Plastic Injection Moulding Specialists. Est 1948.

Top Specs For Queen Guitarists 3D Viewer
Cover article taken from Plastics & Rubber Weekly 15.09.09

S. B. Weston Ltd, a plastic injection moulding company based in Sunbury-on-Thames, have recently been working on the production of a revolutionary 3-D Stereoscopic Viewer with legendary Queen guitarist Brian May, who designed the instrument.

The injection moulded viewer will accompany Brian’s second book, co-written with photo-historian Elena Vidal, and titled ‘A Village Lost and Found’, which will be available mid-October.

The subject matter of the book is a lost English work of art – a series of stereo cards created by pioneering 1850s stereoscopic photographer T. R. Williams, whose work Brian has been researching for the past 30 years.

The plastic stereoscopic viewer is essential to appreciate the depth element of the images in the book, which, in 3-D, provide the reader with a virtual window into a time long forgotten.

Brian, a keen supporter of UK industry, insisted that all the design, toolmaking and manufacture of the viewer be performed in the U.K. at S. B. Weston’s West London premises – a decision which allowed him to be involved in all parts of the project’s development. May, now owner of the London Stereoscopic Company, who are co-publishing the book, says: “Working on this injection moulding project has been a whole new voyage of discovery for me. Tony Weston and his team have been a joy to work with, always willing to stretch their design and technical skills to the max; this will be the Rolls-Royce of stereoscopes!”.

Manufactured in polypropylene to allow for numerous integral live hinges, the viewer presented Brian and the Weston team with numerous challenges – not least the fact that the whole instrument has to fold flat to 6 mm, in order to fit into the book package.

The end result is an entirely new fully focussing flat-pack stereoscopic viewer which all concerned are very happy with.

Brian comments: For most of my life I have been championing stereoscopic images. Now the stage seems set for a new Golden Age of 3-D – in the cinema, on TV, and even in magazines. The unique power of this new stereoscope will enable a 21st Century audience to rediscover the original 1850s method … which actually still gives the best stereoscopic experience of all. Judging by the great reactions we’ve already had, it seems likely that this stereoscope – which we call the London Stereoscopic Company OWL – will also have successful life of its own outside the book … in the big wide new world of 3-D !!!

Written by Chris Dodman

www.brianmay.com
www.londonstereo.com
www.sbweston.com