MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57 



another machine of the same description and on the same plan. This 

 machine will have six printing-cylinders, and will strike off 12,000 

 copies in an hour ! 



" Notwithstanding the above astonishing results produced by Mr. 

 Hoe's Machine, yet such is its simplicity, that a few lines will be 

 enough to explain the principle of this wonderful invention. A 

 horizontal cylinder, 1.35 yards in diameter, moves upon an axle 

 which rests in its sockets. One fourth, or thereabouts, of the cir- 

 cumference of this cylinder constitutes the bed of the press, in which 

 the chase containing the letters, or type, is placed ; the remaining por- 

 tion of the cylinder is applied for the distribution of the ink. which 

 is put into a receptacle underneath the great cylinder. The feed- 

 ing-roller takes it off, and, by means of another roller, which has a 

 vibrating, oscillating motion, it spreads it over the form upon the great 

 cylinder. The feeding-roller revolves with a slow and regularly sus- 

 tained motion, taking the ink gradually out of the receptacle in which 

 it is deposited. When this large cylinder is in motion, the forms are 

 made successively to come in contact with each one of the four hori- 

 zontal cylinders, which are arranged at suitable distances round the 

 great cylinder, to print off the four sheets supplied by the feeding- 

 rollers. The sheets are laid hold of, direct from the edge of the sup- 

 plying table, by iron hooks, fixed upon each feeding or depositing 

 cylinder. The receivers of the sheets are supplied by means of 

 wooden frames, which take them from the conducting straps or bands, 

 and place them in a regular pile upon the four receiving tables. In 

 front of each one of the cylinders there are two inking-rollers, which 

 pass over the cylindrical surface devoted to the distribution of the ink, 

 take up the ink upon their own surface, and lay it on the types by the 

 revolution of the main cylinder. 



" Four forms are printed off at once by Mr. Hoe's press, each form 

 being in a separate and distinct chase. They are four superficial seg- 

 ments of a cylinder, detached from each other, and w T hich are at plea- 

 sure attached to or detached from the great cylinder. The usual types 

 are employed on this press; they are fixed upon the great cylinder, 

 and revolve continually, without any danger of becoming loose, being 

 retained in their place by a plan peculiar to this press. The great 

 central cylinder, on which the forms are fixed, revolves from left to 

 right; whereas the four others, or pressing-cylinders, revolve from 

 right to left. The paper is placed by the workmen in such a man- 

 ner that it slips between the two cylinders on one side, and comes out, 

 perfectly printed, on the other side, when, by means of suitable straps 

 and bands, the sheets are arranged in a pile, under frames, which rise 

 and fall alternately." 



La Patrie also makes a curious calculation of work done by this 

 press : 



"The journal La Patrie, contains about 4,320 lines; 8,000 copies 

 make 34,560,000 lines. A scribe could write about three lines in a 

 minute; therefore, it would require 11,520,000 minutes, or 192.000 

 hours, for a single scribe to supply 8,000 copies of La Patrie ; or, in 

 other words, it would require 192,000 men to supply, by copying, the 



