The way I see it you’d pick up the book, turn the page, and put it back down. At the moment that is harder than lifting the upper platen, turning the page, and putting the platen back down. The big problem is always “how do you turn the page?”. Also, I think the scantailor software basically assumes you are scanning one page per image. But the idea of using mirrors so that only one camera is needed is something I’ll look into for the future.

(The 2nd prototype also has a relatively simple way to change the angle you have the book open at by changing a variable and printing off different connectors – although I’ve only tested 90 and 120 degrees).

A
/ \
/ A \
/ C \

(Top A = top of a-frame, middle A = prism, C= camera facing up).

I like the 90deg pieces of glass – that is soo much nicer for the book spines! (I had been thinking of suggesting you put the cameras underneath a glass coffee table and just spread the books face down on the top surface, but this would not be good for the books, especially paperbacks!).

If I may suggest, why not continue using the two plates of glass in a 90deg configuration. But instead of a V-configuration why not use them in an A-configuration, with the cameras inside. This will make it easy to turn pages, and gravity will keep the book pressed down into the saddle so to say.

I can imagine a sleek black desktop device, made with smoky glass, shaped like a mini A-frame house. If you put infrared LED illumination in you can also avoid blinding the operator. But it would be tricky to install everything so that the LED sources will not reflect glare at a camera.

Good luck.

Peter

May interest the Dunedin Models group (that make the minature models)

A legal exploration of the alternatives
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