You never give it any thought, and there are billions of them out there, but the amount of design and passion and creativity that goes into this little disc is remarkable.
你從不會特別留意它, 而且這個東西在世界上有幾十億個, 但是這個小小圓盤富含許多 設計巧思、熱情與創意, 實在令人驚嘆。
[Small thing.]
[小物件]
[Big idea.]
[大構思]
The coffee cup lid is a lid for your coffee cup. It snaps on. It has an opening. You've got lids with a little latch that opens and closes. You've got ones that are in creative shapes.
咖啡杯蓋是爲你的 咖啡杯準備的蓋子, 它可以自如地打開, 它有個開口, 它有一個可以 打開和關閉的小閂子。 有的杯蓋形狀富有創意。
Coffee cup lids have their own vocabulary. People talk about the "peripheral skirts," the "press-in dimples," the "fragrance outlets," the "slosh factor." But you need these words, because so much thought and innovation goes into these coffee cup lids.
咖啡杯蓋有它自己的專有詞彙。 人們會說「翻邊裙」 (peripheral skirts)、 「按入式凹槽」 (press-in dimples)、 「香味排出口」 (fragrance outlets)、 「潑濺指數」 (slosh factor)。 但你需要這些詞彙, 因爲這些咖啡杯蓋中 包含了大量巧思與創新。
Our society is just more and more mobile. Everything is on the move. The good part: it's convenient. You can drink coffee anywhere, you don't have the stay in the diner. It can be in the subway. You can be walking. The bad part is, it's harder to savor a coffee when you're taking it on the road.
我們社會的流動性與日俱增。 萬物不停地運動, 咖啡杯蓋的好處是方便。 你可以隨時隨地喝咖啡, 不需要坐在餐廳裏。 可以在地鐵上, 也可以在行走途中。 壞處是,當你拿著咖啡在路上喝時 更難享受咖啡的風味。
The first patent for a lid on a cup was in 1934, but it was for cold beverages. And in 1950, this guy named James Reifsnyder invented the first snap-on lid. But it didn't have an opening for drinking.
杯蓋的首個專利 於 1934 年問世, 但它是爲了冷飲設計的。 1950 年,一位名叫 詹姆斯·洛夫斯奈德的人 發明了第一個扣合式杯蓋。 但沒有設計可飲用的開口。
In the '60s there was this huge cultural shift, where people started drinking coffee on the move. And 7-Eleven was the first to sell coffee to go. And then came this revolution in 1967. A man named Alan Frank invented a lid that you could peel a tab off, like in the shape of a guitar pick, and drink it from there. In 1975, another big advance: you could peel back a tab and attach it to the lid itself. So, more and more people started drinking coffee on the go.
到了 60 年代,發生了 巨大的文化變遷, 人們開始邊走邊喝咖啡。 7-11 便利店是首個 提供外賣咖啡的店。 在 1967 年的變革中, 一位名叫阿蘭·弗蘭克的人 設計了新的杯蓋, 你可以從杯蓋上 撕掉一塊像吉他撥片的小片狀物, 從那裏喝到咖啡。 1975 年出現重大進展: 你可以揭開杯口的小片狀物, 再把它卡在蓋子上。 於是越來越多人 開始喝外賣咖啡。
In 1984, a watershed moment in the history of coffee cup lids: the birth of the traveler lid. And it is iconic -- you've seen it a million times. And it solved a whole host of problems. It's designed so that you don't splash your face, because it's higher than any of the other ones. And it's got this protruding rim, so it slightly cools the coffee before it hits your lips. It's got a small depression in the center for your nose, so you can really get in there and get maximum aroma. It's got this tiny air hole that lets the steam out and stops it from creating a vacuum.
1984 年是咖啡杯蓋 歷史上的一個分水嶺: 旅行杯蓋誕生了。 這杯蓋很有代表性, 你已經見過無數次。 而且它解決許多問題。 它的設計不會讓咖啡潑到臉上, 因爲它比其他杯蓋要高。 它有這樣的突出杯沿, 可以在咖啡碰到嘴唇前 稍微冷卻一下。 它的中心有個為鼻子 設計的小凹槽, 這樣你就能充分沉浸其中, 享受最濃郁的香氣。 它有個迷你出氣孔來排出蒸氣, 防止杯内形成真空。
This is one of those objects where you just don't notice it until it dribbles on your lap. So I think the coffee cup lid will just continue to evolve, and you're going to see a move away from single-use plastic lids to lids that are a little more sustainable. We're not going to stop moving. We're not going to stop drinking coffee. And I think that's what these coffee lid engineers are trying to do, is to make it so that the experience of taking it on the road is as good as sitting in a restaurant, drinking from a ceramic cup. Because, you know, coffee is serious business.
正是這種毫不起眼的設計, 可以防止咖啡灑在褲子上。 我覺得咖啡杯蓋還會繼續進化, 你將看到免洗塑膠杯蓋 轉變爲更環保的設計。 我們會繼續奔波, 我們會繼續享用咖啡。 我覺得這就是咖啡杯蓋 設計工程師的努力方向: 讓人在路上喝咖啡 和坐在餐廳裏用陶瓷杯 啜飲咖啡的體驗同樣愜意。 因爲,