Ángela Ruiz Robles

Biography

Ángela Ruiz Robles was born in 1895 and is known for inventing the mechanical encyclopedia.

After high school she wanted to become a teacher, and started in 1915 in Leon, teaching stenography, typing and commercial accounting. She became a teacher and director of the school of Leon de Gordón in 1917. Soon after, she obtained a master's degree and began teaching in Santa Uxia de Mandiá in Ferrol. She became the manager of the girls school of the national orphanage in Ferrol, Galicia in 1934.

Beginning in 1938, Robles began writing books, 16 in total, to help children study. She also designed a tachymecanographic machine, a Grammatical Scientific Atlas, and her famous Enciclopedia Mecánica, which earned her many awards and international recognition.

In the 1940s she designed an analog device that was a fore-runner of the modern electronic book. She thought that this device would improve learning at her school. She wanted a lighter book that housed different subjects and could allow teachers to add their materials. She filed for a patent in 1949, a mechanical, electrical and air pressure procedure for reading books. It wasn't very successful, but in 1962 she applied for a new patent, a slightly more portable, light, and easy to use device. Despite its prospects, she was unable to secure funding for her project.

Further Reading

https://history-computer.com/Dreamers/Robles.html