10大新發明? 錯!其實都是老發明!(上)

Self-driving cars, selfie sticks, drones, touchscreen devices, e-cigarettes, jetpacks, and many other things seem like fairly modern inventions. Indeed, most of their "inventors" list them as newly invented and even go as far as seeking patents. But the fact is, many of these "inventions" have already been in existence for quite some time. They may have earlier lookalikes that ended up not going into production or that went into limited production due to one reason or another. Some also made it into full production but were recalled due to poor sales.

自動駕駛汽車，自拍杆，無人駕駛飛機，觸屏設備，電子香菸，噴射揹包和許多其他看起來像現代的發明的東西，其實都是老發明。大部分的"發明者"把它們當做新發明，甚至去申請專利。但事實是，這些"發明"已經存在一段時間了。它們都有早期類似的原型，這些早期產品最終沒有投入生產，或因爲特定原因而限量生產。而有些"發明"得以大批量生產，卻因爲銷售不佳而流產。

ie Sticks

10.自拍杆

The first selfie stick was invented long before the first handheld mobile device was made. A selfie stick was definitely invented by the Japanese man Hiroshi Ueda in the 1980s. A photographer and worker at the Minolta camera company, Hiroshi made the selfie stick because he and his wife were unable to take pictures of themselves during a trip to Europe. (When he asked a boy to take pictures of them, the boy ran off with the camera.)

在第一部掌上移動設備發明之前，自拍杆已經問世。自拍杆其實是由一個日本男人上田宏在20世紀80年代發明的。上田宏是美能達相機公司的攝影師，他發明這個自拍杆，是因爲他和妻子在歐洲旅行時無法自拍合照。（當時，他叫一個男孩幫他們拍照，那個男孩卻拿着相機跑了。）

Frustrated, he invented something that would allow him take a picture of himself: He called it the "extender stick." Since the iPhone really hadn't been invented yet, a small camera was to be attached to one end of the stick. It also had a small mirror in its front so that users could see how they would look in the photograph. He patented the "extender stick" in 1983. The product was mass produced for sale but it was a commercial failure. The quality of the pictures was low. Besides, previous research showed that the women back then were embarrassed by the idea of taking pictures of themselves. The selfie stick was then reinvented by Wayne Fromm in the year 2000, three years before Hiroshi's patent expired. Fromm called his the "quik pod." He believes he is the inventor of today's selfie sticks and has even sued several other selfie stick producers. When asked about Hiroshi's selfie sticks, he said they were "prior art."

萬分沮喪之下，他發明了可以允許自拍的東西：他稱之爲"伸縮杆"。因爲智能手機還沒發明出來，所以，連接在自拍杆末端的是一個微型相機。在杆的前端有一面小鏡子，方便使用者調整他們在相機裏的姿態。他在1983年爲"伸縮杆"申請了專利。雖然自拍杆進行了大量生產出售，卻屬商業敗筆——相片的質量比較差。另外，以前的研究表明，那時的女士會因自己有自拍的想法而感到尷尬。在2000年，自拍杆被韋恩·弗洛姆(Wayne Fromm)重新發明，那時，上田宏的"伸縮杆"專利期尚有三年。弗洛姆稱他的自拍杆爲"快捷豆莢"。他認爲他纔是當今自拍杆的發明者，甚至起訴其他自拍杆生產者。當被問到上田宏的自拍杆時，弗洛姆評論說它們是"先前的藝術"。

hscreens

9.觸屏

In 2007, Apple released the first iPhone: a full touchscreen phone, complete with its own virtual keypad. To many, Apple had done something new, something never seen before. They had made the first touchscreen phone. But this was incorrect: Apple did not make the first touchscreen phone, nor was the touchscreen a new invention.

在2007年，蘋果公司發佈了第一款iPhone手機：帶有虛擬鍵盤的全觸屏手機。對很多人來說，蘋果取得了新突破，發明了新事物--他們製造了第一款觸屏手機。但這種說法是錯誤的：蘋果不是第一個製造觸屏手機的公司，觸屏也不是什麼新發明。

To start with, a year before the first iPhone was released, LG had introduced a full touchscreen phone. Even that was not the first, though. The world's first touchscreen phone was IBM's Simon, which was released in 1992. And touchscreen technology even predates the Simon. The first touchscreen device was a tablet made by E.A. Johnson in 1965 that was used by air traffic controllers until 1995. Bent Stumpe and Frank Beck made the first capacitive touchscreen in the early '70s. Unlike Johnson's tablet, it could not be pressed with the fingers. Instead, it required a stylus. In 1971, Samuel Hurst developed the first resistive touchscreen, which he called the "elograph." It responded to the fingers as well as a stylus. In 1985, HP invented the world's first touchscreen computer, called the HP-150. In 1993, Apple also released its first touchscreen device—the Newton Personal Digital Assistant. The product was a flop, recording low sales.

其實，在第一部iPhone手機發布的前一年，LG集團已經推出了全觸屏手機。雖然那也不是第一臺觸屏手機。1992年，世界上第一臺觸屏手機IBM Simon發佈。而觸屏技術在"西蒙"之前已經出現。1965年，E·A·約翰遜發明了第一個觸屏設備——平板電腦，截止到1995年，一直由空中交通管制員使用。本特·斯頓普和弗蘭克·貝克(Frank Beck)在20世紀70年代早期發明了電容式觸屏，與約翰遜所發明觸屏不同的是，它不能用手指操作，而是需要使用觸控筆。在1971年，山姆·赫斯特發明了第一臺電阻式觸屏，他稱之爲"電子圖表"。手指和觸控筆都可以對它進行操作。在1985年，惠普公司發明了世界上第一臺觸屏電腦H-P150。在1993年，蘋果公司也發佈了第一個觸屏設備——牛頓個人電子助理設備。但此產品並不成功，它的銷量很低。

l Skates

8.輪滑

Wheel skates look somewhat like regular inline skates, except that the wheels are much larger, up to the size of bicycle tires. They are seen as a cross between an inline skate, a ski, and a bike. Recently, a company called Chariot Skates said they had come up with something unique—the Chariot wheel skates. According to the company, wheel skates are "revolutionary new skating products." Revolutionary? They do at least revolve. New? No. The first wheel skate was made more than 142 years ago.

輪滑看起來有點像常規的單排輪滑鞋，不過輪滑的輪非常大，尺寸大小跟自行車車輪差不多，看起來像是溜冰鞋，滑雪板和自行車的合體。最近一家名字叫作戰車溜冰的公司聲稱，他們已經有了一些獨特的想法——戰車輪滑。根據該公司所說，這種輪滑是"革命性的新輪滑產品"。這是一場改革嗎？也許是吧，他們至少在改進設計。這是發明嗎？不是的。第一雙輪滑早在142年前就已存在 。

It even featured in the March 19, 1870, issue of Scientific American magazine. Made by Thomas Luders from Olney, Illinois, and called a "pedespeed," the wheels then were much smaller, measuring around 36 centimeters (15 in) in diameter. Luders also said the skates could be used by anybody, irrespective of their physique. He himself was a large, heavy man, and he claimed he could use them for two straight hours without getting tired. Another version of wheel skates, appearing in 1923, had its tires on the inside of the foot rather than outside. (Other than the size of the wheels, the main improvement made by Chariot Skates is the small tire at the back of the bigger tire for increased stability.)

1870年3月19號，輪滑登上雜誌《科學美國人》。它的製作人是伊利諾伊州奧爾尼的托馬斯·呂德斯，被稱作"佩德速度"，後來，輪滑的輪變得小了很多，直徑約爲36釐米（15英寸）。呂德斯身材高大魁梧，他說自己用輪滑一直滑2個小時也不覺得累，同時他也說每一個人都可以滑輪滑，不論他們是什麼體型。另一種輪滑出現在1923年，它的輪子在腳的內側，而非外側。（除了輪子的尺寸不一樣以外，兩種輪滑最主要的差別在於：由戰車溜冰公司製作的輪滑，小輪在大輪的後面，增強整個輪滑的穩定性。）

es

7.無人機

The first drone can be traced back to 1916 when British inventor Archibald Low designed and flew the first unmanned radio-controlled vehicle. The drone was made to counterattack German Zeppelin airships, and it also carried out ground attacks during World War I. It was made with wood and tin, its wings taken from the lower wing of another biplane. Overall, the drone was somewhat unsuccessful because the noise from its engine interfered with its radio. The Sopwith Aircraft Company also tried making a drone in 1916. They placed the radio equipment at the tail so that the engine would not interfere with its signal, but their drone never flew as it was damaged in an accident on the ground. Low would try flying his drone again in 1917 when he flew it in front of some senior military officers. It was launched from the back of a lorry and flew for some time before crashing due to engine failure, almost killing the military officers present.

第一架無線電操縱的無人駕駛飛機可追溯到1916年。英國發明家阿奇博爾德·洛設計並試飛了第一架無人遙控飛機。它是爲了反攻德國齊柏林飛艇而製作的，在第一次世界大戰中參與了對地面攻擊的戰鬥。無人機由木和錫製成，它的機翼用的是其他雙翼飛機的較低機翼。總的來說，無人機是有些失敗的，因爲它的引擎噪音干擾了無線操作。1916年，索普威斯飛鬆公司也嘗試製作無人機，他們將無線電設備放置在無人機的尾部，這樣引擎就不會干擾到它的信號。但因一次地面上的意外事故，他們的無人機再未起飛：當洛操作無人機飛到高級軍官面前時，他原本計劃會在1917年再次試飛無人機。但無人機從卡車的後面發射後，飛了一段時間便因引擎故障而墜毀，差點要了在場的軍官的命。

-Mounted Computer Displays

6.頭戴式電腦出現

In 2012, Google introduced Google Glass, a computer you can wear on your face. Someone wearing the glasses can be walking down the street or doing any everyday task while simultaneously seeing an overlay of calendar appointments, messages, and subway alerts. They can make video calls and even upload live videos to the Internet while on the move, without ever needing to use their hands. Google Glass might be cool, it might be new, it might be revolutionary, but it's definitely not the first pair of wearable computer glasses.

2012年，谷歌發明了谷歌眼鏡，一臺你能戴在你臉上的電腦。在街上行走或者進行每天的任務的時候戴着它，可以同步看一些覆蓋在眼鏡上的日程會議，短信及地鐵警戒等信息。戴着它行走的時候，可以用它們打視頻電話，甚至把直播視頻上傳到網絡，這一切都不需要動手。谷歌眼鏡可能挺酷的，挺新穎，還有創新性，但是它絕對不是第一副可佩戴的電腦眼鏡。

The first wearable computer glasses were made by Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon in 1961. In 1968, Ivan Sutherland made the "Sword of Damocles." It was the first head-mounted computer display and an early variant of all wearable computer glasses we have today. In 1980, Steve Mann, known today as the father of wearable computing, made the "WearComp", a pair of tech-enhanced glasses that was capable of communicating wirelessly with other computers and could share videos. He continued to work on the glasses over the years, and by 1999, he had come up with a pair of glasses that looked like Google Glass, or rather, that Google Glass looks like. He called it the "EyeTap."

1961年，愛德華·索普和克勞德·香農共同研製出第一副可佩戴的電腦眼鏡。1968年，伊凡·蘇澤蘭製造出了"達摩克里斯的利劍"。這是第一臺頭戴式電腦，也是今天我們所有頭戴式電腦的鼻祖。1980年，史蒂夫·曼恩，被稱爲"頭戴式電腦之父"，製造出了"可穿戴式電腦"，這種電子增強型的眼鏡，可以與其他電腦進行無線溝通以及共享視頻。接下來的幾年，他在眼鏡領域繼續研究，而在1999年時，他製造出了一副很像谷歌眼鏡的眼鏡，或者說谷歌眼鏡的原型。他叫它做"電子眼鏡"。

來源：前十網