Page-turner for books and the like

A page-turner for turning the pages of an open publication having a spine and front and back covers, the page-turner comprising:

• a frame;
• a support for supporting an open publication;
• first means for carrying said support on said frame;
• second means for clamping the covers of such open publication on said support;
• a rotatable page-turning roller having an axis extending in a first direction substantially parallel to the spine of such publication when the publication is supported by said support;
• third means coupled to said frame for carrying said page-turning roller over said support and for selectively displacing said page-turning roller from one side of the support to the other in a second direction substantially perpendicular to said first direction;
• fourth means for selectively rotating said page-turning roller in a desired direction of the two possible rotational directions;
• fifth means for bringing said page-turning roller into contact with the pages of such open publication;
• sixth means for pressing down the pages of such open publication not being turned, said sixth means including two page-retainers arranged in conjunction with the page-turning roller;
• and
• seventh means for operating said third, fourth and fifth means to sequentially bring said page-turning into engagement with a page to be turned, selectively rotate said page-turning roller so that at least said page to be turned is brought up on the page-turning roller, and displace said page-turning roller to the opposite side of the open publication, whereby said page is turned.