IT'S
BIG
Weighing
133-pounds and measuring 5 by 7 feet,
this 112-page book goes on record, according
to Guinness World Records, as the largest
published book in the world. The
book, Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey Across
the last Himalayan Kingdom is the brainchild
of MIT scientist Michael
Hawley following an expedition
through this small Himalayan kingdom. Hawley
chose the renowned Acme Bookbinding
Company of Boston to bind the book and
Mekatronics, Inc., to build an easel
to support and display the tome. Acme's President,
Paul Parisi, a Bostonian familiar with
BIG, was ready to meet the BIG challenge
by creating techniques for binding such
a BIG book that uses a roll of paper
that is a third longer than a football
field and uses a gallon of ink to print. So
was Mekatronics President,
Jack Bendror, ready to tackle the
task of building a stand to support and
display the BIG book.
According
to Paul Parisi, "in order to
keep the pages from drooping, Acme designed
a unique hybrid binding that combines
an Asian fan-folded structure with European-style
elements. In addition to strength, the
fan-folding makes possible the display
of seven-foot wide image spreads. This
requires very precise page folds in order
to maintain clean edges and structural
integrity, and the folds need to be millimeter-accurate
over the entire 400 feet of paper. To
accomplish this, Acme's engineers designed
and built a very large folding bench
with a pneumatic pressing clamp for precision
creasing. Nevertheless, each hand-built
volume is a big undertaking, and requires
two days of assembly time".
A
search by Mekatronics for devices for
displaying very large books or objects,
revealed that none were apparent, obvious,
or suggested by any of the prior art. Knowing
that the book would be published and
distributed in quantities worldwide,
it became apparent that the stand
would have to be easily collapsible,
compact and portable. What
emerged, following the building
of two prototypes, was a stand that
is smaller than the size of the book
and is one third of its weight.
Hawley,
founder of the Friendly
Planet, a non-profit charity, plans
to print a limited edition of only
500 copies which are being sold for US$10,000 each. Most
of the proceeds from the book will be
used to fund educational programs in
Bhutan.
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