In fact, some people have wanted to study the technology of radio propagation of sound before, but due to the slow speed of information transmission, many people are not aware of it.
Moreover, if you want to transmit sound, you must perform modulation, and many people have never thought about radio modulation at all.
"Modulation" simply means: since radio can imitate Morse code to transmit information in the form of pulses, it can directly emit continuous radio waves, and then let its amplitude change with the irregular changes of the sound waves.
To put it more simply, it can be regarded as the so-called radio and radio.
Of course, its use can be very wide, and it also involves encryption, band and other issues.
But what really affects radio technology is the triode. It is said that without the triode, radio cannot truly develop.
Therefore, the electronic triode that Li Yu applied for is basically the most critical patent in the current development of radio.
Many subsequent technologies are based on this patent to continue to improve radios.
The first radio broadcast of sound in history would not occur until three years later.
But Li Yu thought even further than broadcasting. He thought of "wireless telephones."
Westinghouse Electric has realized this technology by accident before, but the technology called "electromechanical spark gap" is too backward because it is very complicated to manufacture, has low power, and the communication distance is less than ten kilometers, and there is no commercial
value.
——After all, there is still no electronic triode.
Anyway, the positron triode is really a good thing. Before the transistor appeared, it was really a trump card.
Tesla knew how to modulate. After listening to Li Yu's description for a while, he generally knew that this matter was feasible.
"I also want to find you a long-term helper." Li Yu said.
"Help?" Tesla asked.
"I was your colleague at Westinghouse Electric." Li Yu said.
"Fedenson?" Tesla remembered, "He is a technical genius."
Li Yu nodded: "He will be one of our own from now on."
As mentioned before, Fedensen's experience was very similar to Tesla's, starting with Edison's company and then joining Westinghouse's Westinghouse Electric.
Fedensen has obtained more than 500 patents in his life, but like Tesla, who has many patents, he almost became a wage earner for others and did not become a rich man.
For the same reason, major companies do not pay enough attention to technical talents at this time.
But Li Yu understands how important talents are to a company.
Fedensen was sent by Westinghouse last time to assist in the manufacture of radio equipment and happened to stay here.
"Director of Radio Research?" Feidensen exclaimed as he looked at the contract in front of him, still very confused in his heart. "I have learned about such a seat, but is the salary you paid too high?"
Li Yu said: "Not only is the salary high, you will also be a senior executive of the company in the future, and you will receive stock dividends."
Feidensen opened his eyes wide and quickly calculated in his mind that even if he didn't count dividends, he would earn at least seven to eight thousand US dollars a year. In today's United States, he is among the top 3% of high-income earners.
"I..." Fedensen didn't know what to say for a moment.
Li Yu smiled and said: "What, is it possible that you have liquidated damages at Westinghouse Electric?"
Fedensen said: "That's not good, I'm afraid it's hard to call it such a high treatment."
Li Yu said: "Top talents should have the income that top talents should have. This is what you deserve."
Although Li Yu said this, Feidensen's concept still stayed at the beginning of the 20th century. As a technician, he had never expected such an income level, working at Westinghouse Electric for five or six years a year.
But with Li Yu's letter of appointment in black and white in front of him, any further hesitation would be disrespectful of money, and he promised: "I will do my best to complete my assigned job!"
"In the future, you will be mainly responsible for R&D and training, that is, the technical details of radio debugging, as well as employee training, which are all closely related business sectors."
Li Yu originally wanted him to be Tesla's subordinate, but Tesla's personality is obviously not suitable for being a manager and is more suitable for concrete work, so it is better to let their positions not have an obvious superior-subordinate relationship and have a little overlap.
.
We are currently engaged in the research and development of new technologies. As a "product manager", Li Yu planned the "radio wave fusion wired phone" project and asked these two masters to implement it in detail.
——In fact, even if it is developed, wireless phones will not have much use in a short time.
But this is just like what some car companies did in later generations: they often launch high-end cars with very advanced technology but high prices. The sales are very low, but they can be used as a way to show off their muscles and let consumers know that their technology is extremely advanced.
abuse.
From a consumer psychology perspective, the role of "spiritual totem" is indeed very effective.
Although many consumers buy the high-volume Mercedes-Benz C-Class or the entry-level A-Class, you can completely imagine it as an S-Class or even a Maybach-class Mercedes-Benz!
There is no shame in being happy and happy with yourself.
There is a saying that goes, "If you have a turbo in your heart, you can drive with a T"!
Since the technical direction was clear and the triode patent could be directly used, the two quickly completed the development of the wireless telephone.
Unless there is a war, there will not be excessive demand for a certain period of time.
But if it is used by civilians, it can be extended to urban taxi systems in the near future.
Because taxis need to travel everywhere, they, like ships, need portable radio transceivers.
This is indeed the case historically.
The patent was registered with LY Company, and the names of Li Yu, Tesla, and Fedensen were on the certificate.
——
Not long after, the U.S. Navy issued a tender.
Since the amount of this order is not small, it will have a strong advertising effect, so not only Li Yu's company, Marconi's company, but also some German companies such as Siemens came to compete.
After the first wave of technical bid evaluation, only Li Yu and Marconi Company were left.
The second round was the quotation round. The U.S. Navy had a headache after seeing Marconi's quotation, because Marconi actually submitted a leasing plan:
The rent for 20 sets of radio equipment is US$20,000 in the first year, and US$10,000 per year thereafter. In addition, other conditions are very demanding. The rent does not include maintenance costs, and the base station must also use Marconi's proprietary base station.
Major Abel said to him: "Mr. Marconi, can your quotation be modified? As military supplies, we cannot accept the leasing plan."
Marconi said: "Major, I have read the military's tender document. Your requirements are stability and distance. These are the advantages of our company's products. No one will make better equipment than me."
Marconi was quite arrogant. Although he was not as good as Tesla, he was sure that as the first person to invent radio (although there was controversy), the equipment he created must be the best in the world.
Major Abel pulled out the quotation sheet from Li Yu Company: "What a coincidence, you seem to be able to meet one today."
"What did you see?" Marconi obviously did not realize the seriousness of the problem.
Major Abel said: "From a technical perspective, LY Company's products seem to be more advanced than yours. The technical specification says that it can achieve an effective communication distance of 3,500 kilometers, and they accept the direct purchase plan."
Marconi had just arrived in the United States from Europe. In his eyes, it was impossible for the Yankees to master Europe's advanced technology. He smiled and said: "Major Abel, for such a big thing as military procurement, you must keep your eyes open and don't be fooled by liars."
Even though I could do it after 3,500 kilometers, the signal was already extremely weak. To say it was 'effective communication' was simply a lie."
Major Abel spread his hands: "Then you can ask Mr. Li Yu directly."
"Li Yu?" Marconi had heard of his name. "That famous scientist in Europe? How could he also know about radio?!"
"I'll call him over, and you can communicate face to face." Major Abel said.
The U.S. Navy's bid evaluation took a long time, so Li Yu had some free time to play poker with Tesla and Fedensen in a small lounge.
"King Zha!" Li Yu threw out two cards, "I won again!"
"Keep going," Tesla and Fedensen were not discouraged even after losing. "It turns out that poker has such an interesting way to play."
Li Yu said while shuffling the cards: "Let me just say that Landlord Fighting is very interesting. I guarantee you will be addicted."
"Call the landlord!"
This time Li Yu became the landlord again, and then hit three 3s and three 4s.
"Steel plate!"
"don't want!"
"I can't afford it!"
"Shunzi!"
"don't want!"
"Pass!"
…
"spring!"
Neither of them played a single card, and Li Yu felt like he was completely bullying the novice.
Fedensen smiled bitterly: "You play your cards too well."
Tesla was not convinced and continued to fight.
But as soon as he finished dealing the cards, Major Abel opened the door and walked in: "Mr. Li Yu, please come over."
"Is it the final bidding stage? We'll come right away." Li Yu was very confident, threw down the cards, and said to the two of them: "You still need to practice more."
Tesla was still unfinished, thinking about continuing the fight with the Landlord that night.
When they came to the hall, Marconi first recognized Tesla and asked, "Is that you?"
After Edison's intervention, the U.S. Patent Office revoked Tesla's radio patent and awarded it to Marconi instead.
The main conflict between the two centered on the "radio tuning circuit". In order to obtain the patent, they even filed a lawsuit. However, in the end, Tesla lost the lawsuit and Marconi obtained the patent right.
After all, Tesla was weak and could not defeat Marconi, who had better business acumen.
There was a big difference between the two of them. Marconi wanted more to do business, while Tesla was a bit idealistic.
This also led to very different fates between the two.
Tesla said: "Mr. Marconi, you really don't think that you can sit back and relax with just a few patents, do you?"
The relationship between them could not be said to be good at all. Marconi immediately replied: "My equipment is the most advanced and I have made many improvements. How can I sit back and relax?"
Tesla smiled and said: "I'm really interested in hearing what improvements are. Don't tell me something I already know."
Marconi said: "My equipment can communicate through continuous waves generated by electromechanical alternators. It is reliable and our company also has the largest number of independent base stations. This is an advantage that no other company has."
"It turns out to be an alternator," Tesla said. "I'm familiar with this. But when it comes to reliability and the number of base stations, it's not an advantage."
The two were tit for tat. Major Abel knew that they were both industry leaders and quickly broke up the fight: "In fact, what the Navy values is the reliability of Marconi's products and the number of existing base stations. Only the leasing plan is unacceptable."
Li Yu said: “Since we are talking about reliability and distance, to make a long story short, we can increase the reliability of communication while increasing the effective communication distance, thereby reducing the number of base stations and achieving better information transmission effects than other companies.
"
Marconi said: "Are you Mr. Li Yu? With all due respect, I know that you have made very high achievements in physics, astronomy and mathematics, but radio is different from them and has a very high degree of professionalism."
Li Yu smiled and said: "Yes, so I attach great importance to this technology and developed a triode to amplify signals and reduce the size of radio equipment."
"Amplify the signal?" Marconi had never heard of such technology in reality.
"Words are unfounded and need to be verified by experiments," Li Yu said to Major Abel. "I heard that the Navy happens to be on duty in Panama. You will conduct a comparative test then. The results will be clear at a glance. Isn't it simple and clear?"
Just a month ago, the United States and Panama signed the "Special Treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama on the Construction of a Navigable Navigation River Connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," which is the so-called "U.S.-Malaysia Treaty."
This treaty required the United States to guarantee Panama's independence by paying a one-time payment of US$10 million and an additional US$250,000 annually over ten years.
It seems to be very equal, but in fact it is a completely unequal treaty by Panama, because the sovereignty of the canal and nearby islands was also transferred to the United States.
This is a huge project, and it is located overseas, so the U.S. Navy must be responsible for the escort mission.
——This is what the U.S. Navy mainly does today.
After World War II, the U.S. Navy was invincible, but before World War I, it was still far behind Britain, Germany and other countries.
It is said that there were actually many Chinese workers who built the Panama Canal, and they sacrificed a lot.
Chinese workers were behind many major projects in the United States in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, they did not receive the respect they deserved for a long time, and were not even reported at all.
Major Abel thought it was a good idea and accepted the proposal, "You all need to wait for news during this time."
Li Yu smiled and said: "You can send me the results directly from Panama by radio."
The straight-line distance from New York to Panama is approximately 3,500 kilometers.
Marconi felt a little uneasy because his company had not deployed base stations in Central America and he always felt that it was not necessary.
We can only hope that the base station in Florida receives the signal and transmits it.
Tesla and Fedensen were equally confident. They had privately verified the amplification effect of the transistor and could transmit not only telegraphs but also voices over a distance of 3,500 kilometers.
The result can be said to be obvious, they just need to wait for the good news.
Tesla's hand was still itchy, and he immediately called Li Yu and Fedensen to return to Fifth Avenue: "I must win against Li Yu today!"
Fedensen smiled and said: "He is the boss, isn't this bad?"
Tesla didn’t care: “I’m not convinced about poker!”
Li Yu was also not afraid at all. Instead, he was still thinking about whether he would need to find Franklin Roosevelt again after signing the supply contract. The company really needed a long-term legal adviser.