十个比你想象中还要历史悠久的发明(下)

Odometer

5.里程表

The odometer is present in most modern vehicles, used to track travel distance. It has been around since the ancient Greeks. It is not certain who the inventor is. Vitruvius first talks of an ancient odometer in his book, and some believe that the device had been invented previously by Archimedes.

里程表是现代交通工具用于记录行进距离的一个仪器。但其实它在古希腊就已经被发明出来了。但是发明者是谁却不得而知。维特鲁威在他的书里第一次提到了里程表的存在，这让人们认为里程表是由阿基米德发明的。

The concept of this early odometer was based around chariots having a standard wheel size. A wheel had to turn 400 times to complete a Roman mile. The axle's pin engaged a 400-tooth cogwheel, itself attached to another gear. When a full revolution completed, the gear released a stone into a box. At the end of the trip, counting the stones determined the distance traveled. We have no absolute evidence this device was built. However, during his travels, Alexander the Great had specialists called bematists who measured the distances of routes. Their measurements were later recorded by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, and they are so accurate compared to modern measurements that a mechanical device was almost certainly employed. It wasn't long until another odometer was invented completely separately in ancient China. Created by prolific Chinese inventor Zhang Heng, the concept is similar, except that a drum was struck every half a kilometer.

发明早期里程表的原理是基于当时标准大小的二轮车的轮子。一个轮子滚动400次就等于战车行进了一个Roman mile的距离。车轴上有一个400齿的齿轮，这个齿轮连着另一个传动装置。当车轮转满400次后，这个传动装置就会掉一个石头到一个小盒子里。因而战车行进结束后，只要数数石头的个数就可以算出行进的距离。我们没有确切的实际的证据证明这样的装置确实存在过。但是在亚历山大大帝的一次行进过程中，他特别叫了计步师来计算他到底走了多长距离。他们所记录的数据被老普林尼记录在了他的一本名为自然历史的书里。他们记录的数据的精确度比起现在来都毫不逊色，他们就像是被雇佣的机械一样。在这之后不久，中国的大发明家张衡便发明出了另一个完全独立的里程表。原理与古希腊的里程表相似，不同的是每走500米，装置上的小鼓就会敲一下。

Heels

4.高跟鞋

We consider high heels a modern accessory used exclusively by women to enhance their beauty and create the illusion of long, slender legs. However, as popular as they might be today, they are definitely not modern. High heels date all the way back to the ninth century, when they were worn by men.

我们通常会将高跟鞋看作是一种现代女性为了好看和修饰她们那细长苗条的腿而穿的衣物配件。但是，虽然高跟鞋在现在很受欢迎，但这却并不是现代社会的产物。高跟鞋的历史要追溯到9世纪，并且在那个时候男性才会穿高跟鞋。

Ancient Persian ceramic bowls from over 1,000 years ago depict men wearing high-heeled shoes. Back then, the heels had a practical purpose rather than a cosmetic one. The men in question were archers, and the high heels allowed them to secure their feet in stirrups when shooting from horseback. The heels remained in use for centuries, allowing Persia to assemble the fiercest archers on the planet. Eventually, Persian culture spread to Europe. By the 17th century, high heels became all the rage over there as well. Again, men wore them, but this time, it was the aristocracy, not the soldiers. The shoes were status symbols. They were completely impractical—the higher the heel, the better. An impractical (and often uncomfortable) wardrobe was constantly used by the European elite to signify privilege. The heels were also dyed red because red dye was an expensive luxury item.

超过1000年历史的古波斯瓷碗上就有描绘男性穿高跟鞋的画面。那个时候高跟鞋倾向于实用主义而不仅仅是装饰品。那时穿高跟鞋的男性基本上都是弓手，因为这样可以保证他们在射箭时能将自己的脚固定在马镫上从而保持平衡。高跟鞋这样的使用方法持续了好几个世纪，并使得波斯拥有了这个星球上最凶猛的弓手。后来，波斯文化传到了欧洲。到了17世纪，高跟鞋开始风靡欧洲。在这个时候男性同样也穿高跟鞋，但是这些男性并不是士兵，而是贵族。自然而然地，高跟鞋便成为了地位的象征。鞋跟越高，地位就越高。因而高跟鞋完全失去了它的实用价值：因为欧洲的精英们总是喜欢穿着一身不实用的（同样也不舒服的）行头来彰显他们的特权。高跟鞋的鞋跟也被染成了红色，是因为在那个时候红色染料是最贵最奢侈的染料。

Seismometer

3.地震仪

An earthquake can be incredibly devastating. Even though we can't stop it, an instrument to warn us of seismic motions could prove to be invaluable. Nowadays, we have access to such instruments, and so did the ancient Chinese. The famed Chinese polymath Zhang Heng has the world's first seismograph to add to his impressive list of invention known as Houfeng Didong Yi ("instrument for inquiring into the wind and the shaking of the earth") was created in A.D. 132. It was later described in the History of the Later Han Dynasty as a giant bronze vessel. It had eight contact points in the form of bronze dragons with balls in their mouths on the outside of the vessel and a bronze column inside. When an earthquake approached, the column shifted in a particular direction, and a lever made that dragon drop the ball, thus revealing the quake's direction.

每一场地震都充满了难以置信的毁灭性。尽管我们不能阻止地震的发生，但是一种能够提前警告我们地震将要来临的仪器是具有很大价值的东西。现在，我们已经能够做出这样的东西。但是在古代的中国，他们早已做出了这样的东西。由博学著称的中国发明家张衡发明了世界上第一台地震仪，这台地震仪也是他最伟大的成就之一。这台发明于公元132年的仪器的名字叫做"候风地动仪"。它在一本叫做《后汉时期的历史》的书里被描述为一个巨大的青铜器。它由中间的铜柱和他周围的八条口含铜球的青铜龙组成。如果发生地震，铜柱因为受到震动失去平衡，这样就会触动到八条龙中的一条，使相应的龙嘴中的铜球掉入下方蟾蜍的口中，这样便能判断出地震发生的时间与方向。

er Skates

2.轮式溜冰鞋

We might associate the rise of the roller skates with the popularity of the roller discos of the '60s and '70s, but these inventions are far older. The first record of something we would call a pair of roller skates dates back to the 18th century. A Belgian inventor, John Joseph Merlin, created inline skates in the 1760s. They were ice skates with wheels instead of blades. He wanted to show off his new creations in style, and he wore them at a masquerade ball in the city of Huys, Belgium. However, the story goes that he couldn't stop and crashed full-speed into a giant mirror.

我们可能将轮式溜冰鞋的发展与六七十年代的轮滑迪斯科联系到一起，但是这项发明的出现要更早一些。最早的我们可以称之为一双轮式溜冰鞋的记录可以追溯到18世纪。一个比利时的发明家，约翰·乔瑟夫·马林， 在17世纪60年代发明了直排轮溜冰鞋。顾名思义，直排轮就是将老式溜冰鞋的冰刀换成了一排轮子。为了炫耀他时尚的新发明，马林穿着他的直排轮去参加了在比利时huys举行的化妆舞会。然而故事的结局并未朝他所想象的方向发展：他滑得太快以致于根本停不下来，最后直直地撞到了一面大镜子上。

The first inventor to patent a roller skate design was Frenchman M. Petitbled. His creation looked more like wooden sandals with three wheels attached to the sole. Like Merlin's invention, the problem with the Petitbled skate was that it was incredibly difficult to turn, stop, or do practically anything other than go wasn't until James Leonard Plimpton invented the precursor to modern roller skates in 1863 that the concept really took off. His design with two pairs of wheels was the first of its kind and was a lot safer and easier to use. Plimpton then turned the office of his furniture business into a skating floor and later founded the New York Roller Skating Association to promote the sport.

轮式溜冰鞋设计的专利最终属于法国人佩布雷德，他的设计看起来更像一块木片和三个轮子直接粘在鞋帮上。和马林的发明一样，佩布雷德的溜冰鞋很难做到转弯、停止和除开前进以外的其他动作。一直到作为先锋的詹姆士·莱昂纳多·普林普顿开辟了通往现代轮式溜冰鞋的道路之后，轮式溜冰鞋才受到公众的关注。他的设计有两对滑轮并且更加安全和容易使用。普林普顿在之后将他做家具生意的办公室改装成了一个小型溜冰场，并且在之后创立了纽约轮滑联盟来推广这项运动。

ing Gum

1.口香糖

In one form or another, chewing gum has existed for a really long time—somewhere around 5,000 years, in fact. The oldest known chewing gum was discovered on a dig in Finland, and it dates back to the Neolithic age. It was a lump made out of birch bark tar, but it had clear tooth imprints in it. Even back then, chewing gum had a medical benefit. The birch bark contained phenols with antiseptic properties, so the chewing gum was likely used to treat gum infections.

事实上，口香糖在某种程度上已经有大约5000年的历史了。最老的口香糖是在芬兰进行挖掘工作时被发现的，它的年龄可以追溯到新石器时代。那是一块由桦树脂做成的东西，上面还有清晰的牙印。即便是在远古时代，口香糖也有医疗作用。桦树皮含有具有防腐作用的酚类化合物，因而这块口香糖被认为是用来治疗口腔病害的的东西。

Over the centuries, many other ancient cultures enjoyed their own types of gum. The Greeks made theirs from the resin of the mastic tree. Native Americans chewed resin from spruce trees. However, it is the Aztecs who helped launch the modern chewing gum craze. They once chewed chicle, a natural gum derived from several species of South American trees. In the 1860s, Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna brought chicle to America to inventor Thomas Adams, wanting to use it to manufacture rubber for tires. This failed, but Adams then thought of using chicle as the main ingredient for his Adams New York Chewing Gum. It was a big success, and two years later, Adams was mass-producing it. Chicle remained the core ingredient of gum for 100 years until it was replaced with synthetic rubbers that were cheaper to manufacture.

好几个世纪以来，不同的文化有着不同类型的的口香糖，但他们都很享受。希腊人的口香糖是由乳香树的树脂做成的，美洲原住民则使用云杉的树脂。而现代的口香糖让人如此狂热的原因却是因为阿兹特克人的缘故。他们最开始的口香糖是产自南美的一种树的天然树脂。18世纪60年代，墨西哥将军安东尼奥·德·桑塔·安纳将这种树脂带回给了美国发明家托马斯·亚当，他们准备用这个树脂来制作轮胎用的橡胶。但是失败了。亚当后来又试着将这种橡胶作为他的亚当纽约口香糖的主要原料。令人没想到的是，这次尝试却获得了巨大的成功，并且在两年以后，亚当开始大量生产这种口香糖。这种橡胶在一百年以来一直作为口香糖的主要原料，一直到它被人造橡胶所代替：作为原料而言人造橡胶要便宜得多。

翻译：赵雨晴 来源：前十网