Up to the middle of the last century the paper had been made from rags, but as these became unobtainable in sufficient quantity some substitute had to be found. First straw and afterwards wood pulp was successfully employed, and paper made from the latter is now in universal use. Its cheapness (averaging now about three cents per pound) materially aided the newspapers, and stimulated the printing machine manufacturers to renewed efforts in devising presses of still greater speed and efficiency. It was desirable also that the papers should be delivered folded ready for the carrier or mail. The first apparatus to accomplish this was similar in design to the hand-fed folding machine in common use in printing offices. The sheets, fed separately into these machines, were carried by tapes running upon pulleys under striking blades, which forced them between pairs of folding rollers. After the first fold they were again carried in a similar manner under striking blades, placed at right angles to the first, and again struck down between rollers to receive a second fold. This action was continued until the desired number of folds had been secured. Folders of this description were attached to the fast presses, but none made could be worked at a greater speed than about 8,000 per hour, until in 1875 Stephen D. Tucker patented a rotating folding cylinder which folded papers as fast as they came from the press, or 15,000 in the hour. The striking blade folders were used in the “Bullock” press, in machines made by C. Potter, Jr., & Co. and others. Andrew Campbell, a printing press manufacturer, also constructed a rotary perfecting press, but his devices were not original. Four or five machines were made by him, and these soon went out of use. [Illustration: FIRST HOE WEB PRESS] The first folders made by Hoe & Co. consisted of the combination of a “gathering cylinder” with a rotary folding cylinder and tapes conveying the printed sheets under horizontal folding blades, somewhat similar to those before described, which thrust them at the proper moment between folding rollers placed at alternate angles, finally delivering them on travelling belts by a small flier. The first of these folding machines were put upon the presses made for the Philadelphia “Times” and operated in the Centennial Exhibition, in 1876. These folders, however, were only the commencement of a long series of experiments undertaken by the makers in the development of still faster printing and folding mechanisms, and from this time forward the progress made has been phenomenal. With great ingenuity, added to long experience, and by the acquisition and adaptation of every device which should aid them in their efforts, Hoe & Co. succeeded in providing machines of unrivalled designs, efficiency and speed.