The story of Lu Ban’s invention of the saw
It is said that one year, Lu Ban accepted a task of building a huge palace. The palace needed a lot of wood, so Lu Ban asked his apprentices to go up the mountain and cut down trees. Since there were no saws at that time, his apprentices had to use axes to chop, but this was very inefficient. The craftsmen worked hard from dawn to dusk every day. He was exhausted and could not cut down many trees, which was far from meeting the needs of the project. The progress of the project was delayed again and again. Seeing that the project deadline was getting closer and closer, Lu Ban was very anxious. To this end, he decided to go up the mountain to personally inspect the situation of felling trees. When going up the mountain, due to his carelessness, he accidentally grabbed a handful of a kind of weed growing on the mountain, and cut his hand suddenly. Lu Ban was very surprised, why is a piece of grass so sharp? So he picked off a leaf and observed it carefully. He found that there were many small teeth on both sides of the leaf. When he touched it gently with his hand, these small teeth were very sharp. He understood that his hand was scratched by these small teeth. Later, Lu Ban saw a large locust eating leaves on a grass. The two large fangs were very sharp. They opened and closed and quickly ate a large piece. This also aroused Lu Ban's curiosity. He caught a locust and carefully observed the structure of the locust's teeth. He found that the two large teeth of the locust were also arranged with many small teeth. The locust relied on these small teeth to bite. Blades of grass. These two things left a very deep impression on Luban, and also inspired him a lot, and he fell into deep thinking. He thought, if the wood-cutting tools were made into a jagged shape, wouldn't they also be very sharp? Cutting down trees is much easier. So he used a large moso bamboo to make a bamboo strip with many small saw teeth, and then went to a small tree to do the test. The result was really good. The bark was torn in a few times. After a few more pulls, the small tree pole was broken. A deep ditch was drawn, and Lu Ban was very happy. However, because the bamboo pieces are relatively soft and have poor strength, they cannot be used for a long time. After pulling for a while, some of the small saw teeth will break or become blunt, so the bamboo pieces need to be replaced. This affects the speed of felling trees, and using too many bamboo chips is also a big waste. It seems that bamboo slices are not suitable as a material for making saw teeth. A material with higher strength and hardness should be found to replace it. At this time, Luban thought of iron slices. So they immediately went down the mountain, and the Qing blacksmiths helped make iron sheets with small saw teeth, and then went to the mountain to continue practicing. Lu Ban and his apprentice each pulled one end and pulled it up on a tree. As they went back and forth, they cut the tree in a short while. It was fast and labor-saving. This is how the saw was invented. Before Lu Ban, many people must have encountered similar situations where their hands were scratched by Ye Mo. Why was only Lu Ban inspired by it and invented the saw? This is undoubtedly worthy of our consideration. Most people just think that this is a small thing in life and not worth making a fuss about. They often forget about it after healing the wound. However, Luban has a relatively strong curiosity and correct ideas. He pays great attention to the observation, thinking and study of some small events in life, and finds methods and ideas to solve problems, and even obtains some creative inventions. This tells us that paying attention to many inconspicuous little things in life and thinking diligently will increase a lot of wisdom. After the invention of the saw, Luban invented many woodworking tools, which are recorded in ancient books.
Reference: /gxsat/kjyy/kpcl/kjmr/20514.shtml
When he was a child, Bill Gates was very active and often couldn't calm down. His favorite thing is to sit on the rocking horse and sway. Interestingly, even now that he is an adult, he still sways involuntarily sometimes! This became his unique little move.
When Newton was three years old, he already showed his extraordinary qualities. While ordinary children like to run around and play with their friends, he would rather hide in the house alone, holding a hammer and nails, clanking on the wooden boards, and making small crafts that he likes.
Calculating the volume of a light bulb
One day, the inventor Edison handed a light bulb to his assistant, Upton, a graduate of the mathematics department of Princeton University, and asked him to calculate the volume of the glass light bulb. Upton pondered the volume of the light bulb for a long time, then used a measuring tape to measure the volume left and right, up and down on the light bulb for a while, and then drew a lot of sketches on the paper, filled with various dimensions, and listed many lines. Calculations, calculations and calculations have not yet yielded a result. When Edison saw that he was sweating profusely, he said to him: "My God: You should use this method to calculate!" He filled the light bulb with water and handed it to Upton and said: "Pour this water into the measuring cup." "Look at its volume, it is the volume of the light bulb." The assistant suddenly understood after hearing this, so he quickly calculated it according to the method. When young people learn knowledge, they must combine book knowledge with practice so that they can learn, remember, and apply more easily.
Wang Chonghui
When the legal scholar Wang Chonghui was in London, he once attended a banquet held by the diplomatic community. During the banquet, a British lady asked Wang Chonghui: "I heard that men and women in your country get married based on the word of a matchmaker, and they get married without falling in love. How wrong is that! Like us, we have been in love for a long time, and we have become husband and wife." How happy it is to get married after a deep understanding!" Wang Chonghui replied with a smile: "It's like two pots of water. Ours is cold water. It gradually heats up on the stove, and then it boils. So the relationship between Chinese couples The relationship is cold at first, but then slowly gets better, so there are very few post-divorce incidents.
And you are like a pot of boiling water. After getting married, it gradually cooled down. I heard that there are more divorce cases in the UK. Is this the reason?
Yang Xiaolou
When Yang Xiaolou (1877-1937) performed the Peking Opera "Blue Stone Mountain" on the First Stage in Beijing, Play Guan Ping. The old partner who played Zhou Cang took a leave of absence and was temporarily replaced by another colorful face. The colorful man drank some wine, and when it came time to go on stage, he went on stage in a daze, forgetting to bring an indispensable prop - his beard. Yang Xiaolou saw that something bad was going to happen and thought that it would be terrible if the actor made a mistake and the audience booed him. An idea struck and he added a line: "Ahem! Who is standing in front of me?" Hua Lian, who played Zhou Cang, was confused and didn't know what was going on. "I am Zhou Cang--" At this time, the student has to do an action: trim his beard. This theory scared the actor awake, but his mind changed and he said, "--'s son!" Yang Xiaolou took it and said, "Well, it's no use to you, hurry down and call your father to come!" "Accept the decree!" The actor quickly went down, put on his beard, and came back on stage.
Hu Shi
The famous modern Chinese scholar Hu Shi (1891--1962) was born in the year of rabbit, and his wife Jiang Dongxiu was born in the year of tiger. Hu Shi often joked: "Rabbits are afraid of tigers." "The joke that Hu Shi was afraid of his wife was circulating at that time. Once, a friend in Paris sent Hu Shi a dozen French bronze coins. Because the money had the three letters "PTT" on it, the homophonic pronunciation happened to be "Pride of Mrs." Hu Shi joked with several of his friends who were afraid of their wives: "If a wife-feared association is established, these copper coins can be used as membership badges." Hu Shi often gave lectures at universities. Once, at a certain university, he often quoted the words of Confucius, Mencius, and Sun Yat-sen in his lectures. When quoting, he wrote on the blackboard: "Confucius said", "Meng said", "Sun said". Finally, when he expressed his opinion, he actually caused a roar of laughter. It turned out that what he wrote was: "nonsense".
Guo Moruo
In 1945, the famous Chinese cartoonist Liao Bingxiong exhibited the cartoon "Cat Country Spring and Autumn" in Chongqing. At that time, many cultural celebrities in Chongqing such as Guo Moruo (1892-1978) ), Song Yunbin, and Wang Qi were all invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the first exhibition. During the dinner, Guo Moruo asked Brother Liao Bing: "Why is your name so weird and you call yourself brother?" Printmaker Wang Qi took the lead and explained on his behalf: "His sister is named Bing, so he is called Brother Bing." After hearing this, Guo Moruo asked , laughed loudly and said: "Oh, I understand, Yu Dafu's wife must be named Yu Da, and Shao Lizi's father must be named Shao Li." This sentence made the guests in the hall burst into laughter.
Famous stories
Philosophical stories
Once, British Prime Minister Churchill attended a lecture entitled "The Secret of Success" and only said: These two sentences: "There are three secrets of my success: first, never give up; second, never, never give up; third, never, never, never give up! The end of my speech ”
After a minute of silence, the venue suddenly burst into warm applause that lasted for a long time.
At the beginning of the 20th century, an Italian-American left a spiritual wealth for mankind. His name was Frank. After hard work, Frank saved a sum of money to open a small bank, but a robbery led to his extraordinary experience. He went bankrupt and the depositors lost their deposits. He decided to do his best to repay the huge deposits of depositors. So, he started from scratch with his wife and four children. Everyone advised him: "Why are you doing this? You are not responsible for this." He replied: "Maybe I am not legally responsible, but morally I am responsible. I should pay back the money." "
The price of repayment was 39 years of hard life. When he sent the last "debt", he sighed: "I am finally lighter." He completed himself with a lifetime of hard work and sweat. responsibility and left a real wealth to the world.
The "King of Inventions" in the United States, Edison, worked as a newspaper boy at the age of 12. Because he seized the time and studied tirelessly, he invented the automatic telephone dialing machine at the age of 16. He made more than 1,000 inventions and creations in his life. When he was 79 years old, he said to his guests: "I am 135 years old." Isn't this strange? It turned out that Edison worked more than 18 hours a day, which extended his life.
Roger, a Chinese-American who was born in the United States, received his diploma at the graduation ceremony held at Idaho State University in Idaho on May 6, 1983, becoming the youngest university student in the world. graduate. His supervisor, Qi Bo, said: "He has taken all the courses that college students should take. He completed the 4-year course in 3 years, so his name was included in the "National College Student Record"
Jules Verne, the famous French novelist in the 19th century, had his first science fiction novel rejected by 15 publishing houses. He was so painful and angry that he planned to burn the manuscript. The manuscript encouraged him, so he tried to enter the 16th publishing house. After reading it, the manager Chi Zheer immediately agreed to publish it. Since then, he has published 104 science fiction novels, which have been widely read by readers around the world. Welcome
The telephone was inspired by the invention of the telegraph, but it took almost 40 years from Samuel Morse's invention of the telegraph in 1837 to the invention of the telephone in 1876.
After the invention of the telegraph, it quickly attracted the attention of various countries due to its fast transmission speed. However, the telegraph needed to be drafted in advance, and some had to translate the telegraph text into a telegraph code, and then convert the text or digital text into a code. The telegram manuscripts are submitted to the telegraph office, and the telegraph operators send them out in order. If you are waiting for a reply, you have to follow the same procedure after the other party receives the telegram, that is, prepare a reply draft first, some of which need to be translated into a telegram and then sent to the local telegraph office to send a reply. A round trip takes a long time. Therefore, people were not satisfied with the telegraph. How great it would be if there was a communication tool that could exchange opinions at that time!
After the invention of the telegraph, many people wanted to invent the telephone. They thought that since telegraphs can use the on and off of electric current to transmit telegraph signals, could they use the principle of on and off of electric current to transmit human speech? This idea was impossible to realize under the technical conditions of the time, so many inventors' experiments failed.
About 1860, a German inventor named Les successfully used electricity to transmit a melody for the first time. Although it was not a human voice, it was already an amazing invention. , he named the device he invented "telephone". This name became the name of the later telephone and is still used today.
The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father and grandfather were engaged in the education of deaf-mute people. Bell was influenced from an early age and became interested in acoustics and linguistics. When he grew up, he studied at the University of Edinburgh and the University of London, and did a lot of research on the physiology of human speech. In 1873 he became professor of sound physiology at Boston University. But the project he began working on was not the telephone, but the multiplex telegraph machine.
On the afternoon of June 2, 1873, Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson jointly tested their telegraph machines in two rooms. A reed on the telegraph machine in Watson's room was stuck to a magnet. When Watson pulled the reed away, Bell found that the reed on the telegraph machine in his room trembled on its own and made a sound. This discovery made this thoughtful scholar interested and generated new ideas. He thought that the sound of human speech is a kind of air vibration. If you speak to a thin iron diaphragm, the diaphragm will vibrate. If you put an electromagnet behind the diaphragm, the vibration of the diaphragm will change the distance from the electromagnet. , causing the magnetic field lines of the electromagnet to change, and corresponding changes in current will be induced in the electromagnet coil. This current is transmitted along the wire to the electromagnet coil of the same device on the other side, which will cause the magnetic field lines of the electromagnet to change, attracting the diaphragm in front of it, thereby emitting sound. He told Watson this idea. Watson, the electrical engineer, agreed with him and began developing it. On June 3, 1875, the "telephone" was finally made. This phone could only transmit single tones, but could not transmit complete human words. But they are already delighted with the initial results. After that, after repeated trials and improvements, they finally made a breakthrough, and they filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent Office on February 14, 1876. On March 7, 1876, the Patent Office approved Bell's patent, confirming their invention. On March 10, 1876, when Bell and Watson were jointly testing their telephones in two rooms, Watson heard for the first time a complete sentence sent by Bell: "Watson, please come here, I need You!" This is the first complete sentence ever transmitted by telephone.
The first telephone invented was very simple. This telephone could only transmit messages in one direction. Later, after many people's research and improvement, it was gradually improved.
Four Great Inventions - Compass
The compass is one of the great inventions in Chinese history and a major contribution of China to the development of world civilization. A compass is a pointing instrument made by using the north-south polarity of a magnet in the earth's magnetic field. The picture on the left is a restored model of the Liankake type pointer. This characteristic of magnets was used by ancient people to make guide tools. The earliest guide that appeared was called Sinan, which was widely used during the War of the Kingdom. It is made of natural magnets and looks like a spoon. The center of gravity is in the center of the bottom. The chassis is smooth and engraved with twenty-four directions on all sides. When using it, place the long spoon on the chassis and gently push it with your hands to make it rotate and stop. The long handle at the back points to the south. Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty (Lunheng? Shiyingpian) recorded its shape and usage. (Guiguzi? Mou Pian) also talks about the people of Zheng going to a distant place to pick jade, so they took Sinan with them to avoid losing their way. In addition, the invention of the compass further elevated this instrument to a higher level. The picture on the right is the guide car model, and the pictures below are the imaginary picture of the guide fish and the Sinan model.
However, the finished product of Sinan, which is made of natural magnets, is low and the magnetism is weak. In the Song Dynasty, people invented the artificial magnetization method and produced compasses and compasses. The compass was simpler and more practical. It is made of natural magnet friction steel needle, which maintains the compass function under the influence of geomagnetism; later, when it is installed on the azimuth plate, it is called a compass. This is a big leap in the history of compass development.
Kuo Kuo also made detailed research on the compass placement method, summarized four different methods, and made a comparison: 1. Water floatation method. The compass was floated on the water to indicate the direction. As for the specific method, Shen Kuo did not explain.
It was not until the late Northern Song Dynasty that the pharmacologist Kou Zongxi introduced the compass in his (Compendium of Materia Medica? Magnet Strips). It turned out that the compass could be levitated by threading rushes on it. The disadvantage of the water float method is that the magnetic needle will sway with the water. 2. Nail rotation method. Putting the magnetic needle on the nail can move flexibly, but the disadvantage is that it easily slips off. Third, the bowl lip rotation method. If you put the magnetic needle on the green edge of the bowl, it can rotate freely, but it is also easy to fall. Fourth, the suspension method. Take a new cotton thread, stick it to the center of the magnetic needle with a little wax, and hang it in a windless place. The magnetic needle can indicate the direction. In comparison, Shen Kuo believes that this method is the most ideal. The picture on the right shows the four experimental restoration designs of Shen Kuo's compass.
The compass was already a commonly used directional instrument in the 11th century AD. The greatest contribution of the compass is to greatly promote the development of navigation. According to research, the compass began to be used for navigation at the end of the 11th century AD. Around the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century, the compass was introduced to Arabia by sea, and then to Europe from Arabia.
Four Great Inventions—Papermaking
Papermaking is an important chemical process. The invention of paper is one of China’s greatest contributions to the spread and development of human culture. A very valuable contribution and a major achievement in the history of Chinese chemistry.
Before the invention of paper, oracle bones, bamboo slips and silk were the materials used for writing and recording in ancient times. However, due to the rapid economic and cultural development in the Western Han Dynasty, oracle bones and bamboo slips could not meet the needs of development, which prompted the improvement of writing tools.
At that time, people had begun to use paper made of small pieces of silk floss, because archaeologists discovered an ancient paper in Luobu Nur, Xinqiang in 1933. It was "hemp, white, made into squares" The thin sheet is incomplete all around, about 40 cm long and 100 cm wide. It is very rough and uneven. There are still strings on the paper surface. It was made when paper was first made, so it is not fine. Because the paper in the ancient Han Dynasty was It is made of hemp strands and silk floss, and the production method is rough, so the quality of the paper is not very good. Both hemp strands and silk floss have their own functions. If they are to be used as raw materials for papermaking, they will inevitably be greatly restricted. However, it is difficult to develop rapidly to meet the requirements for paper in cultural life.
Under the requirements of the new objective situation, the emergence of Cai Lun brought new breakthroughs to papermaking. In "Guan Ji of the Eastern Han Dynasty". Volume 2 records: "Cai Lun was talented and learned, loyal and prudent. Every time he took a bath, he closed the door to avoid guests and exposed his body to the fields. The classic work is based on Fang Fang, who uses tree bark, old cloth, and fish nets to make paper. It was reported in the first year of Yuanxing that the emperor was good at what he could do, so he never used it, and the world called him Cai Houzhi. From the above, it seems that Cai Lun made paper from bark, rags, and fishing nets.
Although paper existed before Cai Lun, the raw materials had great limitations. Cai Lun's discovery of new raw materials solved this problem. Because rags and fish nets have long ended their own tasks and become waste and are used as raw materials, they have greatly promoted the paper industry.
The use of new raw materials inevitably requires new technologies. However, due to the loss of classics, there is no record of the actual operation, and it is impossible to know. However, it is probably that the cloth or net is torn or cut first, and then It is soaked in water for a long time and needs to be pounded to make pulp. Making paper from bark is more difficult. In addition to the initial cutting and pounding at the rear, it also needs to be cooked and added with rottening agents such as lime slurry. The picture below shows the ancient Chinese papermaking engineering (pressure curtain covering) and (dry baking and fire baking).
Four Great Inventions - Gunpowder
Gunpowder is one of China's four great inventions. Gunpowder, as the name suggests, is (the medicine that catches fire). Its origin is closely related to alchemy. It was accidentally prepared by ancient alchemists while making alchemy. The picture on the left shows a Yuan Dynasty copper fire gun.
It is a mixture of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal, and the first two were listed as important medicinal materials in China's first pharmacological classic (Shen Nong's Materia Medica) written in the Han Dynasty. Even gunpowder itself is classified as medicine. According to Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty, gunpowder can cure sores and tinea, kill insects, and ward off dampness and plague. The invention of gunpowder is the result of people's long-term practice of alchemy and medicine, and has a history of more than a thousand years.
In the late Tang Dynasty, gunpowder had been used in military affairs. In the first year of Tianyou (904) of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Yang Xingmi's army besieged Yuzhang, and his general Zheng Fan (with his troops flying fire, burned the Dragon Salmon, and led the warriors to break into the city first, burning the whole body)
In the 12th and 13th centuries, gunpowder was first introduced to Arab countries, and then to Greece, Europe and even all over the world. It has played a role in promoting the progress of civilization in human society and the development of economy, science and culture.
There were no records of the use of gunpowder and firearms in the United States and France until the mid-fourteenth century. The picture on the left shows the Beiwei gunpowder arrow.
Four Great Inventions—Printing
Seals, rubbings, printing and dyeing, and woodblock printing
Seals existed in the pre-Qin Dynasty, and usually only had a few words to express Name, official position or institution. The seals are all engraved in reverse script, with Yin and Yang characters being distinguished. Before the advent of paper, official documents or letters were written on slips. After they were written, they were tied with ropes, a sticky mud seal was placed at the knot, and the seal was stamped on the mud. It was called a mud seal. The mud seal was Printing on clay was a means of keeping secrets at that time. After the emergence of paper, mud seals evolved into paper seals, which were stamped at the seams of several pieces of official paper or the seals of official paper bags. According to records, during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577 AD), someone made the seal used for sealing official documents very large, much like a small engraving plate.
Bronze seal from the Warring States Period (475 BC - 221 BC).
Ge Hong (284~363 AD), a famous alchemist in the Jin Dynasty, mentioned in his book "Baopuzi" that Taoism had used 120 four-inch squares (13.5×13.5) at that time. The characters are printed in a large wooden seal. This is already a small engraving.
In order to make Buddhist scriptures more vivid, Buddhists often print Buddha images on the front pages of Buddhist scriptures. This kind of hand-made wood printing is much easier than hand-painting.
The stone rubbing technology was very inspiring for the invention of woodblock printing technology. The invention of stone carving has a very early history. In the early Tang Dynasty, ten stone drums were discovered in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province. They are stone carvings from the Qin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period in the 8th century BC. Qin Shihuang went on tour and carved stones in important places 7 times. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, stone tablets became popular. In the fourth year of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty (AD 175), Cai Yong suggested that the imperial court should erect "The Book of Songs", "Shangshu", "Book of Changes", "Book of Rites", "Spring and Autumn", "Gongyang Zhuan" and "The Analects of Confucius" in front of Taixue Gate. "" and other seven Confucian classics, with a total of 209,000 characters, engraved on 46 stone steles. Each stele is 175 cm high, 90 cm wide, and 20 cm thick, with 5,000 characters in it. The characters are inscribed on both sides of the stele. It took 8 years to complete. It became a classic for readers at that time. Many people rushed to copy. Later, especially during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, some people took advantage of the lax supervision or unattended to print scriptures on paper for personal use or sale. As a result, it became widely circulated.
The ancients found that they covered the stone tablet with a piece of slightly moist paper and tapped it with a soft mallet to make the paper sink into the recessed area of ??the text on the tablet. After the paper was dry, they wrapped it with cotton in cloth and dipped it in ink. , tap it lightly on the paper, and the black and white words on the paper will be left on the paper exactly like the stone tablet. This method is simpler and more reliable than hand copying. So rubbings appeared.
Rubbing is one of the important conditions for the production of printing technology.
Printing and dyeing technology also has a great inspiration for woodblock printing. Printing and dyeing is to carve patterns on wooden boards and print them on cloth with dyes. There are two types of printing boards in China: embossed boards and hollow boards. Two pieces of printed yarn unearthed from Han Tomb No. 1 in Mawangdui (around 165 BC) in Changsha, Hunan in 1972 were printed with relief plates. This technology may be as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, and can be traced back to the Warring States Period. After the invention of paper, this technology could be used in printing. As long as the cloth was changed into paper and the dye was changed into ink, the printed things would become engraving prints. In the Dunhuang stone chambers there are Buddha statues printed on raised panels and hollow boards from the Tang Dynasty.
Seals, rubbings, and printing and dyeing technologies inspire and integrate each other. Coupled with the experience and wisdom of our people, woodblock printing technology came into being.
Hua Tuo's "Five Animals Play"
Hua Tuo was a great medical scientist and pharmacologist in the late Eastern Han Dynasty of my country. He made significant contributions to enriching and enriching the treasure house of ancient Chinese medicine.
Hua Tuo was not only proficient in medical skills, but also attached great importance to the role of physical exercise on human health. One time, Hua Tuo was studying in his study and saw a child holding the door latch swinging back and forth. He immediately thought of the words in the ancient book, "The hinge of a door is not beetrooted, and the running water is not rotten." Why don't people exercise like this every day to let the blood flow? Later, Warren made reference to "Daoyinshu" (a method of comprehensive physical exercise) and compiled a set of boxing techniques for physical exercise called "Wu Qin Xi". This kind of sports is gymnastics that imitates the movement postures of five kinds of animals: tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird. It can stretch the joints, back, waist, and limbs of the whole body.
Wu Pu, a disciple of Hua Tuo, lived to be more than ninety years old because of his persistence in doing "Five Animal Opera" for decades. He is still nimble in his steps, has sharp ears and eyes, and strong teeth. It can be seen that "Wu Qin Xi" is an effective fitness gymnastics.