Richard March Hoe

Infobox Engineer

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caption = PAGENAME
name = PAGENAME
nationality = American
birth_date = birth date|1812|9|12|mf=y
birth_place = New York City
death_date = death date and age|1886|6|7|1812|9|12|mf=y
death_place = Florence, Italy
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significant_projects = printing press
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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 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, a design much faster than the old flat-bed printing press. The design was patented in 1847 (Cite patent|US|5199), and first commercially installed in 1847. In its early days, it was also called the "Hoe web perfecting press," the "Hoe lightning press," and "Hoe's Cylindrical-Bed Press."Richard M. Hoe was a Freemason. He had considerable inventive genius and set himself to secure greater speed for printing presses. He discarded the old flat-bed model and placed the type on a revolving cylinder, a model later developed into the well-known Hoe rotary or lightning press, patented in 1847, and further improved under the name of the Hoe web perfecting press. In 1870 he developed a rotary press that printed both sides of a page in a single operation.

He died in Florence, Italy.

His nephew, Robert Hoe (1839-1909), wrote a notable "Short History of the Printing Press" in 1902 and made further improvements in printing.

The Hoe estate, Brightside, was sold in 1904 by his family to developers speculating on the subway extension into the Bronx. His mansion was located at present day Printers Park at the corner or Aldus Street and Hoe Avenue in the Bronx.

References

*1911