Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1886 — COLONEL RICHARD M. HOE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

COLONEL RICHARD M. HOE.

Sketch of the Famous Printing-Press Manufacturer. Colonel Richard M. Hoe, whose death was recently announced, was the senior member of the printing press firm of R. Ho«v <fc Co. The history of the development of the printing press is in part Colonel Hoe’s personal history. Colonel Hoe was the son of Robert Hoe, an Englishman of mechanical skill and enterprise, who came to this country just as the present centtny opened. He made his home in New York City, and started a machine shop in 1803. This is the

establishment which has been continuously maintained by himself and his sons until now and which has been known for more than half a century as R. Hoe &„Co. Robert Hoe had three sons, Richard March, Robert, Jr., and Peter. The first was born in New York on September 12,1812. He received a meager common-school education, the advantages of which, small as they were, he enjoyed only until he was fifteen years old. Then his father took him into the workshop, jnst about the time he turned out his first cylinder press. The boy acquired a thorough knowledge of practical mechanics and developed a noticeable talent for improving little details about a press. He was constantly at work experimenting upon patents which he thought would add speed and ease to the operations of the press. Ten years after he entered his father’s shop he invented his double cylinder press, by which nearly twice as many copies of a paper could be worked off in the same time as by his father’s, invention. Robert Hoe was only 53 years old when he died, and his three sons, at the head of whom was Richard, succeeded him. This change was made in 1846. In the same year Colonel Hoe perfected his famous rotary press, which is the basis of all the better presses. It did its work with such rapidity that it was soon known as the “Lightning.” As originally manufactured, it made possible the printing of 10,000 copies an hour. Now every press made on the rotaty plan can print Horn 20.000 to 25,000 copies. The invention mode Colonel Hoe 'famous. It was an even greater stride toward the perfection of the press than that taken by his father in the invention of the cylindrical system. Itcreated a revolution in newspaper printing. 2 r*T~ ■ ■ ■■■ ■ ■-—-4-;:. —. 2C; A* California editor gratefully acknowledges the receipt of an invitation from a subscriber to Tisitohw house and take a bath. i Cincinnati policemen who served in the war will wear on their sleeves a red tape, to distinguish the soldier element of the force. ■ ‘ - Most of the- $1,000,000 capital of a prominent Cincinnati bank is owned by women. ; / J Fifty-seven of Yale’s graduating class Of 140 will study law.