person, and probably only the average age calculation would use this function. When the time came, it would be fine to run it a few more times with the sorter.

Unexpectedly, during the meeting just now, a sharp Senator saw through this problem at a glance and said, "Your tabulating machine can't accumulate; what's the difference between it and a banknote counter?" This remark was somewhat harsh, but not unreasonable. Though Feng Nuo cursed secretly in his heart, he could only joke, "The technical content of a banknote counter is much higher than ours," and laughed it off.

He laughed it off, but Feng Nuo began seriously considering implementing an accumulator. However, this would impose higher requirements on the relays' performance and volume, probably requiring better magnetic cores, thinner winding wires, and more effective insulation layers. He felt quite unsure and planned to ask Faraday, who didn't attend the meeting today.

Feng Nuo walked around the Electric Power Equipment Factory and learned that Faraday went to the steel plant to check silicon steel production—silicon steel quality stability had always been a sore point for the electrical department.

He walked around the steel company and finally found Faraday in the workshop with great difficulty. He saw his hair was messy, and his face and work clothes were stained with coal dust.

Hearing Feng Nuo's question, he thought for a moment, "1mm copper wire has been available for a long time, 0.5mm should be available too, 0.1mm... probably difficult. We haven't used it before—you'd better confirm with the machinery factory again."

Feng Nuo thought that small relays in the old timeline should generally use winding wires with a diameter of less than 0.1mm. He didn't know how much impact using 0.5mm as a substitute would have; he would have to ask Feng Shan to calculate it when he got home. Then, he asked about insulation materials.

"Insulation layer? I've always used asphalt plus mica for insulation here. I've also tried silk, cotton, paper, and glass wrapping. Then do some oil immersion treatment."

"Always used asphalt insulated wire?" Feng Nuo was very disappointed. Relays had low working voltage, small wire diameter, and many turns; it was neither necessary nor possible to use the same insulation materials as motors. "What about enameled wire?" he pressed.

"Of course we thought about it before. But this thing can't be made manually. We wanted to ask the machinery factory to produce a set of dedicated enameling machine equipment for us, but the lacquer used for enameled wire was always lacking this or that. There are so many things going on here, the manufacturing of electric power equipment involves thousands of loose ends, so this small matter was put aside first..." Faraday scratched his head and replied, "How about you try it yourself? I have some materials here that can give you a reference."

Feng Nuo thought this technical bottleneck was really pulling one out to bring out a string. If this continued, he would have to start from mining and planting trees. Where was the promised power of the grand industrial system? He said very hesitantly, "But for someone with an IT background like me, doing relays is already the limit. At least it's considered a weak current system. This chemical industry stuff..."

Before he finished speaking, Faraday rolled his eyes grumpily and said, "I didn't study metallurgy either, haven't I been squatting by the blast furnace every day for more than a year?"

Feng Nuo was choked by this sentence and lost his temper. He could only resentfully take the few documents on enameled wire production given by Faraday and returned to the Bairen General Machinery Plant.

After returning to the machinery factory, he didn't go back to his office first but walked toward the office of Sun Li, the director of the precision machining workshop, planning to borrow some workshop space, equipment, and manpower from the machinery factory, and talk about making an enameling machine.

This time it went smoothly. Sun Li said that the workshop space wasn't a problem; an old workshop next to the Computing Center could be vacated. But they didn't have enough manpower either, so they could only transfer two or three people over first. Equipment and power could be applied for. As for the enameling machine, the machinery factory was always at full load. He suggested Feng Nuo wait until the insulating lacquer was settled before discussing it.

After Feng Nuo left, Sun Li rang the bell and called the naturalized section leader, asking him to transfer one or two workers for Feng Nuo to use.

"The tasks are heavy recently, try not to affect the normal production of the workshop." Finally, he added a sentence seemingly casually.

"Yes, Chief." The section leader walked out understandingly. He returned to the section and waved to Qian Yuzhi, who was dazing again, "Qian Yuzhi, come here for a moment."

Feng Nuo didn't know yet that the section leader had sent over Qian Yuzhi, whom he considered the most unreliable. Next, he went to the Standard Parts Factory to inquire about copper wire drawing.

Currently, the industrial sector already had the ability to produce electrolytic copper and simultaneously produce electrolytic copper wires of various diameters. But the Senator at the Standard Parts Factory said that there was no 0.1mm wire drawing machine yet, so the smallest diameter was 0.3mm. However, trial production could be considered.

"When can it be manufactured?"

"The machine itself is not difficult; it's mainly the accuracy and strength of the drawing die." The Senator replied, "Accuracy is actually not too big a problem; at worst, apply to use a CNC lathe. It's just that the strength of this material's a bit uncertain."

The basic principle of a wire drawing machine is simple: the bar stock passes through conical drawing dies of different calibers, from coarse to fine, repeatedly stretched. The principle sounds simple, but doing it is another matter. How to open a 0.1mm conical hole, and how much pulling force the drawing die needs to withstand without deformation. Speaking of which, it was another complex system engineering project requiring coordination from multiple enterprises. When would this happen?

In desperation, Feng Nuo had to go to the Planning Agency to apply for a small amount of 0.1mm and 0.05mm diameter enameled wire brought from the old timeline, as well as a lot of the thinnest 0.3mm copper wire that could be produced locally in this timeline, plus some other materials mentioned in the pamphlet given by Faraday. Fortunately, though Feng Nuo didn't work at the Planning Agency headquarters, his personnel relations were still there, and he often appeared at meetings, so he was considered one of their own. Moreover, computers were a "key project" supported by the Administration Council, so these applications were approved without too much effort.

(End of Chapter)