This patent model demonstrates an invention for an electrotype printing block which was granted patent number 25954. Common textile printing blocks were made of wood. The wooden blocks gave trouble when wet, and their inclined walls tended to spread the color and broaden lines in printing fabric. This patent covered a method of making metal printing blocks with high vertical walls. Matrices were first constructed of numerous pieces of rectangular type of different lengths, then molded in wax, and finally electrotyped.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for the Duplex Printing Machine which consisted of two printing machines working in unison to produce two perfected sheets at a time, and then fold and deliver them as one product. This patent was granted number 195115; it was purchased by and assigned to R. Hoe & Co.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a combination of quoins and sidesticks which was granted patent number 218518. The quoins swiveled on the ends of wide screws that turned into the sides of the metal sidesticks. A guage in the center of each sidestick told the compositor how far the quoin could be extended.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a tool for turning a sheet of metal into a printing plate while writing on it. The air-powered writing instrument made a series of sharp blows to the metal, knocking out projections on the back of the sheet. The projections formed a facsimile of the writing in reverse and in relief for printing at a type press. Maker, patent number, and date are unknown.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a card and ticket press which was granted patent number 48493. The patent details a self-inking press in which a series of flattened surfaces on a large rotating drum provided multiple platens. The type was suspended face down and lowered against the drum. Paper could be fed from a roll, or placed on the flat surfaces, a card at a time, as each platen approached the type. There was also a numbering device.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a stand to hold large books such as dictionaries, open or closed; the invention was granted patent number 239055.
LaVerne Noyes (1849-1919) started his career in the manufacture of agricultural machinery. After taking out this patent, he made a successful market of wire book holders for some years. Later he became interested in windmills and their potential for generating electricity, and set up the Aermotor Company for the production of steel windmills. Electricity generated by a rooftop windmill lit the New York office of Aermotor in 1895.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen printing press which was granted patent number 16109. The press had a revolving ink cylinder behind the type bed. Inking rollers circulated entirely around the cylinder and over the type. The patent also covered a device for quick disconnection of bed and platen in case of a feeding accident. Patentee Franklin Bailey took out a number of printing patents, and sold several of them to the Hoe Company. This patent was assigned to Hoe in 1860.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine for coating electrotype; the invention was granted patent number 85411. The patent details a machine for brushing black lead (plumbago, graphite) or bronze powder onto either wax or gutta percha molds, in order to give them conducting surfaces. Stephen Tucker was an employee and, from I860, a partner with R. Hoe & Co. He was responsible for numerous patents for the company, and was the author of the company history, "A History of R. Hoe & Company, 1834- 1885.”
This patent model demonstrates an invention for variations on the method of printing celluloid under heat and pressure. The invention was granted patent number 348222. The model consists of three photogravure specimens.
John Wesley Hyatt (born 1837) started his working life as a printer. Early in his career, he took out a patent for a composition for artificial ivory billiard balls, which led him to the invention of celluloid in 1868. In 1869 Hyatt and his brother Isaac founded the Celluloid Manufacturing Company. He held some 250 patents, mostly concerned with the use of celluloid.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a press for printing material such as envelopes, and the pneumatic apparatus for feeding sheets to the press. The two patents, numbers 303550 and 386440, are demonstrated on a single model. Despite the dates of the patents, both applications were made on 10 July 1880. They were granted after unusually long delays.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a paper-ruling machine which was granted patent number 135751. The ruling pens on the machine were lowered and lifted by an electro-magnetic apparatus, a 'quick and lively but soft and easy' action. Patentee Averell is best known as the inventor of a wire stitcher (or stapler), which he patented in 1874.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a lithographic rotary printing press which was granted patent number 116335. The patent details a small press with a stone cylinder that was removable for wetting and inking. The stone was taken out and rolled across the ink and wetting slabs, then replaced for printing. The pressure roller below was hung on adjustable bearings. From 1868 Maurice took out several patents for rotary and flatbed lithographic printing. He advertised this and his other presses as "Autographic Cylinders for Offices.”
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a method of preparing autographic stencils in which a porous paper stencil was prepared by varnishing the face of a sheet of paper, then drawing on it with a sharp stylus. The invention was granted patent number 215833. The inventor called his process Multograph, or Stulograph. The model consists of a stencil frame and an envelope of papers.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for an apparatus for trimming stereotype plates; the invention was granted patent number 221366. The patent describes a machine that combined the operations of trimming (cutting the rough edges) and shaving (cutting down the back ribs) of curved stereotype plates for rotary printing. Walter Scott was a well-known manufacturer of fast rotary perfecting machines.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typesetting and distributing machine which was granted patent number 28463. Typing at the keyboard perforated a paper tape to produce a complete "registry" of the keystrokes, including all spacing and leading. This record could be used to set several identical pages of type or, fed in reverse, to redistribute the type to its cases. The keyboard is missing from the model.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a sheet feeder and fly operation for a bed-and-platen press which was granted patent number 12183. Paper was fed through a slot on the feedboard to a carriage, which placed the sheet for printing. Then the carriage withdrew with the paper, and it was lifted off by a sheet fly.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a flatbed press which was granted patent number 146792. The patent details a press for printing and numbering tickets. A double strip of card stock was fed through the press. At the first pass, text was printed on one half of the sheet and the numbers on the other. The sheet was turned end-to-end and put through a second time to complete the tickets.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a typecasting machine which was granted patent number 3324. The patent details improvements to David Bruce's earlier pivotal typecaster, specifically, adjustable parts to the mold, a method of opening the mold and tilting the matrix and the piston to force metal into the mold.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for improvements to the mechanism of typecasting machines; it was granted patent number 10377. The improvements to the typecaster include placing the mold below its "axis of oscillation" instead of the usual higher position.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a rotary printing press which was granted patent number 131217. The invention offers a new system of feeding, carrying, and delivering sheets for rotary perfecting presses. The model consists of the central group of feeding cylinders. According to Stephen D. Tucker’s History of R. Hoe & Company, a press on this plan was capable of printing 8000 sheets per hour and was used successfully by the New York Daily News.