11/27/2017 Notebook - Wikipedia

Notebook
A notebook (notepad, writing pad, drawing pad, legal pad) is a
small book or binder of paper pages, often ruled, used for purposes such
as recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing or
scrapbooking.[1][2][3][4]

Contents
1 Legal pad
2 Binding and cover Notebooks
3 Preprinting
4 Uses
5 Electronic successors
6 See also
7 References

Legal pad
According to a legend, Thomas W. Holley of Holyoke, Massachusetts, invented the legal pad around the year 1888 when
he innovated the idea to collect all the sortings, various sort of substandard paper scraps from various factories, and stitch
them together in order to sell them as pads at an affordable and fair price. In about 1900, the latter then evolved into the
modern legal pad when a local judge requested for a margin to be drawn on the left side of the paper. This was the first
legal pad.[5]

In 1902, J.A. Birchall of Birchalls, a Launceston, Tasmania-based stationery shop, decided that the cumbersome method
of selling writing paper in folded stacks of "quires" (four sheets of paper or parchment folded to form eight leaves) was
inefficient. As a solution, he glued together a stack of halved sheets of paper, supported by a sheet of cardboard, creating
what he called the "Silver City Writing Tablet".[6][7]

The only technical requirement for this type of stationery to be considered a true "legal pad" is that it must have margins
of 1.25 inches (3.17 centimeters) from the left edge of legal pad. Here, the margin, also known as down lines,[8] is room
used to write notes or comments. Legal pads usually have a gum binding at the top as opposed to a spiral or stitched
binding.

Binding and cover

Principal types of binding are padding, perfect, spiral, comb, sewn, clasp, disc, and pressure, some of which can be
combined. Binding methods can affect whether a notebook can lie flat when open and whether the pages are likely to
remain attached. The cover material is usually distinct from the writing surface material, more durable, more decorative,
and more firmly attached. It also is stiffer than the pages, even taken together. Cover materials should not contribute to
damage or discomfort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook 1/4
11/27/2017 Notebook - Wikipedia

It is frequently cheaper to purchase notebooks that are spiral-bound, meaning that a spiral of wire is looped through large
perforations at the top or side of the page. Other bound notebooks are available that use glue to hold the pages together;
this process is "padding".[9] Today, it is common for pages in such notebooks to include a thin line of perforations that
make it easier to tear out the page. Spiral-bound pages can be torn out, but frequently leave thin scraggly strips from the
small amount of paper that is within the spiral, as well as an uneven rip along the top of the torn-out page. Hard-bound
notebooks include a sewn spine, and the pages are not easily removed. Some styles of sewn bindings allow pages to open
flat, while others cause the pages to drape.

Variations of notebooks that allow pages to be added, removed, and replaced are bound by rings, rods, or discs. In each of
these systems, the pages are modified with perforations that facilitate the specific binding mechanism's ability to secure
them. Ring-bound and rod-bound notebooks secure their contents by threading perforated pages around straight or
curved prongs. In the open position, the pages can be removed and rearranged. In the closed position, the pages are kept
in order. Disc-bound notebooks remove the open or closed operation by modifying the pages themselves. A page
perforated for a disc-bound binding system contains a row of teeth along the side edge of the page that grip onto the
outside raised perimeter of individual discs.

Preprinting
Notebooks used for drawing and scrapbooking are usually blank. Notebooks for writing usually have some kind of printing
on the writing material, if only lines to align writing or facilitate certain kinds of drawing. Inventor's notebooks have page
numbers preprinted to support priority claims. They may be considered as grey literature. Many notebooks have graphic
decorations. Personal organizers can have various kinds of preprinted pages.

Uses
Artists often use large notebooks, which include wide spaces of blank paper
appropriate for drawing. Lawyers use rather large notebooks known as legal
pads that contain lined paper (often yellow) and are appropriate for use on
tables and desks. These horizontal lines or "rules" are sometimes classified
according to their space apart with "wide rule" the farthest, "college rule"
closer, "legal rule" slightly closer and "narrow rule" closest, allowing more lines
of text per page. When sewn into a pasteboard backing, these may be called
composition books, or in smaller signatures may be called "blue books" or
exam books and used for essay exams.

In contrast, journalists prefer small, hand-held notebooks for portability Notes in a notebook

(reporters' notebooks), and sometimes use shorthand when taking notes.

Scientists and other researchers use lab notebooks to document their
experiments. The pages in lab notebooks are sometimes graph paper to plot data. Police officers are required to write
notes on what they observe, using a police notebook. Land surveyors commonly record field notes in durable, hard-bound
notebooks called "field books."

Coloring enthusiasts use coloring notebooks for stress relief. The pages in coloring notebooks contain different adult
coloring pages.[10] Students take notes in notebooks, and studies suggest that the act of writing (as opposed to typing)
improves learning.[11]

Notebook pages can be recycled via standard paper recycling. Recycled notebooks are available, differing in recycled
percentage and paper quality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook 2/4
11/27/2017 Notebook - Wikipedia

Electronic successors
Since the late 20th century, many attempts have been made to integrate the simplicity of a notebook with the editing,
searching, and communication capacities of computers through the development of note taking software. Laptop
computers began to be called notebooks when they reached a small size in the 1990s, but they did not have any special
note-taking ability. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) came next, integrating small liquid crystal displays with a touch-
sensitive layer to input graphics and written text. Tablet PCs are larger and provide more writing and navigation space.

Digital paper combines the simplicity of a traditional pen and notebook with digital storage and interactivity. By printing
an invisible dot pattern on the notebook paper and using a pen with a built in infrared camera the written text can be
transferred to a laptop, mobile phone or backoffice for storage and processing.

See also
Desk pad
Exercise book
Grey literature
Palm leaf manuscript
Writing material

References
1. "A book of or for notes" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/notebook+?o=100074), Retrieved 16 November 2010.
2. "1. A book of blank pages for notes." (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/notebook) Retrieved 16 November 2010.
3. "A pad or tablet of usually lined paper." (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/notepad), Retrieved 16 November 2010.
4. "Beyond the Hills Hoist" (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/26/1106415670489.html). Sydney Morning Herald.
27 January 2005.
5. Madeleine Brand. "The History of the Legal Pad" (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4673512).
National Public Radio. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
6. Frick, Erin (7 March 2014). "10 Aussie inventions that make your life easier" (http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/
topics/history-culture/2014/03/10-aussie-inventions-that-make-your-life-easier). Australian Geographic. Retrieved
27 July 2016.
7. Carla Howarth (6 January 2017). "End of an era as 173yo Birchalls book store to close" (http://www.abc.net.au/news/
2017-01-06/end-of-an-era-as-173yo-bookstore-birchall27s-to-close/8165770). Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Retrieved 6 January 2017.
8. David Pescovitz, 19 September 2006. Inventing the yellow legal pad "The legal pad's margins, also called down lines,
are drawn 1.25 inches from the left edge of the page. (This is the only requirement for a pad to qualify as a legal pad,
though the iconic version has yellow paper, blue lines, and a red gummed top.) Holley added the ruling that defined
the legal pad in the early 1900s at the request of a local judge who was looking for space to comment on his own
notes" (http://boingboing.net/2006/09/19/inventing-the-yellow.html), Retrieved 9 November 2010.
9. Adhesive Binding (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/dt/dt0044.html)
10. "Paper notebook with adult coloring pages" (http://coloringnotebook.com). Retrieved 2 February 2017.
11. Mueller, Pam A.; Oppenheimer, Daniel M (23 April 2014). "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard Advantages of
Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking" (http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0956797614524581).
Psychological Science. 25: 11591168. doi:10.1177/0956797614524581 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0956797614524
581). PMID 24760141 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24760141). Retrieved 25 April 2014.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Notebook&oldid=810330203"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook 3/4
11/27/2017 Notebook - Wikipedia

This page was last edited on 14 November 2017, at 16:31.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notebook 4/4