Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 178 Prototype

Courier newspaper office, inside the warehouse.

Everyone saw the new rotary machine that Colin was talking about. The machine was transformed from an old rotary printing machine. Old John and others could also see some shadows of the old rotary machine on it, including the bearings and handles.

However, in terms of overall structure, this rotary machine is completely different from the rotary machine in Old John's impression. It is somewhat similar to the color rotary printing machine currently used by newspaper offices, but there are obvious differences.

Looking at this plausible rotary printing machine, Old John and the others opened their mouths, but they didn't know what to say.

"Next, don't blink."

Standing in front of the prototype machine, Colin took a deep breath, connected the power supply and pulled the switch, and the old rotary machine glowed with new vitality.

Creak, creak—

Most of the parts of the prototype came from the old rotary machines that the newspaper office had eliminated before. Even though Ke Lin polished some of the parts, he still couldn't change the fact that they were old.

Under the gaze of everyone, the rotary machine started to start.

The paper was loaded into the machine in an orderly manner, and with the operation of the wheel, the printing work was repeated. After a while, a colorful newspaper cover appeared in front of everyone, and was automatically caught by the machine.

The whole printing process is smooth and natural, and the printing speed is more than a bit faster than the color rotary machines currently used by newspaper offices.

Of course, this is not the main thing.

"The effect of this printing!"

Reaching out to pick up a newspaper cover from the place where the rotary machine picks up the paper, Old John looked at the clearly visible fonts and colors on the printed paper, couldn't help taking off his glasses, and tremblingly said: "I have never seen such a clear Printing effect, sir, how on earth do you do that?"

"Offset printing." To this, Ke Lin replied with a smile: "I replaced the lead alloy letterpress in the rotary machine with a softer and more elastic blanket, so that the ink can be more evenly distributed throughout the printing process." Pass it on to paper."

At present, the mainstream printing technology on the market is still based on the lead alloy letterpress printing process.

Although offset printing machines also exist, they can never replace the rotary machine market, which is dominated by the lead alloy letterpress printing process.

After all, when the offset printing machine was invented, the process of the lead alloy letterpress rotary machine was also improving. Although this process has disadvantages such as high labor intensity, long production cycle, and environmental pollution, in terms of cost, after dozens of Years of development have brought it to the extreme, which is far beyond what offset printing machines can compare.

At the same time, the occurrence of the Great Depression also hindered the promotion of offset printing machines.

Under normal circumstances, Planeta-Deca, the first four-color sheet-fed offset printing machine capable of color printing, would be launched by KBA in 1932, symbolizing the possibility of commercialization of the great progress of offset printing technology.

Then, because of the outbreak of World War II, the development of the entire offset printing technology was delayed for more than ten years, and it did not flourish until the middle and late 20s.

However, the prototype machine in Ke Lin's hands obviously spanned this period of history.

The four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine transformed by him not only combines the development of later offset printing technology in technology, forming a mature technology, but also more advanced than the sheet-fed offset printing machine launched by KBA in the same year. The latest advances have installed a flip structure, making it not only capable of color printing, but also double-sided printing.

Such a small flip structure design, but it also contains the ingenuity of a large number of paper offset printing machine manufacturers in the future, it is not easy to make, not only the flip structure, including automatic paper loading, automatic paper splicing, automatic The functions of cleaning, automatic detection of ink color, and automatic adjustment of ink volume were all put on the prototype by Ke Lin.

Including the water-ink balance problem in the offset printing process, it was not solved until the 60s continuous dampening system.In the hands of Ke Lin, he has already completed the installation of this system first.

It can be said that the scientific and technological content of such a prototype offset printing machine has surpassed the level of printing machines currently on the market for 30 to [-] years.

The newspaper in his hand was taken away by everyone around him, but Old John didn't care.

When he came to the prototype machine, he stretched out his rough palm and touched the machine. Old John said to Colin excitedly, "Sir, I have a hunch that your invention may change the history of printing. revolutionized the newspaper industry."

"We'll see."

Hearing this, Ke Lin didn't show an overly excited expression, he just turned his head and looked at the prototype machine in the warehouse, and said with a little regret.

Limited by the level of the times, he could not push the technical level of the rotary printing press to a higher level.

In his mind, it is not that there is no more advanced printing technology than the prototype of the four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine in front of him, but the development of many technologies requires not only inspiration, but also the cooperation of materials.During the Great Depression, many materials technologies as we know them were only in their infancy, or did not exist at all.

Therefore, even if Ke Lin wanted to raise the technological level of the printing press, he couldn't do it in a short time.

Unless, he not only participated in the production of the rotary machine, but also started the research of materials science.

But this is undoubtedly too cumbersome. If possible, Colin does not intend to make himself so hard in the real world.

After all, he did not come to the world to benefit the society, and "Superman" is his foundation.

In other fields, no matter how outstanding his achievements are, he cannot unlock even one more ability on the [Bronze Mark].

……

"Outside the number, outside the number!"

"The Courier-Journal introduces a new printing technology that allows you to see Superman more clearly!"

"Same price, clearer Superman!"

early weekend morning.

Newsboys shouted loud slogans, waved the latest issue of "Courier", and appeared in the streets and alleys of New York City.

"Give me a copy of the Courier..."

After a long period of hard work, the "Courier" has now become the No.2 newspaper in New York City.

In this regard, except that the "World Journal" occasionally publishes targeted reports in newspapers, thinking that the "Courier"'s approach is not a news report at all, most of the newspapers have actually accepted this fact.

After all, no matter how much they objected, the sales of the "Courier" were there.

And even if you find fault with news reports, the "Courier" also has good results. Just reporting the scandal in New York City that forced the former mayor to step down is no longer what these tabloids can do.

"Can you really see a clearer version of Superman?"

After stopping the newsboy, the passerby was a little suspicious.

"Indeed, sir."

He took out a copy of the newspaper in his hand, and opened one of the pages in front of passers-by, so that the passer-by could see the clearly visible series on the newspaper at close range, and the newsboy said, "It is said that all of this belongs to Mr. Ke Lin. Thanks to him, he invented a new printing technology that can make the printing effect of the newspaper better, but he is still willing to sell the "Courier" at the same price, so that everyone can see a clearer newspaper without raising the price... ..."

"Give me a newspaper!"

Regardless of whether the newsboy's facts were true or not, at least passers-by could clearly see that the printing quality of the "Courier" in the opponent's hand was much better than all the newspapers he had seen before.Therefore, without any hesitation, he paid for a copy of the Courier.

"Good reading, sir."

Taking the change from the passer-by, he handed him a newspaper that had been folded long ago. The newsboy grabbed the rope on his shoulder and continued his peddling.

"Sure enough, it's a new printing technology."

On the other side, he took over the latest issue of "The Courier" from the newsboy, and looked at the clearly visible comic strips on it, even though he had already read it once, he still couldn't help sighing.

Such clear printing is rare in this era.

After all, due to the impact of the Great Depression, most of the printed materials on the market chose cheap paper and printing methods due to cost considerations, even the newspaper industry.

Pedestrians have only seen such clear printed patterns on movie posters.

But you must know that the poster was specially designed by someone, but it was obviously impossible for the "Courier" in his hand to do this.

In addition to lamenting the quality of the printing level of the "Courier", the stories serialized in this issue of the newspaper are also attractive.

In the new issue of "Superman", two new villains have appeared one after another.

The first half of the story tells about an insect scientist whose original name is Roderick Ross. He is obsessed with insect research, and finally transforms himself from a human into an insect through a chemical experiment.After the experiment, Roderick Ross, or the larval insect, was covered by a green exoskeleton. The two pairs of eyes were like the compound eyes of insects. Only the mouth still retained the characteristics of humans.

In the insect state, the larva has great strength and can lift the locomotive with ease.

At the same time, after turning into a larvae, Roderick Rose's evil purpose was also exposed. It wanted to turn everyone in the metropolis into the same insect form as itself, and was a slave lower than this adult. larva.

Thanks to the effect of Kelin's four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine, Jacob's colored finished product was clearly printed on the newspaper. Looking at the weird half-human, half-insect shape of the larvae in the serialization, although Even though he was just a character in the comics, the pedestrians who saw this scene still felt a little creepy.

"This printing effect is a little too real."

In the previous color printing, limited by the coloring process, except for Superman as the main character, many villains can only be filled with a single color to avoid bleeding.

After the four-color double-sided paper offset printing machine, this problem is undoubtedly greatly reduced.

Jacob carefully outlined the character of the larvae, making the whole shape more realistic, especially the pair of insect-like red compound eyes, which gave the readers a feeling as if they were really watching. The feeling of an insect monster.

Of course, it's not just the villain Larpterus that has improved the picture quality.

The clarity of Superman, the protagonist of the comics, has also been greatly improved.

In the comics, in the scene where Superman and the larva fight, the red cloak behind Superman is clearly visible, and even the folds on it are clearly depicted.

The fighting effect presented in this way is far beyond any previous serial content, so that readers who see this scene can't help but be hooked.

At the end of this series, it is customary to end with the victory of Superman.

Through freezing breath, Superman freezes the larvae into ice sculptures. At the same time, Superman established his first base, Secret Citadel (Secret Fortress).

The setting of Secret Citadel obviously aroused readers' strong curiosity.

However, Colin, who depicted this scene, deliberately only painted the appearance of the fortress, and did not lead readers to a deeper understanding of the internal situation of the fortress.

He will describe the plot of the secret fortress, but he will not reveal too much.

The more important introductions will be placed in the new season of "Superman" quarterly.

Through the setting of the secret fortress, readers' curiosity is aroused.

In the second half of the comic series, Colin made Superman show a new ability-super premonition.

In this episode, Superman who works at the "Daily Courier" has a vague premonition of some kind of danger, and at the same time the villain Crypt Man also appears on the stage.

Thousands of years ago, a creature called "Crypt Man" was born on the earth and struggled for life. However, in a volcanic eruption, this primitive ancient creature was unfortunately sealed in the In an underground cave, it is still in a state of suspended animation until now.

However, during an archaeological activity, American archaeologists accidentally discovered this sealed cave. They dug open the cave and found the cave man who was suspended animation inside.

Archaeologists are ecstatic, thinking that this is a huge discovery in the history of archaeology.

They brought the suspended caveman to the metropolis and wanted to study it, but in the process the caveman woke up and released terrible ancient radiation.

It turns out that for a long time, the caveman was affected by the mysterious radiation of the earth, and mutated into a dangerous existence.

In the cave man's radiation, the archaeologists died in pain, and the cave man who woke up also fell into madness because of the metropolis and the very different cities, and began to wreak havoc on the city.

At the critical moment, Superman, who had a premonition of danger, appeared, and he prevented the caveman from destroying.

At the same time, the radiation from the caveman does not seem to have any effect on Superman. Sensing the dangerous radiation on the caveman, Superman built a huge isolation device through heat vision to trap him, and finally he was trapped by his own superman power. Sent to the outer space, the monster who had awakened from ancient times was forced to fall into a state of suspended animation again.

　Thanks for the reward of 100 starting coins in Xiashuhuang.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)