紙袋的發(fā)明，女權(quán)的勝利

文/哈德利·霍爾·米爾斯譯/黃青

紙袋的發(fā)明，女權(quán)的勝利

文/哈德利·霍爾·米爾斯譯/黃青

我們經(jīng)常用紙袋裝東西，無論是雜物、衣服、禮物、垃圾還是酒水。小學(xué)四年級之前，我都會將午飯放進(jìn)紙袋帶到學(xué)校，因為媽媽會用貼紙和繪畫來裝飾我的紙袋。圣誕節(jié)來臨時，人們將沙子和蠟燭裝進(jìn)紙袋做成燈照亮街區(qū)。體育迷們心生怨氣時還會將紙袋套在頭上。不過，有多少人了解平底紙袋的由來呢？又有多少人知道紙袋的發(fā)明意味著女權(quán)戰(zhàn)勝男權(quán)，智慧打敗霸道呢？

We carry stuff in them—groceries, clothes, gifts, trash and booze1booze〈非正式〉酒精飲料。. I carried my lunch to school in one until the fourth grade because my mother would decorate them with stickers2sticker貼紙。and drawings. People add sand and candles to them to illuminate3illuminate照亮。their neighbourhoods at Christmas. Disgruntled4disgruntled不滿的；不高興的。sports fans cover their heads with them. But how many people know where the fl atbottomed paper bag came from? Or that its invention was a triumph of feminism over patriarchy5patriarchy父權(quán)制；男權(quán)政治。and of brains over bullying6bullying恃強(qiáng)欺弱的行為。?

[2]根據(jù)多數(shù)歷史記載，人們過去使用皮革、木材、棉花和蘆葦來制作容器。以前，紙張都是依靠手工一張一張制作的，堪稱奢侈品，只供少數(shù)文化人用于書籍、記錄和信件。1799年，法國發(fā)明家路易-尼古拉·羅伯特獲得卷紙制造機(jī)的專利。這一發(fā)明使得紙張進(jìn)入大量生產(chǎn)的階段。商人不久即使用卷紙，或曰“錐形紙袋”，來包裝少量商品。意料之中的是，效果不盡人意。他們還曾制作簡陋的手工紙袋，但是這一過程比較費時，往往也不成功。

[2] For most of recorded history, containers were made of leather, wood, cotton and reeds7reed蘆葦屬植物。. Paper, made by hand one sheet at a time, was a luxury, used only for books, records and letters by the literate8literate能讀會寫的；受過教育的。few. In 1799, a French inventor named Louis-Nicolas Robert was granted a patent for a machine that produced rolls of paper. This invention brought paper to the masses. Soon, merchants were using rolled paper, or “cornucopias9cornucopias錐形紙袋?！? to package small quantities of goods, with predictably messy10messy復(fù)雜的，麻煩的。results. They also constructed rudimentary11rudimentary簡陋的；原始的。paper bags by hand, which was a timeconsuming and not always successful process.

[3]各廠商競相打造既結(jié)實耐用又易于生產(chǎn)的紙袋。1852年，美國人弗蘭西斯·沃勒獲得紙袋制造機(jī)的首個專利。這種機(jī)器利用蒸汽和漿糊來生產(chǎn)信封形狀的紙袋。沃勒發(fā)明的機(jī)器得到推廣，但是它生產(chǎn)出的紙袋不僅笨重，而且用途有限——不難想象，將大量雜物放進(jìn)碩大信封模樣的紙袋中會是什么樣子。不過，畢竟有勝于無，生產(chǎn)紙袋的工廠日益增多。1860年代晚期，瑪格麗特·奈特來到位于馬薩諸塞州斯普林菲爾德的克倫比亞紙袋公司工作。這個身材高挑的新英格蘭人不綴鉆研，工作勤勉，短短幾年內(nèi)，她充滿創(chuàng)造力的設(shè)計就給這一行業(yè)帶來了一場革命。

[3] The race was on to produce a paper bag that was both sturdy12sturdy結(jié)實的。and easy to make. In 1852, the American Francis Wolle received the first patent for a paper-bag machine. It used steam and paste to create bags in the shape of envelopes. Though the machine became popular, the bags it produced were cumbersome13cumbersome不方便的。and of limited use—picture a load of groceries in a large envelopeshaped sack. Still, they were better than nothing at all, and factories producing the bags multiplied. In the late 1860s, Margaret Knight, a tall, endlessly inquisitive14inquisitive好學(xué)的；好奇的。and hard-working New Englander, went to work for the Columbia Paper Bag Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. Within a few years, her ingenious15inge-nious有創(chuàng)意的；巧妙的。designs would revolutionise16revolutionise徹底改變；完全變革the industry.

[4]奈特生于1838年，她的童年深受工業(yè)革命的影響。乍看起來，她的人生經(jīng)歷就是一個典型的悲情故事：由寡居的母親撫養(yǎng)長大，10歲就被迫到新罕布什爾環(huán)境嚴(yán)苛的棉紡廠工作。但這個沒有讀過書的工人自幼就頭腦敏銳，富有創(chuàng)造精神。尚未成年時，她曾經(jīng)目睹一個工友因紡織機(jī)鋼頭機(jī)梭彈出受傷。為防止類似事故重演，她發(fā)明了梭蓋，并被所在工廠采用。1872年，在接受進(jìn)步刊物《婦女雜志》采訪時，她曾回憶起自己與眾不同的童年：

小時候，我對女孩子通常喜歡的東西沒有一點興趣；洋娃娃對我也毫無吸引力。我看不出珍愛這些毫無面部表情的陶瓷娃娃有什么意義。我想要的只是一把折刀、一柄螺絲錐和一些木頭。朋友們有些害怕。他們都叫我假小子，但我對此不以為然。我有時會嘆氣，因為自己和其他女孩不一樣；但我還算明智，認(rèn)識到?jīng)]有辦法改變，只能從我的工具中尋找更多慰藉。我總是為哥哥弟弟做這做那，他們想要任何玩具，都會說：“瑪?shù)贂o我們做的?！蔽易龅娘L(fēng)箏小有名氣，雪橇也讓鎮(zhèn)上所有男孩既羨慕又佩服。

[4] Born in 1838, Knight’s childhood was shaped by the industrial revolution. At first glance, hers is the classic victim’s story—raised by a widowed mother, and put to work by the age of 10 in the brutally inhospitable17inhospitable不好客的；冷淡的。cotton mills of New Hampshire. But from her earliest days this uneducated labourer had an agile18agile敏捷的。, inventive mind. While still a child, Knight saw a fellow worker injured when a steel-tipped shuttle19shuttle梭子。shot off a loom20loom織布機(jī)。. She soon created a shuttle cover to prevent any more accidents, and her invention was adopted by her factory. In an interview with the progressiveWoman’s Journalin 1872, she recalled her unconventional21unconventional不因循守舊的；（人、態(tài)度、行為等）非傳統(tǒng)的。youth:

As a child, I never cared for things that girls usually do; dolls never possessed any charms for me. I couldn’t see the sense of coddling22coddle嬌養(yǎng)；悉心照料。bits of porcelain with senseless faces: the only things I wanted were a jack-knife23jack-knife大折刀, a gimlet24gimlet螺絲錐。, and pieces of wood. My friends were horrified. I was called a tomboy25tomboy假小子，行為似男孩的頑皮姑娘。; but that made very little impression on me. I sighed sometimes, because I was not like the other girls; but wisely concluded that I couldn’t help it, and sought further consolation26consolation安慰。from my tools. I was always making things for my brothers; did theywant anything in the line of playthings, they always said: “Mattie will make them for us.” I was famous for my kites; and my sleds27sled雪橇。were the envy and admiration of all the boys in town.

[5]奈特進(jìn)入哥倫比亞紙袋公司時只是一名底層員工。此前幾年，30多歲仍未成家的奈特成了一個“多面手”，在銀版照相、攝影、雕刻、房屋維修和室內(nèi)裝潢等方面都算得上行家。整日泡在工廠里的她，很快聽說工廠正嘗試研制可以高效生產(chǎn)平底紙袋的機(jī)器。她在日記中寫道：“我了解到目前還沒有所謂的平底紙袋機(jī)器，所以我打算不斷嘗試，直到找出辦法為止?！睕]有工廠幫助，老板也不知情，在這種情況下，奈特開始專心致志地研究這個問題。

[5] By the time she joined the Columbia Paper Bag Company as a lowly28lowly地位低的；無足輕重的。factory worker, the 30-something, unmarried Knight had spent years as a “Jill-of-all-trades”, becoming proficient in daguerreotype29daguerreotype銀版照相法。, photography, engraving30engraving雕刻；雕刻術(shù)。, house repair and upholstering31upholster（用家具）布置；給（沙發(fā)等）做軟墊（或布面等）。. Spending long hours at the factory, she soon heard of current efforts to create a machine that could efficiently manufacture flat-bottomed paper bags.“I am told that there is no such machine known as a square-bottomed machine,”she wrote in her journal. “I mean to try away at it until I get my ideas worked out.” Independent of the factory and without her bosses’ knowledge, Knight began to study the issue intently.

[6]1867年，她潛心研制能夠“自動裁剪、折疊和粘貼紙袋底部”的機(jī)器。奈特每天工作到深夜，以至于寄宿公寓的管家都說：“我看到她一直在畫圖……全是那個機(jī)器的草圖。我覺得她心無雜念?！边B在工廠上班的時候她也放不下這個工作。起初此舉曾惹怒主管，直到奈特向他們展示了自己的計劃后，他們才相信“她的目光比廠里任何男人都更為敏銳”。先是這一機(jī)器的“搖搖晃晃”的木制模型機(jī)取得成功，生產(chǎn)出數(shù)以千計“優(yōu)質(zhì)美觀的袋子”，之后鐵制機(jī)器又于1868年問世。當(dāng)這臺機(jī)器在波士頓商店進(jìn)行改良的時候，恰好被查理斯·F.安南看到，后來安南居然聲稱是他的發(fā)明，其人品值得懷疑。

[6] By 1867, she was hard at work on creating a machine that could “cut, fold and paste bag bottoms itself”. Her work kept her up at night, leading the manager of her boarding house to declare: “I saw her making drawings continually… always of the machine. She has known nothing else, I think.”Her work on the machine also bled into32bleed into滲透進(jìn)。her shifts at the factory. This initially annoyed her superiors—until she showed them her plans—which led them to believe that she had a “keener eye than any man in the works”. After a“rickety” wooden model of her machine proved successful, producing thousands of “good, handsome bags”, she had an iron version produced in 1868. While the machine was at a Boston shop to be re fi ned, it was viewed by Charles F Annan, a would-be-inventor of dubious33dubious有問題的，靠不住的。morality.

[7]奈特準(zhǔn)備為新機(jī)器申請專利。1871年，她吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)該機(jī)器的專利權(quán)已經(jīng)授予安南，而且安南也聲稱這個機(jī)器屬于自己。這場糾紛最終鬧上法庭。囊中羞澀的奈特雇用了專利律師證明她才是這臺機(jī)器真正的發(fā)明者，律師費每天100美元。安南的律師辯稱，一個沒有接受過教育、完全依靠自學(xué)的女人絕無可能制造出如此精密的機(jī)器。但是在每一個回合，奈特都會出示大量的物證和目擊者的證詞進(jìn)行反擊。奈特反駁說：“自我記事起，我就和機(jī)器結(jié)下了不解之緣。”盡管官員們禁不住責(zé)備奈特拖延太久，沒有盡早申請專利，但專利專員最終還是站在奈特這一邊。因為奈特不是“生意人”，這一疏忽也得到了諒解。

[7] Knight prepared to apply for a patent for her new machine. In 1871, she was shocked to fi nd that Annan had already been granted a patent to the machine, which he claimed as his own. The dispute ended up in court, where the cash-strapped34cash-strapped資金短缺的。Knight spent $100 a day to hire a patent attorney to prove that she was the machine’s true inventor. Annan’s lawyer argued that an uneducated, self-taught woman could never have built such a sophisticated machine. He was countered35counter反駁。at every turn by the mountains of physical evidence and eyewitness testimony36testimony〈法律〉證詞，證言。Knight produced. “I have from my earliest recollection37recollection回憶。been connected in some way with machinery,”Knight protested. In the end, the commissioner of patents found in favour of Knight, though of fi cials could not resist chastising38chastise訓(xùn)斥。her for waiting so long to apply for her patent. However, since Knight was not a “man of business”, this oversight39oversight疏忽。was forgiven.

[8] 1871年 7月 11日，奈特以“新型改良紙袋生產(chǎn)機(jī)”獲得專利，專利號為116842。不久以后，她與一個合伙人創(chuàng)立了東方紙袋公司。新機(jī)器可以完成30個工人的工作量，奈特也因這一革命性的機(jī)器成為媒體的寵兒。很快，大型百貨商店和雜貨店都紛紛開始采用這種可豎立的平底紙袋，維多利亞女王也授予奈特皇家榮譽(yù)勛章。1883年，聯(lián)合紙袋機(jī)器公司的查爾斯·史迪威在奈特專利的基礎(chǔ)上，用自己發(fā)明的機(jī)器改進(jìn)了紙袋的品質(zhì)，所生產(chǎn)的可以折疊的開口式平底紙袋一直沿用至今。

[8] On 11 July 1871, Knight was granted patent number 116,842 for her“new and improved machine for making paper bags”. She soon formed the Eastern Paper Bag Company with a partner, and became a media darling for her revolutionary machine, which did the work of 30 labourers. The new stand-alone40stand-alone獨立的。, fl at-bottomed bags were quickly adopted by large department stores and grocers, and Knight was awarded a royal honour from Queen Victoria. In 1883, Charles Stilwell of the Union Paper Bag Machine Company, working from Knight’s patent, further advanced the paper bag with his invention of a machine that produced the Self-Opening-Sack (SOS), the pleated41pleated打褶的；有褶的。fl at-bottomed bags that are used today.

[9]一家報紙將“女愛迪生”的稱號送給活力四射的奈特。奈特將自己的余生都奉獻(xiàn)給了發(fā)明。1914年，奈特與世長猝，享年76歲。2006年，奈特進(jìn)入造紙業(yè)國際名人堂。至此，據(jù)估計全世界每年要使用約250億個紙袋。

[9] The vivacious42vivacious（常指女性）活潑的。Knight, dubbed43dub把……稱為。by one paper the “l(fā)ady Edison”, would spend the rest of her long life—she died aged 76 in 1914—inventing. By 2006, when she was inducted44induct進(jìn)入；正式授予。into the Paper Industry International Hall of Fame, it was estimated that around 25 billion paper sacks were used annually throughout the world.

[10]奈特是女性發(fā)明家群體的典型代表，其他女發(fā)明家還有雨刷發(fā)明者瑪麗·安德森、無反光玻璃發(fā)明者凱瑟琳·布洛杰特和防彈背心發(fā)明者斯特凡妮·克沃勒克。她們在男性主宰的行業(yè)乃至世界中創(chuàng)造了改變生活的發(fā)明。她們的故事意義深遠(yuǎn)，值得廣為傳頌。這些女發(fā)明家的故事能夠鼓舞新一代的女孩和年輕女性去動手，去實驗，去創(chuàng)造。 □

[10] Knight is emblematic45emblematic標(biāo)志的；象征（性）的。of a whole multitude46multitude大量。of female inventors, such as Mary Anderson (the windshield47windshield擋風(fēng)玻璃。wiper), Katharine Blodgett (non-reflective glass), and Stephanie Kwolek48美國波蘭裔女化學(xué)家，Kevlar（凱夫拉爾）纖維的發(fā)明者。凱夫拉爾最知名的用途是用來制作防彈背心，因而克沃勒克也被稱為“防彈纖維之母”。(Kevlar), who created lifechanging inventions within industries—and a world—dominated by men. Their stories are important and should be better known. They can inspire future generations of girls and young women to tinker49tinker修補(bǔ)；粗修。, experiment and invent.

The Invention of the Paper Bag Was a Triumph of Feminism

ByHadley Hall Meares

（譯者單位：中央民族大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院）