Richard March Hoe

Richard March Hoe (September 12, 1812 - June 7, 1886), was an American inventor who designed an improved printing press. Hoe was born in New York City. His wife, Mary, and he lived on a vast 53-acre (210,000 m) estate, called Brightside, in the Morrisania / Hunt's Point section of the Bronx. He was the son of Robert Hoe (1784-1833), an English-born American mechanic, who with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Matthew Smith, established in New York C... more

Richard March Hoe (September 12, 1812 - June 7, 1886), was an American inventor who designed an improved printing press. Hoe was born in New York City. His wife, Mary, and he lived on a vast 53-acre (210,000 m) estate, called Brightside, in the Morrisania / Hunt's Point section of the Bronx. He was the son of Robert Hoe (1784-1833), an English-born American mechanic, who with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Matthew Smith, established in New York City a manufactory of printing presses, and used steam to run his machinery. His father owned a steam-powered manufactory of printing presses, which Richard joined at fifteen. On his father's death, he became head of the Robert Hoe & Company corporation. In 1843, Richard invented the rotary printing press which placed the type on a revolving cylinder, a design much faster than the old flatbed printing press. It received U.S. Patent 5,199 in 1847, and was placed in commercial use the same year. In its early days, it was variously called the "Hoe... less