Hand-Cranked DC Generator

Before going home, Li Mo insisted on stopping by Wayne's family's clock shop, where he bought a pile of strange things.

Anna didn't understand why, but she obediently paid for them anyway.

Wayne's family's clock shop was on the north side of the crossroads in the center of town. It had been a long time since Wayne had last visited, and when his father saw him, he kept him chatting for quite a while.

Afterward, Wayne stayed at the shop to help take inventory rather than going with them.

Li Mo and Anna returned to the residence.

Anna went upstairs to change into her maid uniform. When she returned to the living room, she saw the master holding a shipping newspaper in one hand and smoking a cigar with the other, a troubled look on his face.

As soon as Li En saw Anna approaching, he stubbed out his cigar.

The old gentleman generally didn't smoke in front of ladies, much less Anna, whom he regarded as a daughter.

Anna made two cups of black tea and brought them over on a tray.

As father and son drank their tea, they made no attempt to avoid speaking in front of Anna and continued their conversation as usual.

Li Mo said, "So there's a problem at the spinning mill?"

His father replied, "Yes, there's been a problem with cotton procurement."

Some time ago, Li Mo had improved the spinning machines at the mill, increasing production efficiency.

His father had figured that, since production efficiency had increased, he needed to speak to the raw cotton importers about buying more.

As long as the raw materials kept coming, the spinning mill could take advantage of the improved machines to rapidly expand production.

But things hadn't gone as smoothly as he'd imagined...

"I went to the docks this afternoon and spoke to Howard and several other importers. It's not that simple. Cotton can't be shipped in anymore."

"What happened?"

"As you know, most of our town's cotton imports come from the Duchy of Magla to the north. Its climate and soil are better suited to growing cotton, and the raw cotton it produces has long fibers and is inexpensive. But the latest news is that, because of the war, the Duchy of Magla has blockaded all its southern ports and major shipping routes, cutting off cotton exports entirely."

"Ah, I see..."

"Raw cotton prices will probably rise severalfold over the next few months. Even our factory... if there isn't enough raw cotton, the machines can't turn a profit no matter how fast they run."

After listening to his father, Li Mo silently considered the situation.

Something similar had happened on Earth during the same period.

In 1861, the American Civil War broke out.

As the war progressed, the Union navy imposed a complete naval blockade on southern ports, codenamed the Anaconda Plan.

This directly brought Britain's textile industry, which depended heavily on American raw cotton at the time, to a standstill.

With no raw materials, thousands of cotton mills in Lancashire were forced to shut down, and hundreds of thousands of textile workers were left on the streets, living on relief.

It became known as the Lancashire Cotton Famine.

He hadn't expected such a similar situation to occur in a different world.

But there was one thing Li Mo found strange.

As one of the leading textile factory owners in Mondel Town, his father should have heard about it in advance.

Li Mo asked, "Dad, you should have heard about something this big long ago. How did you only find out when you went to the port today?"

At those words, his father instinctively reached for his cigar box. His fingers moved, but he lowered his hand again.

Finally, he smiled and said, "There must have been a hitch somewhere in the communication chain. Business is always full of surprises. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

He turned his head and instructed, "Anna, take the young master back to his room to rest."

Anna immediately nodded. "Yes, master... Oh, right, master, I'm planning to sleep with the young master tonight."

Li En wasn't at all surprised to hear that. Instead, he looked at Li Mo and asked, "Did you say thank you?"

Li Mo: "?"

He said helplessly, "Dad, Anna and I are both grown up. We can't just sleep together whenever we feel like it, can we?"

Li En frowned. "Anna means well and wants to take care of you. Don't be ungrateful. Say thank you."

Seeing his father's firm attitude, Li Mo glanced at Anna's composed expression and knew he had no chance of winning this argument.

After a moment's silence, he had no choice but to say, "...Thank you."

He and Anna returned to the room one after the other.

Anna closed the door, drew the curtains, and then immediately began undoing her buttons, preparing to take off her clothes.

Li Mo hurriedly stopped her. "Hey, what are you doing?!"

Anna answered matter-of-factly, "It's bedtime, young master."

Li Mo took a step back. "Hold on! Uh... what time is it? I'm not sleepy yet!"

Anna shook her head. "No, young master, you have to sleep. Your body can't take the strain. Don't worry, I'll hold you while you sleep, and you'll drift off in no time."

Li Mo: "..."

From the way Anna spoke, she was treating him like a child.

He was a little annoyed.

So he said, "Hey, I'm a male, at least. Do you even see me as an adult man?"

Anna tilted her head and gave the question some serious thought before saying, "Kingdom law says a man isn't considered an adult until he's twenty-one, but young master, you're only sixteen."

"I..."

Li Mo had no answer to that.

It seemed that sixteen really was still underage, no matter which world he was in...

In the end, Li Mo compromised. "How about this? There's something I want to show you. Once I'm done with it, we can go to sleep, all right?"

Anna thought for a moment, then said, "All right."

Li Mo said, "Go bring up the things we bought at the clock shop."

Before long, Anna came upstairs carrying a package.

What Li Mo was about to make was a small invention:

Using Faraday's Law of Electromagnetic Induction, he would make a hand-cranked DC generator and light the first light bulb in this world.

He had bought insulated copper wire at the clock shop, then wound it around a cylindrical iron core to make the generator's rotor coil.

Next, he would use industrial magnets to establish a stator magnetic field on either side of the rotor.

To produce a continuous direct current, he also needed to make a commutator.

Li Mo planned to attach a copper strip cut in half to the rotating shaft, then use two thin copper wires as brushes to maintain contact with the commutator.

Combined with the transmission gears from Wayne's family's shop, these could be assembled into a hand-cranked speed-increasing mechanism.

All he had to do was turn the handle, and the gears would drive the coil to spin at high speed in the magnetic field.

As the conductor in the closed circuit cut through the magnetic field lines, it would generate an induced current, which the commutator would convert into a steady direct current.

Then he would carbonize a cotton thread and clamp it between two copper conducting posts to serve as a filament.

After that, all he needed to do was cover it with a hemispherical glass cover to keep out the dust.

Li Mo ran through the construction process in his head.

He thought the whole thing was extremely cool.

The first ray of light marking humanity's passage from the age of steam into the age of electricity was about to shine on this workbench.

He didn't think he should waste this excellent opportunity to show off.

So he said, "Anna, what if I told you that in a little while, I could make this glass cover glow without lighting a fire at all, and even illuminate the whole room... Would you think I was amazing?"

Anna froze for a moment.

Her first thought was that the young master was going to use mysticism to make some kind of object.

But... the young master had clearly lost his mystical perception.

He couldn't perform any rituals at all now, let alone wield supernatural power.

Anna pursed her lips. "...Mm, I suppose I would."

Li Mo said, "What do you mean? From your tone, it sounds like you don't believe me."

Anna hesitated for a moment.

In the end, she chose to be honest. "Yes, young master, Anna doesn't really believe it..."

Li Mo's interest was immediately piqued.

He said, "How about we make a bet, then? If we succeed, you have to grant me one request."

Anna thought about it. She really couldn't imagine how a pile of copper wire and glass could glow out of nowhere, so she said, "All right, young master."

Li Mo had already begun thinking about what he would ask for after winning.

He wasn't planning to do anything excessive. He simply wanted to take the opportunity to vent his frustration.

Who told Anna to keep treating him like a child?

He might as well have Anna strip naked and sleep with him later.

He wanted to see whether Anna would still act as though it were only natural then, or whether she would feel embarrassed!

So you like taking your clothes off the moment you get here, do you? Will you keep doing it after this? Answer me!