When the news came of the introduction of the flat-bed cylinder press in England, Mr. Hoe sent a skilled workman to examine the new invention, and upon his return he extended his manufacturing operations. Robert Hoe died in 1833, at the age of forty-nine, leaving the business to his son, Richard jM. Hoe, whose name is now known worldwide as an inventor. He took his cousin, Matthew Smith, with Sereno Newton, as partners, and the firmname was made R. Hoe & Co., which is still retained.

Colonel Richard M. Hoe had inherited his father's inventive skill, and he also developed rare executive ability. The business under his management prospered apace. Invention after invention followed rapidly from his fertile mind. One of his first inventions, was a new method of grinding circular saws, a mode which is now in general use. In 1847 he made the great discovery which must ever rank him as one of the foremost inventors of the age, and invented the " Lightning Press,'" better known as the " Rotary Press," in which the type is fixed upon the circumference of a cylinder. By this means from ten to twentyfive thousand impressions could be made in an hour; the new printing-machine superseded the former styles, and the press of Franklin's days became a thing of the past. His great discovery was still further perfected bj' the invention of the Web Perfecting Press, which prints on both sidesof the paper, cuts it off and folds it, ready for the carrier, at the rate of twenty-four thousand copies an hour. When one sees this piece of mechanism in full running order, the thought that first arises is that in this machine human ingenuity and skill have reached their limit. The business of R. Hoe & Co. is of immense extent.