A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Chapter 813 Leading a Yellow Fox on the Left and Holding a Falcon on the Right?

In the workshop of the Northeast Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, the morning light shines obliquely through the high windows, casting dappled shadows on the ground, and the air is filled with the faint chemical smell of glass solution.

Teacher Zu Tong put down the long-handled graphite pliers in his hand, raised his wrist to look at the dial, the hands just past seven o'clock, and called to Jiang Xia and Company Commander Tang, who were busy around the graphite furnace, to stop: "Alright, take a break, you've been up all night, you'll collapse if you keep going."

Company Commander Tang straightened up, rubbing his sore arms, his bronze face showing no sign of fatigue. Having spent years in the army, this kind of strenuous work involving continuous stirring was nothing to him.

Jiang Xia wiped the sweat from his forehead. The collar of his work clothes was damp with steam, and the tuft of hair on his head was drooping. But he didn't look droopy at all. Instead, he went closer to the mixing tank and took another look at the state of the colloid inside.

While Company Commander Tang and he were taking turns stirring, Jiang Xia wasn't idle. He squatted by the workbench, holding a notebook with a worn-out cover, the pen tip gliding rapidly across the paper.

The reaction temperature was recorded every half hour, and the changes in colloidal viscosity were marked with "string length 5cm" and "string breaks easily". Even when Professor Zutong adjusted the current of the graphite resistance furnace, the "180A" and "185A" on the dial were recorded without missing a single one. The handwriting was crooked, but the record was extremely detailed.

Teacher Zutong walked over, bent down and picked up the notebook. His fingers traced the densely written words, and he didn't even bother to push up his reading glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose.

Looking at the note "Increased air bubbles on the surface of the colloid, stirring speed needs to be increased", the old craftsman sighed inwardly: He had heard people gossip before that Jiangxia was a "naive young man who only knew how to talk and draw blueprints", who could not carry heavy loads. Now it seems that all of this was just a rumor.

This guy can not only endure the exhaustion of working through the night, but also pay attention to details, which is much better than some of the technicians in the institute who only know how to follow procedures.

"The protruding rafter rots first..." Teacher Zu Tong muttered to himself, handing the notebook back to Jiang Xia, and finally spoke his first words to Jiang Xia, "The notes are quite detailed, you even noticed the changes in the bubbles."

Jiang Xia took the notebook, scratched his head and chuckled: "Professor Zu Tong, I saw you staring at the furnace fire and the state of the colloid, your eyes were almost slits, so I thought I'd write these down so you wouldn't have to bother."

Jiang Xia, of course, had no idea what Professor Zu Tong was thinking. He was recording the data purely out of habit.

Seeing this primitive operating method, he instinctively thought about how to optimize it and see if automated production could be achieved. His insistence on working through the night was simply out of concern that this pioneer of China's optical industry was overworking himself.

Jiang Xia thought that if the temperature, stirring speed, and viscosity changes could be correlated, perhaps an automatic temperature control module could be added to the resistance furnace, and the hand-cranked stirrer could be replaced with a motor-driven one, so that Professor Zu Tong wouldn't have to always be by the tank to cook.

“Young man, come here.” Teacher Zu Tong beckoned to Jiang Xia, his tone much gentler. As Jiang Xia approached, he pointed to the rudimentary equipment: “Do you know why we have to smelt at night?”

Jiang Xia pondered for a moment: "Is it to avoid sunlight interference and better observe the molten state?"

"Not bad." A hint of approval flashed in Teacher Zu Tong's eyes. "More importantly, the power supply is most stable late at night when everything is quiet. Even a slight temperature deviation of just a few degrees would ruin this batch of materials."

As he spoke, he took out a yellowed notebook: "These are the temperature curves and formula ratios I've summarized over the years. Take them home and take a look!"

Jiang Xia solemnly accepted the notebook. Opening the first page, he saw densely packed handwritten notes, detailing every step from raw material ratios to temperature control, and even analyzing cases of failure.

“These…are too precious.” Jiang Xia took a deep breath.

"Knowledge should be passed on." Teacher Zu Tong smiled faintly.

"But just watching isn't enough, would you like to try it yourself?"

"it is good!"

Teacher Zu Tong's smile widened. He first asked Jiang Xia to watch from the side, then put on asbestos gloves and placed the quartz tube into the empty graphite resistance furnace.

"Hey, Professor Zutong, what are you doing? Isn't there a big pot of simmering pot over there?"

"It's different; that one was for making K8 optical glass. Do you know what this one is for?"

"Uh……"

Jiang Xia scratched his head, genuinely unsure. Fortunately, Professor Zu Tong didn't press Jiang Xia too much: "Do you know about optical fibers?"

"Oh! Fiber optics!"

"Yep!"

Upon hearing Teacher Zutong personally acknowledge the term, the boy's ahoge (cowlick) practically stood on end like an antenna. Seriously?! They have fiber optics now?!

Wow, I have chips in my left hand and optical fibers in my right. Is the door to information technology about to open in front of me?

Wouldn't that mean we'd kill any eagle that gets in our way and slaughter any bear that gets in our way? And in our spare time, we could even make a plate of spicy crayfish or stew a Gallic chicken to improve our lives?

As he thought about it, tears welled up in the corners of his mouth, and he made a "heh heh" sound.

"Professor Zutong, what equipment did you use for preparation?"

After fantasizing about wonderful days, Jiang Xia returned to reality, looked around the simple experimental workshop, and asked the crucial question.

Yes, it was indeed rudimentary. Apart from two graphite electric resistance furnaces, one large and one small, made of refractory bricks, the most conspicuous thing was a modified old-fashioned small bench lathe.

The tool post and tailstock of this lathe have been removed. In the position of the spindle chuck, a hand-cranked winding device with precision scale has been installed, along with an adjustable tension spool holder.

Although the device was simple, it was kept very clean, indicating that it was used frequently.

"Is this a winding machine?"

Instead of answering directly, Teacher Zu Tong demonstrated through his actions.

Fortunately, Mr. Zu Tong, who was in work mode, didn't pay too much attention to the ahoge (cowlick) boy, otherwise the cool and domineering ahoge boy would definitely have startled the old man.

However, Company Commander Tang behind him thought that Jiang Xia must be starving, so he hurriedly went to the canteen to find him some food.

So, the imaginative and clueless kid watched Teacher Zutong's movements with bated breath.

Teacher Zutong used long-handled graphite tongs to pick up a small piece of molten, transparent quartz glass preform from the preheated crucible, and steadily and slowly put the tip of the preform into the heating zone of the graphite furnace.

At high temperatures, the tip of the preform quickly softens and droops, forming a molten glass bead. With his other hand, Teacher Zu Tong begins to crank the handle of the winding machine at a steady speed, and a glass filament as thin as a hair is pulled out from the glass bead.

Teacher Zutong continued to turn the hand crank of the winding machine, slowly and steadily. A thin, transparent glass filament was slowly pulled out from the molten liquid at the bottom of the crucible and wound around the filament in the direction of the spool's rotation.

Jiang Xia discovered that Professor Zu Tong needed to stop frequently to adjust the current of the resistance furnace or fine-tune the speed of the winding machine to ensure the glass wire was of uniform thickness. In the middle stages, it was even necessary to add an alcohol torch at the front of the glass wire for auxiliary temperature control.

Hmm? Is this how optical fibers are laid? Didn't you say that chemical vapor deposition and online coating processes are also required?

The boy with the dazed hair was puzzled, but that didn't stop him from turning on the scanner and recording a series of parameters.

After a long while, Teacher Zutong finally wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Everyone says you're a lucky charm, and it seems you really are. This time you actually managed to unleash ten meters of cable, hahaha. Now you have a bit more spare parts for high-speed cameras!"

"High-speed camera?"

"That's right! It's an optical fiber! It transmits the image beam/light beam; without it, how could we do high-speed photography!"

"Hey? Professor Zutong, can optical fibers only be used for image transmission and light guiding nowadays? Can they be used in communications?"

"Hey, you little rascal, how did you come up with this idea about communications? Hmm... now that you mention it, I don't think I ever considered that optical fibers could be used for communication in addition to transmitting images?"

Teacher Zutong stopped what he was doing and stared at the winding reel thoughtfully.

Just then, the loudspeaker at the Institute of Optics and Electronics suddenly blared.

After a burst of rousing music, it was announced: "[Name of Broadcasting Station], [Name of Broadcasting Station], now announcing important good news!"

"...At 15 PM...a bomb was successfully detonated in western my country..."

The nation was silent for three seconds, then erupted in cheers.