Was this the first e-reader? Spanish teacher invented Kindle-style tablet in 1949 to stop her pupils carrying heavy books
- Ángela Ruiz Robles invented the 'Mechanical Encyclopedia'
- The device used spools and pressurised air and even had a 'zoom' feature
- She had plans to add sound, a reading light and a calculator
- But she could not find financial backing for her innovative project
E-readers may be a relatively new phenomenon but historians claim a Spanish teacher first came up with the idea more than 60 years ago.
Forward-thinking Ángela Ruiz Robles invented her Mechanical Encyclopedia in 1949 - more than half a century before the advent of Kindles, Kobos and Nooks.
Her main goal was to reduce the weight of books in students' school bags, and she firmly believed the gadget would make reading more accessible to all.
Pioneer: Ángela Ruiz Robles invented her Mechanical Encyclopedia in 1949 - some half a century before the Kindles, Kobos and Nooks literature lovers enjoy today
The device worked with pressurised air, allowing readers to add different spools containing the pre-loaded content.
It may be well away from the current format of downloading books from the internet, but in a world without the web it was deemed revolutionary.
Ruiz, who was at the time aged 54, applied for a patent. Her rather concise application said: 'It has some coils where you place the books that you want to learn in whatever language.
'By a movement of the same [the coils] it passes over all the topics, making it stop where you would like it to.'
It also reportedly had a 'zoom' function where readers could focus in on a particular area of the text.
María José Rodríguez Fortiz, language professor at the University of Granada, said she also had plans to add a reading light, sound and a hole to place a calculator.
But none of these ideas made it to the first prototype.
Ángela Ruiz Robles' technology was a million miles away from the e-readers we have today, such as the Kindle, but the core concept was the same
Sadly, the mother-of-three's invention never reached the market as she could not find the right level of funding for her project.
Rodríguez told Spanish media: 'There were other priorities in the country and they went for other projects.
'Furthermore, the implementation of all the specifications of the invention was impractical.
'In her later years Ángela tried to resurrect the project, when everything was technologically viable. But she did not manage to secure public or private funding.'
Ruiz, born in 1895 in Vallamanín, León, moved to the town of Ferrol in Galicia as a youngster where she spent most of her life. She died in her 80s.
The prototype is now in the National Museum of Science and Technology in La Coruña, whose director Ramón Núñez said that Ruiz was 'unique, not only in Spain, but in the world.'
He added: 'It is easy to see that there are very few women who have dared to enter their ideas for inventions and innovations.
'For her exceptional character, the fact that she is not well known is very serious.'
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