We now return to a further consideration of the newspaper press. The “Single Small Cylinder” and “Double Small Cylinder” machines heretofore described as primarily the invention of Napier, and perfected by Hoe & Co. and made by them, came into general use in the United States. In construction and for the quantity and quality of work produced they excelled any made in England; the output of one of the “Single Cylinder” presses reaching 2,000 impressions per hour, or about as fast as the feeder could lay down the sheets. When still greater speed was required the “Double Cylinder” press was used, the travel of the bed being of such length that the form of type passed backward and forward under both cylinders. Two feeders accordingly put in the sheets; the maximum speed obtained being about 2,000 from each cylinder, or 4,000 from the two cylinders per hour, printed on one side. It was evident, both in England and America, that something faster must be devised. The growing demand for papers containing the latest news necessitated increasing effort on the part of the machine-makers. The presses of Dryden & Ford, Middleton, and others in England failed to meet the requirements there, as did the “Single” and “Double” Cylinders in America. [Illustration: FOUR CYLINDER ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING PRESS] [Illustration: TEN CYLINDER ROTARY TYPE-REVOLVING PRESS] In 1845 and 1846 the firm of R. Hoe & Co. in New York were busily engaged upon plans and inventions for presses which should meet the increased requirements of the newspapers in America. The result was the construction of a press known as the “Hoe Type Revolving Machine,” embodying patents taken out by Richard M. Hoe. The first one of these machines was placed in the “Ledger” office in Philadelphia, in 1846. The basis of these inventions consisted in an apparatus for securely fastening the forms of type on a central cylinder placed in a _horizontal_ position. This was accomplished by the construction of cast-iron beds, one for each page of the newspaper. The column rules were made “V” shaped; i. e., tapering toward the feet of the type. It was found that, with proper arrangement for locking up or securing the type upon these beds, it could be held firmly in position, the surface form a true circle, and the cylinder revolved at any speed required without danger of the type falling out. Around this central cylinder from four to ten impression cylinders, according to the output required, were grouped. The sheets were fed in by boys, and taken from the feed board by automatic grippers, or fingers, operated by cams in the impression cylinders, and which conveyed them around against the revolving form of the central cylinder. Here again a great advantage was gained by the use of the patented sheet flier, consisting of a row of long wooden fingers fastened to the shaft, and operated by a cam and springs; the sheet after printing being conducted out