Tian Gong Kai Wu.1

Author: Liu Shenghua / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: From the invention of fax machines and typewriters to the emergence of thermometers and microscopes; from sweet memories of ice cream to the story of soap; from the invention of hot air balloons and airships to machines that changed human lives, inventions are everywhere in life. Who is changing our lives? What are the legendary stories behind these inventions? CCTV's Tian Gong Kai Wu is a well-known science popularization program that borrows the name of the Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing's work Tian Gong Kai Wu. It primarily focuses on ancient inventions, pays attention to ancient artifacts from the perspective of modern civilization, and explores how to recognize the ingenuity of our ancestors to inspire the present. It is precisely with this philosophy that a series of wonderful programs have been produced, allowing audiences to learn about: "Where is the 'three' of Yue swords extraordinary?" "How does the 'Hanging Temple' hang in the air?" "Why does the 'Fish Basin' leap out of the water?" This book is the supporting series for the program, and this is the volume. From the invention of fax machines and typewriters to the emergence of thermometers and microscopes; from sweet memories of ice cream to the story of soap; from the invention of hot air balloons and airships to machines that changed human lives, inventions are everywhere in life. Who is changing our lives? What are the legendary stories behind these inventions? CCTV's Tian Gong Kai Wu is a well-known science popularization program that borrows the name of the Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing's work Tian Gong Kai Wu. It primarily focuses on ancient inventions, pays attention to ancient artifacts from the perspective of modern civilization, and explores how to recognize the ingenuity of our ancestors to inspire the present. It is precisely with this philosophy that a series of wonderful programs have been produced, allowing audiences to learn about: "Where is the 'three' of Yue swords extraordinary?" "How does the 'Hanging Temple' hang in the air?" "Why does the 'Fish Basin' leap out of the water?" This book is the supporting series for the program, and this is the volume.
The earliest commercial fax documents were transmitted from France. In 1914, also in France, the first news photos transmitted by fax were published in newspapers. At that time, some wealthy individuals, while on vacation in the Mediterranean, signed documents via fax to instruct Parisian banks to conduct transactions. Of course, the greatest advantage of fax is the long-distance transmission of images or text. Today, the speed of transmitting a single-page document with a fax machine is about five to six seconds, but in the early days, transmitting an A4-sized document took about six minutes. Even though it took six minutes, it was still much faster than traditional mailing or other methods, so when fax machines began to be widely used in the early stages, they quickly found another application in another field—apprehending criminals or fugitives. The photograph of a criminal's fingerprints was transmitted from New York to Chicago via fax. In 1925, the American Radio Corporation developed the world's first practical drum-type fax machine. When using it, the image to be sent was rolled onto a drum. The light emitted by the lamp was focused into a point by a lens and shone on the image. The reflected light varied in intensity due to the brightness and darkness of the image, which was then projected onto a phototube, forming a current of varying intensity. This fax machine simply converted the disc scanning method into a drum scanning method. Today, the basic form of the fax machine has been standardized. In the history of news development, after World War II, there was a trend where newspapers were delivered to people's homes using fax, similar to how people now subscribe to electronic publications via email to read newspapers. When fax machines first appeared, they were primarily used in the military, business, and by a few travelers. One of the main reasons they were not widely adopted was the lack of a unified standard. Later, the Electronic Industries Association issued the standard for fax, known as Class 1, which specified that transmitting an A4-sized document took four to six minutes. Later, Class 2 and Class 3 fax machines appeared, and the speed became faster, with some capable of transmitting around 150 pages per minute, and the prices also became cheaper. Fax machines thus entered our offices and homes, truly becoming part of society. P4-5