STEPHEN PRESTON RUGGLES. 433 



STEPHEN PRESTON RUGGLES. 



Stkpiikn Preston Rlx.gles was born in "Windsor, Yt., July 4, 

 1808. He was a descendant of Thomas Ruggles, who emigrated from 

 Nazing, Essex, England, to Roxbury, Mass., in 1G37. As a .school- 

 boy he showed his predilection for mechanism by inventing and 

 building several little machines, which arrested the attention of the 

 mechanics of the neighborhood ; one of these was a rotary pump, 

 which, though rudely built, worked with great efficiency. 



Apprenticed at the age of fifteen to a printer, he soon began to 

 devise means of improving the printing-press. His first successful 

 attempt was the invention of a self-acting roller to ink the types of a 

 hand-pi"es3 ; although the apparatus had been constructed in the cheap- 

 est possible manner, it worked well and silenced the jeers and laughter 

 of those who had opposed the plan. 



About this time stereotype plates began to be used. Although the 

 process of stereotyping was a profound secret, and he was ignorant 

 even of the existence of such a material as plaster of Paris, of which 

 the moulds are made, yet he succeeded in producing casts of wood 

 engravings, and of type, of a very satisfactory character. 



In 1826 he came to Boston an entire stranger, with less than three 

 dollars in his pocket. He, however, found employment, and soon after 

 built with his own hands the first cylinder power-press ever constructed 

 in this country. 



He next invented a double-frisket bed and platen press, and built a 

 complete w'orking model, which was exhibited during the summer of 

 1827. This same year he built the first belt or band saw ever used. 

 He, however, neglected to take out a patent, and it was subsequently 

 patented by others, and is now in successful operation in all parts of 

 the country. 



From 1827 to 1832 he invented a new ruling-machine for the use 

 of engravers, and the first card or job press that was, probably, ever 

 constructed ; he succeeded by this press in printing upon dry, polished, 

 or calendered paper without wetting it, and without making any impres- 

 oion in the paper. 



In 1833 Mr. Ruggles took charge of the printing at the Perkins' 

 Institution for the Blind. The following extracts from the " American 

 Cabinet and Boston Athenaeum" of Dec. 1, 1849, give an idea of the 

 difficulties encountered in his new task. 



The books for the blind, as they were then made in T^urope, were 



