Original Technical Invention Method - Source of Independent Innovation

Author: Zhao Daqing, Qiang Yanping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: Inspired by the semaphore flags of signalmen in 1793, Sharp invented a visual signaling device. In 1753, the British engineer Morrison used the principle of static electricity: 26 wires corresponding to 26 letters were connected to balls, which were then connected to a generator. At the receiving end, when the balls were attracted by electromagnetic induction, they could record the corresponding letters to transmit information. The low efficiency of this complex system, with 26 wires corresponding to 26 letters, made it fundamentally impractical for actual application and market patents. In 1836, the British inventor Cooke created an electromagnetic telegraph and applied for a patent. However, due to the lack of electromagnetic software, only a 21-kilometer telegraph line was built from Birdington to Sedgleyton. The telegraph that truly entered practical use was invented by Morse, a 41-year-old American painter. By chance, he abandoned his artistic career as a painter—on October 10, 1832, Morse boarded the "Sally" mail ship to return to New York. On the deck of the ship, after hearing Jackson's about the electric effects of Oersted and Franklin, he stepped into the magical field of telegraph invention. Morse's groundbreaking contribution was to overcome the frequent failures of Cooke's telegraph, where the electromagnet could not work properly. Using the boundless imagination of a painter, he invented the telegraph code software and completed the matching of the code software with the electromagnetic hardware. This is the essence of transforming talent advantages into technical advantages. Let us copy a segment of Morse's scientific notes. Morse wrote: "Electric current is swift—if it can travel uninterrupted for 10 miles, I will let it traverse the world. An electric spark is a signal. No electric spark is another signal. Time intervals are also signals. By organizing different combinations of these three signals to represent different letters and numbers, information can be transmitted through wires to another place. In this way, a new tool for transmitting messages to distant places can be realized." This is the most important pivot point of electromagnetic software. He corresponded the three elements of electric sparks, no electric sparks, and time intervals to the 26 letters and numbers, achieving a technological breakthrough and the earliest form of bit art. This solved the reasonable matching of telegraph code software with electromagnetic hardware, making it easy to operate and overcoming the practical key issue of large information capacity, which gave Morse's telegraph machine a strong vitality. This is why Morse code is still used in the digital age today. From the above historical technical inventions, we can see the historical attributes and advantages of technological invention: the telegraph was a relatively concentrated research center and focus during the 100 years from 1750 to 1850, being the most historically significant communication information device and research at the forefront of science and technology. In 1753, the British engineer Morrison used the principle of static electricity—in 1793, Sharp was inspired by semaphore flags to invent a visual signaling device—in 1820, Oersted discovered electromagnetic induction during an accidental experiment on the heating effect of current in wires—in 1836, the British inventor Cooke created an electromagnetic telegraph—in 1937, Morse developed the convenient, simple, and practical Morse code telegraph, which was patented and entered the market. This is the historical concept and historical attributes of the telegraph! P23-24