Exerdse Books Cor SdJOoIs Standard O. del'. 1995

L.N. 40 or 1995

MALTA BOARD OF STANDARDS ACT

(CAP. 187)

Exerdse Books Cor SdJOoIs Standard O. del'. 1995

(Standard Order No. 31 of 1995)

IN exercise of the powers conferred by section 4 of the Malta Board

of Standards Act , the Malta Board of Standards has made the following

standard order:-

1 This standard order may be cited as the Exercise Books for

Schools Standard Order, 1995and maybe referred to asStandard Order

No. 31 of 1995 .

•• 2 This standard order shall becomeoperativeon a date after the

lapse of 20 days from the day on which it is laid on the Table of the

House of R epresentatives, which date shall be notified by the Board in

the Gazette.

1 This standard order specifies requirements for the qaalities,

sizes and rulings , including infant rulings, of exercise books, both wire-

stitched and quarter-bound. It doesnol apply to books of paper suitable

only for pencil and rough work or to rulings for special purposes, e.g.

logarithm or isometric rulings.

1 For the purpose of this standard order, the following

definitions apply.

3. 1. 1 Altemllte oote-aad-sketcb ~. A book made up of

shee ts of paper, ruled o n o ne side only, so arranged that a ruled

page faces a blank page, except at the centre opening, where both

pages are blank.

3. 1.2 Burstina sbeoath. The maximum unifonnly

distributed pressure applied at right angles to its surface, that a

piece of paper or board will stand, under specified test conditions.

3.1.3 Cut Dusb. A style of binding in which covering material

is guillotine. trimmed nush with the body of the book.

3.1.4 Dnwina; c:artridp paper. A wood-free machine finish

(MF) paper suitable for drawing purposes.

3.1.5 FuruidJ. Nature and proportions of the fibrous and

non-fibrous component constituents of the stock, other than water,

from which the paper is fonned .

3.1.6 Granunage. The mass of unit area of paper or board,

detennined by the specified me thod of test and expressed in grams

per square metre.

3. 1.7 ISO OII_dt,. (per rT ~. -1<1..,. The ratio , expressed as a

percen tage, o f the amoun t of light refleaed from a single sheet o f

papcrwith a black backing 10 the amount o f ligbt reflected from the

same sheet o f paper bac ked by an effectively o paque pile of sheets

of the same paper; the measurements arc made under specified

ronditiops.

3.1.8 Infant drawtDa book. Book of mechanical MF paper

suitable for sketching , drawing, crayoning and painting, fo r infant

and junior use.

3. 1.9 Junior dnwbta book. Book of cartridge papcrsuil able

for wale r colour, crayon, pencil etc., for junio r use.

3. 1. 10 M ..... /m! lined (MG) po : '''P' A cover paper for

exercise books, glazed o n onc side of the sheet.

3. 1.11 M"M" , A cover paper fo r exercise books of greater

SlJcngth than MG pressings. A Manilla maybe "solid ~ or "pasled ~,

i.e. made of thin sheets pasted togethe r 10 give extra rigidity.

3. 1.12 Mem'pka! MF [ nr Ir. A sil.ed paper with a machine

finish made mainly from ground wood pulp.

P ce. one side of kaf ofa book.

3. 1.13

3. 1.14 Qaarter·boultd book. A square-backed book, thread

sewn in sections. with stiff sides and mate ri al on the spi ne sepa rate

from that o n the front and back covers.

3. 1. 15 8'd C. The addition of material to the surface o f the

z

sheet (surface sizing), gene rally in order to increase its resista nce to

the spon taneous penetration of aqueous liquids, particularly

writing ink. and its resistance to the surface spreading of such

liqu.ids.

3.1. 16 S ..... The binding edge of a book.

3. 1. 17 Tbrtad a.a (01& bootL). Sewn with thread before the

book is bound .

3. 1.1 8 TlLld .... A style of binding in which covering

ma terial is carried ove r 10 the inside of the cover to p rotoct the

edge.

3. 1. 19 Win Il,chlne . The process of machine.sti!ching the

spine of a folded section will! o ne or more staples.

3. 1.20 Wood·f'rft papH. Paper having in principle only

chemical pulp in its fibre composition. In practice. however , it may

accidentally contain I small amounl of other fibres or pulps.

3.1.21 Wove pip If , A paper not sho wing laid lines.

1

Paper

4. 1. t Furnish and grammage. According to deJianation, the

material and vammagc of papen shaD be in aa:onianoe with Table

I . Grammage shall be de lennined by the method described in ISO

536. The conditioninl atmosphere fCM" test pi~ shall be 23± 1"C

and 50±2% relative humidity. The gramma&e shall be subjec1 lo a

tolerance of ±5%.

4. 1.2 ISO opacity (paper backing). The ISO ~Iy of the

WQOd-free papers shown in Table 1 (grammage 7Sgm') shan be not

less than 84% , with a minimum mean value of 86% , when

measured by the method given in ISO 2471 .

4. 1.3 Type and colour. Papers for booka shall be wove, a nd

shaD be whi le or ligh t cream in colour. Brilliant while shall nOI be

""".

4.1.4 Writing wrfaa:. Wood-free paper shall be surface

sized. Its water absorption (Cobb value) shall be 19±2 aVm1 when

determined by the 60s test at 20:t IOC described in ISO 535.

NOTE I . The resi5llncc of tbe writingsurfaa: to ink penetration

or feathering may be checked by drawing I serics of lines with steel pcm

or bail-point writing instrumen~ using blue, blue-black or red ink, and

inspecting the lines to Ke the 61enl to which their definition is

impaired _

NOTE 2. The papeR given in Table 1 are designed for use with

water-based inks, and arc not necessarily suitable for use with spirit-

based inks such as ate often "sed in felt-tipped pen5.

4.2 CoveB

4.2.1 Paper. Covers for wire-stitcbed exercise books shall be

made from MO pressinp o r from solid manilla or pasted manilla .

CoveR for junior drawing boob and for infant drawing books shall

be made from MO prwinp.

The grammage and bursting strength of these materials shall

be in accordance with Table 2. The conditioning atmosphere for

test pieces dtall be as Specified in 4. L1 Grammage shall be

determined by the method described in ISO 536. Bursting strength

shall be determined by the method described iD BS 3137.

NOTE. Appendix A lis~ recommended colours for coveB.

4.2.2 Board. Covers for quarter-bound books (sce clause 7)

shall be made from board of the following nominal thicknesses

books of 160 pages

books of 192 pages

Thickness shall be detennined by the method de5aibed in ISO

'34.

4.3 Stitching wire

4.3. 1 The stitching wire shall be coaled with a rust-resistant

finish, e.g. tinned , and shall have a minimum thick ness ofO.S6m m.

1 The dimensions of exercise bookllshall be asgiven in Table3; 01 •• 11 .......

the spine dimension is given first.

5.2 The to le rance on dimensions o f books shall be as follows

±3mm;

length

width , up 10 and including 64 pages

±4mm;

±6mrn.

width , more Ihan 64 pages

'.1 Measurement. To check the spacing of rulings, a RIIIi ....

measu remenllaken over 10 spaces, i.e. from the lop of the firslline to

the lopoftbe eleventh line, shall bedivided by 10. Thedimensionsgiven

in Table 4 are nom inal.

'.1 Spacing and colour. Writing, infant, graph and squared

rulings shall be as given in Table4. They sball be grey o r blue except for

graph rulings whith shall be blue.

3 Music rulings. Music rulings shall be black , with an even

number of staves to the page.

1 Bindi ng, covers and number of pages. Eltercise books shall be

either wire-stitched or quarter-bound. The type o f binding, covers and

number of pages shall be as given in Table S.

7.2 Wire.stitching. Wire·stitched exercise books shall be fastened

with at least two stitches; each stitch shall have at least 5mm turnover,

and the ends shall be pressed down nat. If two stitches are used, the

spaces shall be nominally in the ratio 1:2: I . Ifmore than two stitches are

used , the spaces shall be nominally equal.

7.3 Quarter-bound boolls. Quarter-bound books shall be thread·

sewn. glued up. quarter·bound with cloth spine and paper sides, cut

flush and with covers pasted down and pressed.

1 Every ele n:ise book shall have the following infonnation 1AbeUiD,.

shown in clear and easily readable print in leuers o f a beight o f not less

tban 2mm.

8. 1. 1 The brand na me or trade mark ; or

8.1 .2 The Dame and address of the manufacturer.

8 . 1.3 Whe re tbe brand name is not e ntered in a list kept by

tbe Directo r o f Ind ustry, nor is the trade mark registered with the

Comptrolle r of Industrial Property, the inclusion of the name a Dd

address of the manufacturer shall be compulsory.

8. 104 The size of Ihe exercise book or the size reference as

given in Table 3.

8.1.5 The ruling description or Ihe rutin, reference as given

in Table 4.

8. 1.6 The number of pages.

T.we I. ' , <lij

Il,fII"

j ,

Designalion

Malerial

Nominalgrammage

g/m'

Wood-free writing

Exercise books

"

.. ",n

Drawing books

Mechanical (MF)

(Infant)

.. ",n

Drawiolbooks

Canridge paper

(Junior)

Tabk 1. 'nap u till ol,.pa- co"," •• I,MaI'

Material

Grammage

Bursting strenlth

(see ISO 536)

(see BS 3137)

"",

gim'

minimum

minimum

MO Pressings

Pasted manilla

US

'SO

Solid manilla

'SO

Note: The choice of solid or pasted manilla is at the manufacturers'

discretion , provided the material is in aceordance with Table 2.

B

I

TableJ . .......

I

I

Siu

Book

Reference

mm

Exercise

(A4)

297x210

229 x 178

203 x 165

ESf)

EB/4

133x16SL·

165x 102

EB/S

203 x 102

EBI'

Drawing

Infant

178x229L

191h:254L

A4 portrait (EBI1)

297x210

A4 ponrait (E8II)

Junior

297x210

A41andscape

210x297L

• ' L' denotes landscape format .

Ta,*, 4. RuN. p

I

R eference I

I

Descriplion

Rulings

feint , 6mm apart

Writing

R'

MR'

feint , 6mrn apart with margin

feint , Smm apart

feint , 8mm apan wilh ma rgin

MR'

narrow double-line, 6mm with IOrnm spacing

DR6ItO

Infant

DR6I7i

narrow double-line, 6mm with bold guide

Writing

EBf4

lineof7mm spacing

RIO

single-line,lOmm spacing

RlS

single-line. lSmm spacing

single. line, 20mm spacing

Picture-

and-story

ESf)

half ruled, with upper half of page blank and

HR'

lower half ruled in 8mm spacing

HRIO

half·ruIed, with upper half of page blank and

lower balf ruled in IOmm spacing

half·ruled , with upper half ofpase blank and

HR!'

lower half ruled in lSmm spacing

Note-and

·&klcch

",k

alternate

ruled page in 8mm spacing

EM

AR'

Graph

GRI

Imm.5mmand IOmmsquares

G R2

2mm . 1Omm and20mmsquares

GR>

5mrn andlSmm squares

Kwad rat

5mm squares

SR>

7mm squua

SR'

SRIO

IOmmsq uaTeS

-'-

...

.... , ....

Table 5. Bind,",. ~"ffI Md . gm ..... of .. r

....

- ""

,

8' P·,.

*

..

"'"

.." .."

~"

-r

,

, ,

,

" • " n , , ,

, , , ,

w_

id

.....

~

,

,

, , ,

~

~

--

, , ,

"",,",0

,.,.

~

,n °

• In qua rter-bound books the end pages are no rmally pasted to

the inside rovers leaving 158 Ind 190 writing pages respectiyely.

APIURdlx A

Coiours for CO'lItrs

A . I It is recommended that txercise book5 be supplied in the

following seyen colou rs

light blue;

dark bl ue;

light green ;

dark gee n;

red;

orange;

ye llow.

Note. Other colours may be ayailable by agreement between

purchaser and Yendor.

Appodb:B

Unit5 for f P rk pllttl

B.1. Packaging requirements will vary according to the siu o f

thickness of the e xe rcise books. Fo r normal use , mu ltiples o f 10, lS or

lOO a re recomme nded.

w.ow: .... _ ?o ... 4 . "" Coo ",.,W,I/;>04 ... ., f'rfto

Mi,boqII ft·'"

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