Lithographic printing
The Versailles Palace is to the west of Paris, while the Saint-Antoine Town is to the northeast. 👑💙 💣🐻 To avoid traveling back and forth—mainly because he couldn't stand the bumpy ride in the Carriage — Joseph spent the night at the Paris Chamber of Commerce President. The next morning, he went directly to Saint-Antoine Town.
This small town on the outskirts of Paris is somewhat like a "special economic zone," the only place around Paris unaffected by various Guild. Craftsman can find work here without joining Guild.
Because they could save on the Guild fees, the Craftsman asked for slightly lower wages. As a result, many Workshop looking to cut costs took root here.
After years of development, the Saint-Antoine Town is now filled with Workshop, and thousands of Craftsman and their families have gathered here.
Joseph had Eman find a guide to take him to inspect the town's Paper Mill one by one, but he gradually began to frown.
Those small Workshop had almost no resources to test new Papermaking technologies.
The largest Workshop had more than two hundred Craftsman and was very large, but the Workshop owner, Reveillon, was unwilling to try new Papermaking techniques.
After all, new technologies require significant investment for production trials, and the results are unpredictable, making the risks too great.
Joseph also considered gritting his teeth and buying the Workshop to run it himself, but ultimately gave up the idea.
The Workshop of Reveillon cost at least Livre, and an investment was also needed to test the Cheap Papermaking.
Because Joseph has been frequently using his "Money Power" lately, his net worth, which was over 2.3 Livre a while ago, has now shrunk to only about 700,000.
If all the money is used to destroy Paper Mill, we will immediately be in dire straits if other places need money.
Therefore, after careful consideration, Joseph realized that he could only put aside the matter of Cheap Papermaking for the time being and wait until he had more money.
However, this result was within his expectations. After all, a large-scale industry like Papermaking with high output value cannot undergo technological transformation overnight.
It's worth noting that if the Paper Industry industry can be upgraded and rolled out nationwide, it could significantly boost the France economy.
When Joseph returned to the Versailles Palace, three Lithographic Plate Makers from the Paris Business Daily Newspaper Office had been waiting for him for quite some time.
Joseph looked at the three men carrying heavy tool bags on their backs and hammers of varying sizes tucked into their waistbands, and then at the mirror-like marble floor of the Bedchamber. He immediately abandoned his plan to teach them Lithographic Printing techniques here.
Eman suddenly strode over and bowed to him, saying, "Your Highness, the Chalk Slab you requested are still piled on the Carriage. Where would you like them unloaded?"
Joseph frowned, thinking to himself: If only there were a Workshop here.
Thinking of the Workshop, a place suddenly popped into his mind, and he couldn't help but smile. He said to Eman, "Let's move everything to His Majesty the King's Workshop."
"This..." Eman asked in surprise, "Are you sure?"
"I will speak to His Majesty."
Joseph then gestured to the three Craftsman, "Please follow me."
A little over ten minutes later, in Louis XVI's well-equipped, spacious, and bright Workshop, His Majesty the King of France curiously examined the stone slabs before him and the Craftsman dressed in coarse cloth.
Joseph first sincerely thanked his father for his enormous help to the France publishing industry, then looked at the three Craftsman with a very serious expression:
"The technology I'm about to tell you is extremely important! You must not disclose it to anyone without my permission, otherwise..."
He thought for a moment, then chose the most serious charge, saying, "It will be considered treason."
Inside the Royal Workshop were the current King and Crown Prince. Outside stood tall and imposing Court Guard. The Craftsman had never seen such a sight before. They were so nervous that their legs trembled, and they didn't dare to lift their heads. They kept swearing that they would never utter a word to anyone else.
Immediately, Eman brought out the prepared Confidentiality Agreement and had the Craftsman sign it one by one.
Joseph knew that since there were no Patent Law at the time, this technology couldn't be kept secret for long. He also planned to popularize Lithographic Printing throughout France in the future.
However, this is currently his key to victory, and the technology must not be leaked. For the foreseeable future, he will continue to send people to protect these three Lithographic Plate Makers at all times, at least until he can control public opinion in Paris.
After completing the confidentiality briefing, Joseph began to formally introduce the Lithographic Printing technique.
He had a Craftsman fix a polished Chalk Slab to the table, then took out the printing ink that had been prepared beforehand and mixed it with some Paraffin Wax and Rosin.
After the additives in the ink had completely dissolved, Joseph dipped his brush in the ink and wrote "Homage to His Majesty the King" on the Chalk Slab.
An hour later, the ink had mostly dried, and Joseph brushed the stone slab twice with Dilute Nitric Acid.
The parts of the slate covered with ink were unaffected, while other areas were eroded away by nitric acid, leaving a thin layer.
"The base plate is complete," Joseph said casually, applying water to the stone slab and then brushing on printing ink.
He felt a pang of emotion, recalling how he had helped the principal print exam papers for the children using a mimeograph machine during the month he volunteered to teach in the mountains years ago. He never imagined that his "skill" would come in handy here.
At this point, the areas on the stone slab corroded by nitric acid absorbed water, preventing the ink from adhering, while the original dry ink became covered with ink.
Joseph placed the paper on the stone slab, pressed it down gently, and then carefully removed it. A line of words had appeared on the paper. "Homage to His Majesty the King."
However, the characters are reversed from left to right.
The three Craftsman exchanged glances, each seeing utter shock in the other's eyes.
Although the text was simple and not very neat, it only took a little over an hour from the start of plate making to the completion of printing! This completely overturned their understanding of printing!
Louis XVI watched with great interest for a while before leisurely asking, "Was there anything special about the printing process just now?"
Seeing His King's earnest question, the oldest Lithographic Plate Makers bowed respectfully and explained, "Your Majesty, His Crown Prince's technique is enough to render all current printing methods obsolete!"
Another Craftsman excitedly added, "We used to use copper plates. We would first coat the copper plate with wax, then cover it with paper, and use a pen to General."
"The pen will remove the wax from under the paper. After the drawing is finished, the copper plate is placed in ferric acid solution. The areas not covered by wax will be corroded away. Then the copper plate is removed, the surface wax is wiped off, and ink is applied for printing."
"The wax engraving alone takes a long time, and etching the copper plate takes half a day. It usually takes at least two or three days to complete a base plate."
"Moreover, His Crown Prince's method of making the printing plates involves directly drawing the necessary parts, which is far simpler than carving away the unnecessary parts!"
My new book is launching, and I'm humbly begging for your monthly votes and recommendations! Comments and feedback are welcome. I would be eternally grateful!
(End of this chapter)