The Fiske Reading Machine was believed to be the earliest form of pre-Internet 'E-book' as it was envisioned to get ready of b...
The Fiske Reading Machine was believed to be the earliest form of pre-Internet 'E-book' as it was envisioned to get ready of bulky, heavy books so that in the future, anyone can read all kinds of literature at the palm of their hand. Invented by Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske, the so-called "reading machine" can be folded into the size of a fountain pen.
After completing a working model, Admiral Fiske believe that it will render printing presses and typesetting machines obsolete in the future. Not only that, his invention will revolutionize the printing industry. This invention consists of an apparatus, not unlike a lorgnette (eyeglasses with a handle), on which are mounted a magnifying lens for one eye, a shield for the other and a rack to hold the reading matter.
The reading matter for use with the machine is produced directly from typewritten manuscript by photography and is so microscopic as to be undecipherable with the naked eye. The admiral has had the first volume of Mark Twain’s "Innocents Abroad," a book of 93,000 words, prepared as an example, and it appears as a 13-page pamphlet three and three-quarters by five and three-quarters inches in size.
Few years later, the April 1935 issue of the "Everyday Science and Mechanics" magazine featured an invention that would store books in microfilm in the near future. It was envisioned that microfilm screen would be mounted on a stand that is designed to display photographs of book pages. According to the article: "At the left is a device for applying this for home use and instruction; it is practically automatic.” The display was mounted on a large adjustable pole. The stand included also a book lamp, and a special control panel to turn pages and adjust focus."
In 1949, a Spanish school teacher named Angela Ruiz Robles created a prototype invention that resembles a lot like today's e-Reader. This pre-Internet version has a zoom function so that readers can focus on a particular area of the text. This device works on pressurized air that allows you to add different cables that "downloaded" the pre-loaded content.
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