Prepared by Peter Lichang Kuo
(Chinese)
The old movie "Apollo 13" starring Tom Hanks is being released
again, and the past was vividly remembered after watching it -- the space race
between the United States
and the Soviet Union actually led to an
extremely poor family turning over on an unknown island. No one can predict
anything on earth; but when a Sign comes, as long as a person works hard
enough, he can always create a miracle.
* Stills of Tom Hanks as astronaut
Lovell in the space capsule
After World War II, all
countries in the European battlefields were rebuilding from the ruins, but America was
living a happy time with plenty of food and clothing; parties would be held in
various houses in turn every week to watch popular programs on TV. At that
time, the popular program in the United States was "Space Dreams". In the movie, you can see
astronaut Jim A. Lovell, Jr. (1928~) played by Tom Hanks, lively greeting
guests in the house and discussing hot topics. After the guests left, the
couple looked up at the stars in the yard and dreamed of flying into space.
Soon later, Lovell actually led two crew members to break through the
atmosphere on Apollo 13 and roam freely in outer space.
On October 4, 1957, the
Soviet Union launched the "Sputnik"
satellite, which passed through the atmosphere and entered space ahead of the United States.
On July 29, 1958, U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower (1890~1969) issued an
emergency signed the “National Aeronautics and Space
Act”, established "NASA"
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and built an aviation and
space science research center. It started operation in October 1958.
* The
logo of NASA
On May 25, 1961, subsequent President John F. Kennedy
(1917~1963) announced his support for the Apollo Program during a special
session of the House and Senate, he said: "...I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. ----" Sure enough, on July 16,
1969, Apollo 11 was launched from the Kennedy
Space Center
in Florida, USA. Then at 2:56 a.m. on July 21, the spacecraft
successfully landed on the moon. Neil A. Armstrong (1930~2012) became the first
person in history to set foot on another planet beyond the earth, and
successfully returned to the earth a week later. When Armstrong set foot on the
moon, he said: "That's one
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." It shocked the global audiences
watching the broadcast on television and became a famous saying.
* The
logo of Apollo Program
The Apollo 13 rocket was
the seventh manned mission of the “Apollo Program”
and the third lunar landing attempt. It took off from the Kennedy Space
Center on April 11, 1970,
but was forced to abort Moon landing mission two days later due to an oxygen
bottle failure in the service module. Nevertheless, the astronauts drove the
spacecraft around the Moon until they returned safely to Earth on April 17. The
“Apollo Program” ended at the end of 1972,
although no manned spacecraft has left the Earth's orbit in more than 50 years;
but satellites have gradually become closely related to people's lives due to
the space race. So far (2024) everyone in the civilized world is inseparable
from "Space Satellites". The most
honorable thing is that the products I made by myself can participate in it.
* The
author supplied fine parts to Apollo from 1966 to 1972
In 1962, when the United States
was fully implementing the Apollo Program, when I was only 9 years old, I was
lying in a pool of blood after being killed by a serious assassination.
Suddenly a light shone into my heart, and my whole brain suddenly opened up,
and I saw clearly the reason why my family so poverty: My father was a genius
in craftsmanship, but he always said, "What! Mass
production, isn't that an insult to my wisdom?" In addition, Chiang
Kai-shek came to Taiwan
to arrest those communist spies, and he was actually involved in a long lawsuit
for rescuing a spy. Every time, when he received a summon, he would slump in
the corner of wall and then yell: "Fuck X! I will
be arrested to shot. Why shall I make any money! ---" My mother
proudly she was an “illiteracy” (Qing-min Cow)
and said that she was a boss’s wife after married, not here to do hard work;
unexpectedly, "bad luck to marry the wrong guy."
What the two have in common was that "neither is
willing to learn Mandarin" and "has
no motivation to make money." The family's livelihood only depended
on cutting paper with my grandmother's little scissors. There were so many
people eating, it was no wonder the family to be poor.
* The
family only survived on my grandmother’s paper cuttings
After I stood up from a
pool of blood, I followed my father closely during my spare time, watching carefully
how he used the grinder, grinded out usable drills and files, and made objects
on the drilling press. Since 1963, I have been able to install molds on the
punch press alone and make some simple products. Furthermore, "the Biography of Edison" presented by my cousin
brother Yang Shi-rong made me get to know Mr. Michael Faraday, and I also began
to learn to apply the knowledge in the book to strengthen my craftsmanship. I
made much efforts to hone my skills every moment, so that I could make things
very skilfully and easily in a groove, and hoping that one day I would be able
to make money to improve the situation.
To Tatung Company in Taipei, my father and I were defrauded of all our money,
so we had to go to Tai-En
Hospital to borrow money.
That night, my cousin uncle introduced a machine "Television"
to us. After returning to Tainan,
my father suddenly became full of energy and took me to Yamuliao Market to find
someone to initiate a "Mutual Fund"
for NT$ 10,000 totally. He invented the automatic punching machine and the
progressive deep-drawing dies to manufacture "Precision
Eyelets". During that period, I watched my father make unique
samples one after another from scratch. Unfortunately, no one came to buy them
year after year. He sighed that "Oh, what a
waste! How can we make a bunch of waste!" Moreover, he received a
notice of defeat (loss of lawsuit); in November 1965, he pulled me drop out of
school and got on the back of motorcycle which made by himself, and the father
and son ran away from Tainan to Kaohsiung.
I rented No. 16 Chonghsing Street
behind the National Market in Kaohsiung
City and built a small factory which
material was “Bagasse board”, Soon later my
father returned to Tainan,
he was maliciously arrested and imprisoned. I started calling my small factory
"Cheng Kuang Metal Works". From clips
for plucking hair/ butcher knives to the hinges of repairing the World
Ballroom's doors, I made a lot of miscellaneous products to earn money for my
mother to use for keeping my family alive. The most gratifying thing was that
my father, who had always been muddle while he was in prison, actually agreed
me to give Kaohsiung up and move back to Tainan.
Although my father
invented the entire process of making precision Eyelets, he relied solely on
his genius and never refer to a book. Therefore, the progressive dies
automatically punched out less than a hundred products before it was ruined.
"Adjustment" became the biggest
problem and it was impossible to do mass production. In the airtight space of
bagasse boards, I learned the way of "the mind is calm and naturally cool", During my
meditation, I figured out the "U-shaped Copying
Method" to replace my father's manufacturing process, making it
possible to smoothly punch up to one million pieces in a row. Later, I also
studied with Lau-Chen of the copper factory to extend the length of the copper
plates to increase production capacity.
When everything was
ready, one day in November 1966, I was about to go out to find a purchase
order, a huge figure filled the wooden door when I opened the door. It turned
out that it was an American who took a translator with him. He ran all the way
from the hardware store in Kaohsiung to the pork
stall in the National Market and to the Fuxin Fragrance Shop on Cheng Kong Road in Tainan. He walked into
the narrow Chong-an Street with great suspicion, he happened to meet me at the
No. 45 (later reorganized into 69). If the "Wanlong
Electric Toy Factory" had not closed down and I still went to work,
I wouldn't have met this American. Therefore, the good luck was still required
-- the silent guidance of the Most High.
Understanding the objects
expressed in the Americans' drawings, I asked them to come the day after
tomorrow get "sample", and I planned
to make a physical object for them. They left with doubtful expressions on
their faces, and I actually gave them samples of what I had made when they came
back the day after tomorrow. American was ecstatic when he received the
samples, like a child who got the toy he desired; After a month of back and
forth, I actually got an order worth NT$ 100,000. It was completed in just five
days, making a net profit of NT$ 90,000. When I went to the Yamuliao market to
pay back the money, those aunts and uncles said that "Ah, you are going to be successful!"
* The
author (13 years old) who made NT$ 90,000 and his products
The above few sentences
can be used to describe a fate-changing transaction, but in fact, the process
of that month was extremely difficult. If it were not for perseverance, it would
be impossible to complete the said transaction. First of all, my mother cursed
me every day, said that "You are not doing your
job properly and want to do business with American delusionally."
She mocked me: "If you don't wide-open your eyes,
your testicles will be quickly removed!" Secondly, I only had one
machine tool -- an old "Drilling Press"
with no precision. So when I went to Mr. Stone, Li-Chen Company to buy steel
and iron, I had to quickly go to find A-Yi to plane them to be plates with a
planer. Then I went to find A-Chin to use a lathe to turn the required "pins" and bring them back for processing. I
still had to find Jin Quancheng to make copper plates of the specified
thickness. All the hardware--drills, files, bolts and nuts were on credit. All
the mold making was done with bare hands, meanwhile I wrote a new chapter in
the "Kuo Family's Turn Over".
*
Lichang Kuo's handmade mold by a drill press for turn over from poverty
Later, in 1979, when Mr. Lane, the said
American, invited me to dinner at Twin-tower in New York,
he said, "I had been looking for suppliers in Taiwan
for more than half a year, and I found a kid at last!" He said that
he had contacted suppliers in the United States
and Japan
but had no answers. If he could not find a supplier in Taiwan, he
would have to pack up and go home. Unexpectedly, he actually got the sample two
days later, and I met all their stringent requirements one by one. In the end,
he thought the most amazing thing was that I was able to make an English "Approval Sheet" for him, so that he could
successfully obtain the order for "Apollo"
and issue the order to me.
During the next two years
from 1967 to 1968, I only made "Fine Eyelets"
of various sizes and built the first house for the Kuo family at Lane 451, Park Road, Tainan
City, which had been overturned by those evildoers for 37 years. After moving
away from Chung-An Street in 1969, everyone happily moved into the house on Park Road. All
kinds of debauchery behavior started to appear one after another, and I had to
think hard about "the elimination of vacuum tubes"
and the transformation of the industry. Fortunately, the Apollo Program was
still in full swing. In July 1969, Neil Armstrong successfully landed on the
moon, and NASA continued to push forward; however, "Apollo 13" was forced to abort the moon landing
mission in April 1970 due to an oxygen bottle failure in the service module. It
was not until the end of 1972 that the Apollo Program finally ended.
Since 1969, the
electronic and electrical industry had been in deep dilemma, but I still had
the energy to help those who have helped me in trouble; In particular, Factory
Director Zhuang of Yong-Fu Electric Company, came to Cheng Kuang of Park Road
almost every day, and I helped them develop various new products for free;
fortunately, my client Mr. Lane said: "We are
still good luck to have orders from Apollo." For example, when NASA
discovered that there would be electromagnetic interference between electronic
components, we always made the solutions they needed within a day or two to
solve the problem, and let high-end research institutions in the United States see "Taiwan's Capabilities." And then, my nickname "Dr. Blacksmith" spread from an American to the
entire industry.
*
There was still good luck to have Apollo's order in 1970
Taiwan’s industry may have the best
will to survive in the world! Mr. Chen Yong-tian of Yong-Fu Electric Company
had developed several failed products, but he still made much efforts to move
forward despite the tough road; because when my father was imprisoned, he once
bought NT$ hundreds of my products, so I helped him develop new products for
free, and also assisted them to New York to resolve the issue of "broken electric fan" incident, and brought
back a "Transistor
Portable Recorder"
sample -- this was the key to the successful transformation of Taiwan's
industry since 1971. Soon, Mr. Chen's "Lucky" brand was selling well in the United States, and we started another wave of Taiwan's
economic miracle in 1972, almost all the "Switches" used in them were my
masterpieces, ranking top one in market share. As for whether there was "Apollo Program" or not, it would not
affect our progress at all.
* Kuo's switch products with the top 1 market share in the
1970s
In 1970, I went to the home of my American friend Mr. Dieska
in Kaohsiung
and helped him move his audio appliance while sweating profusely. He asked me
if I could make a "Quick-Disconnector", then those wires didn’t have to take the trouble of
removing; After much research, we modified an RCA socket for "Audio" and "Video" -- called it an "AV Connector". With the addition of
a switch and a terminal board, these three small components became our
money-making tools. After being robbed in 1973, I was able to purchase land on
my own to establish "Cheng Kuang Precision Industry Co., Ltd." in 1974—when I was 21 year-old,
laying the foundation for the development of Taiwan's
Precision Industry and helping Mr.
Lane successfully listed on the NYSE, bridging the
road between Taiwan and Silicon Valley.
* Creating Taiwan’s
Precision Industry from scratch
When I went to America
to develop "Satellite
Receiver"
in 1979, I taught my colleagues in the United States precision processing
techniques. In 1982, I came to Taipei
due to my property was robbed for the
second time. I spread the knowledge, technology, experience, and application
materials needed to run "Precision Industry" in Northern Taiwan. I
wrote books and proclaim the benefits of social responsibility investment, and
the "Rich
Taiwan Plan"
launched to achieve the glorious 1980s and 1990s. In addition to Taiwan's outstanding economic performance, Taiwan has also
transformed politically from authoritarianism to an open society where the
people are the head of the country.
* Symposium of "Rich Taiwan Plan"
The "Satellite Receiver" we brought to the earth had been commercially
available since 1986, and "Space Satellites" have become closely related to people's lives. My wife
Linda Din served as a Speaker at APEC 1998 and attained the bill of "Steering the E-Commerce", triggering a
turbulent global e-commerce wave. We were by means of aerospace-grade
technology to bring the world into a new era of "Contactless".
* APEC
Invitation to be a Speaker in 1998
After the ".com" bubble in Silicon Valley, California, in 2000, many people
invested in the production of "Portable Digital Assistant" (PDA), but all lost their money;
Therefore, when I was invited to attend the APEC CEO Summit 2006 in Hanoi, I advocated that "Satellite Support for Mobile
Communicators."
Nowadays, the e-commerce systems (TES) have become a necessity of life, and
everyone in the civilized world is inseparable from space satellites. A status
where people use it daily but don’t know it.
* Advocating "Satellite Support" at APEC CEO Summit
In short, the "Apollo Program" accomplished the upgrade of
vacuum tubes to the universal use of transistors, also contributed to the
vigorous development of the semiconductor industry, and promoted the research
of superconductors; turned the vainly rocket landing on the moon, into the development
of "Space Satellites" that were
actually beneficial to people's livelihood. Computers have also been upgraded
from Mini Computer in the laboratory to Personal Computer (PC). It has evolved from a 286-type
computer that crashed before finishing typing A4 paper, to a portable notebook
computer in high
performance, and may even develop into a palm-type multi-functional AI computer
in the future. However, the
excessive development of science and technology, should we also consider the
social value of humanities?
Peter Lichang Kuo, the author created Taiwan's Precision Industry in his
early years. He was a representative of the APEC CEO Summit and an expert in
the third sector. He advocated "anti-corruption (AC)/cashless/e-commerce
(E-Com)/ICT/IPR/IIA-TES / Micro-Business (MB)…and etc." to win the
international bills and regulations.
Bibliography：
Kuo, Lichang (2022). Open the Way for Next Generation IV. Kaohsiung: KSI.
All rights reserved by
K-Horn Science Inc.
External Links:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6304796 (VAM)
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20030197061
(Shopping System)
http://plckbooks.blogspot.com/2018/08/k-horn-science-inc.html (K-Horn Science Inc.)
http://pkforac.blogspot.com/2018/08/anti-corruption-in-lima.html
(Lima Anti-Corruption)
https://ldinventions.blogspot.com/2022/01/127.html (A Universal Cashless System)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2023/10/1011.html
(K-Horn Science Inc.)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2023/10/1013.html
(K-Horn’s Cashless System)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2023/11/1110.html
(K-Horn & APEC)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2023/12/1208.html (K-Horn’s SRI)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2024/01/105.html
(K-Horn’s PCM)
https://khornhb.blogspot.com/2024/03/326.html
(Tree's Whiskers)
https://klcapec.blogspot.com/2024/05/515.html
(The Best Practice)
https://klcapec.blogspot.com/2024/06/609.html
(Edison’s Inspiration)
https://pkother.blogspot.com/2024/07/704.html (阿波羅，Apollo)
