It starts out as a simple v-shaped contraption of which you can adjust the angle of the "v" to accommodate the size of your book or the angle at which you like to keep it open. At the bottom will be a little shelf to hold the book. So far we've basically got a typical lap desk, except it's jointed in the middle. Laying over each half of the jointed desk is a flap; a flap that will go over each cover of the open book but beneath the pages- essentially holding the covers open. Inside these flaps will be many mini vacuums that hold the pages down via sucking action. Flipping a switch on the corresponding side of the desk will expel a short burst of air, therefore turning the page. I realize that in order for a book to be compatible with this, the pages would need either tiny holes, or need to be semi-porous. Ideas?
-- ShellCandy, Aug 28 2007

Suck in air above the topmost page, lifting it up. (You don't need - or want - a perfect vacuum attachment; just a short blast is enough.)

Then a short gust from the side should be able to get below that page and turn it.
-- jutta, Aug 28 2007


//mini vacuums that hold the pages down //

This implies a vacuum sealed by a standard paper page, which doesn't ring true to me; do you, perhaps, mean many mini-tubes through which air is being fanned or pumped away from the page, so as to create a suction effect?

//a short burst of air, therefore turning the page//

How are you directing this burst so that it catches the top page but not the next page?
-- pertinax, Aug 28 2007


//mini vacuums that hold the pages down //

Sounds awfully complicated. In any case, kinda what Jutta said. A slight vacuum to lift the turning page. But then the weight of the vacuum arms themselves could hold the pages down.

[I do have this vague childhood memory of trying to turn the pages of a book with my mouth, sucking in to lift them, then blowing to move them over. I do not recall how successful it was, but maybe you should try that experiment to test the viability of this idea.]
-- DrCurry, Aug 28 2007


I built a prototype back in the eighties, but ran into problems with the suction deforming the page and picking up more than one page at a time with the deformation, however small.
-- normzone, Aug 28 2007



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