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PRINTING, PROGRESS OF, IN RECENT YEARS. 



cial work. It has been imitated by foreign build- 

 ers, as have most of the machines named. 



The Degener Liberty press was manufactured 

 and sold very widely in the sixties and seventies. 

 The Peerless press also sold very largely in the 

 seventies and eighties, but these machines are 

 now almost out of use. A large variety of ma- 

 chines similar to those described are manufac- 

 tured and sold under various names all over the 

 world. 



Cylinder Presses. In order to comprehend 

 the working of cylinder presses, it should be un- 

 derstood that each one ordinarily has a flat bed, 

 geared to reciprocate at an even speed with the 

 revolving cylinder. The sheets of paper are fed 

 to the cylinder, and in its revolution are carried on 

 the inked form until printed. The stop-cylinder, 

 press is one in which, after the sheet is printed, 

 the cylinder is brought to a stop while the bed is 

 running back, and during this time a fresh sheet 

 is placed in position. In the double-cylinder 

 press, two cylinders are used, and they take sheets 

 alternately. In a two-revolution press there is 

 but one cylinder, and it makes two revolutions, 

 once in contact with the type and once in a 

 slightly raised position while the type is passing 

 back without contact. The drum-cylinder press 

 has a cylinder of large diameter that makes but 

 one revolution to each impression, a segment of 

 the circumference only coming in contact with the 

 type. The first press of this character was devised 

 by Frederick Koenig, a Saxon, about 1806. He 

 introduced these machines into England, in con- 

 nection with a fellow mechanic named Bauer, 

 placing them first in the office of the London 

 Times. Koenig also invented, about 1814, a press 

 in which the cylinder continuously revolved that 

 is, it was made to rise on the return motion of 

 the bed, and then to fall again to take the im- 

 pression as the bed moved under it. The first 

 practical cylinder presses made in the United 

 States were manufactured by the firm of R. Hoe 

 & Co., who also introduced here, in addition to 

 their own patents and improvements, the new de- 

 vices patented in England by Cowper, Applegath, 

 Napier, and other English makers. As already 

 stated, this firm was established in New York by 

 Robert Hoe before 1820, but these cylinder presses 

 were not introduced into the market to any ex- 

 tent until 1832. Improvements were made in 

 them, the cylinder being reduced in size and ar- 

 ranged to make two or three revolutions to each 

 motion of the bed, thus giving greater speed. 

 Every effort was made so to perfect the move- 

 ments of the bed backward and forward as to 

 give a greater yield per hour, to supply the de- 

 mands of newspapers, which were then coming 

 into vogue and having constantly increasing cir- 

 culations. 



The press known as the " stop-cylinder " was 

 first patented and manufactured in 1852 by a 

 Frenchman named Dutartre, and was introduced 

 with patented improvements in the United States 

 by Hoe & Co. in 1853. Machines of this kind, 

 with various alterations and additions, were also 

 made by Campbell, Cottrell, Potter, and others. 

 The stop-cylinder was much favored for many 

 years, because the bringing of the cylinder to a 

 dead stop at the time of the taking of the sheet 

 afforded opportunity for perfect register that is, 

 printing of the sheet absolutely in the same place 

 at every impression. The two-revolution press 

 was a faster machine, however, and preferred on 

 that account for less particular work. About 

 1885 Robert Miehle devised a new bed movement 

 for two-revolution presses, besides other useful de- 

 vices, and built a two-revolution press that gave 



increased accuracy and speed. In a few years 

 this press became so popular that it began to 

 drive out the stop-cylinder, and as a consequence 

 many makers have introduced higher grades of 

 two-revolution presses, which meet every demand 

 of quality and can be operated as rapidly as the 

 paper can be supplied by hand. 



Hoe & Co. brought out in 1846-'47 what was 

 known as the " Lightning " press, a type-revolv- 

 ing machine, and for several years it was the only 

 available press for daily journals requiring a large 

 edition. In this machine the type was placed upon 

 horizontal cylinders, the column-rules being made 

 V-shaped, so that the type should stand firmly 

 on its feet on the curve, and it was locked up se- 

 curely by means of screws. Around this cylinder 

 were placed other horizontal cylinders, and the 

 paper was fed directly by each feeder to the im- 

 pression-cylinder, the patented sheet-flier being 

 brought into play to deliver the sheets on 

 as many separate delivery-tables. Even these 

 were found inadequate to meet the demands of 

 the increasing circulations of the larger journals. 

 Furthermore, ten men as feeders were required on 

 the largest of these machines. Stereotyping on 

 the curve, from papier-mache" molds, was intro- 

 duced about this time, which enabled the dupli- 

 cation of forms at small expense. The first rotary 

 perfecting press that printed from a continuous 

 web or roll of paper was made in Philadelphia in 

 1865, by William Bullock. His machine was im- 

 perfect in the delivery. Meanwhile the proprietors 

 of the London Times made a press known as the 

 Walter, which was used in only one or two offices 

 besides the Times. Marinoni, of Paris, also made 

 presses on a similar principle, with separate fly- 

 boards for delivering the sheets, which were 

 handled by boys. In 1871 Hoe & Co. constructed 

 a press that superseded all these. By means of a 

 patented device, with a gathering-cylinder for re- 

 ceiving the sheets as they came from the press, 

 they were delivered in lots of six papers at a time 

 by a sheet-flier in an even pile. From one set of 

 stereotype plates 15,000 papers an hour were pro- 

 duced. This machine was introduced in most of 

 the large newspaper establishments, and in some 

 instances, owing to the possibility of duplicating 

 the forms by curved stereotype plates, 10 or 12 of 

 these presses were placed in a single office. 



Folders. Up to this time the folding of news- 

 papers was done by hand, by the newsdealer or the 

 carrier. But increasing circulations necessitated 

 some method by which the papers could be folded 

 automatically and as they came from the press. 

 The earliest of these consisted of a series of strik- 

 ing blades forcing the paper consecutively between 

 rollers at right angles, there being a blade for 

 each fold required; but the action of the blades 

 was not rapid enough to keep up with the produc- 

 tion, and it was necessary to have for each ma- 

 chine substantially two separate folders on this 

 plan, which was based on the book-folding ma- 

 chines fed by hand, which had been made by 

 Chambers Brothers, of Philadelphia. Something 

 simpler and with less mechanism became- a neces- 

 sity, and the first rotary folders were made by 

 Hoe & Co. in 1875. These were applied to "sin- 

 gle " machines. 



Large Stereotype Perfecting Machines. In 

 1876 Anthony & Taylor, of England, took out 

 patents for methods of turning paper in the web, 

 or roll, so as to present the reverse side to the 

 printing-cylinder before cutting off the sheets. 

 These patents, as well as the patents of L. C. 

 Crowell, of Boston (who had devised ingenious 

 machines for making paper bags), became the 

 property of Hoe & Co., and from these and addi- 



