RARE \"Printing Press\" Peter Smith Clipped Signature Mounted To a 3X5 Card For Sale

Up for sale aRARE! \"Printing Press\" Peter Smith Clipped Signature Mounted To a 3X5 Card. Here is a chance to own a piece of printing/American business history. This is one of the only Peter Smith signatures to come to sale in the last 10 years as most are in museum and university collections.
ES-7689E
R.Hoe & CompanywasaNew York Citybasedprinting pressmanufacturer established by Peter Smith,Matthew Smith (died 1822), and their brother-in-law, English emigrantRobert Hoe(1784–1833), in 1805 asSmith, Hoe& Company. The company initially specialized in the manufacture ofwooden hand printing presses, but later added saw-making. In 1819 the companyexpanded to printing presses. Peter Smith\'s iron Acorn press was announced tothe trade in 1822.A replica of the Acorn press used to print the FirstEdition of theBook of Mormonin1829 is on display atBrigham YoungUniversity–Idaho.After Smith\'s death, Hoe and his sons renamedthe company and worked on improving existing machinery. In 1827 Hoe bought andimproved a patent on wrought iron framed presses initially owned by SamuelRust. After their father\'s death, sonsRichardand Robert Hoe (?–September 23, 1909) tookcontrol of the company and continued to innovate the printing process. Thecompany developed a mechanical sheet delivery system, invented and patentedtherotary printing press, anddeveloped the first type revolving presses.R. Hoe & Company helpedfacilitate the rapid and inexpensive production of newspapers. Their 1855lithographic presses, in dimensions of 19x24 inches to 38x48 inches, sold for$165–375.A six-cylinder model was able to produce 166,000 16-pagenewspapers per hour. In 1855 the company employed 400 people.[4]By May 4, 1886, the 700 Hoe employeeswent on striketo demand that their ten-hour workday bereduced to nine, without a reduction in pay.After negotiations, thecompany agreed to reduce the workday, but also to reduce pay accordingly.Thecompany\'s machinists went on strike in July 1898, congregating in thesurrounding streets.Police were called on day seven to disperse thecrowd. In 1902, during the funeral procession ofRabbiJacob Joseph, some employees of the Hoe factory started a riotand assaulted some of the 50,000 mourners as they passed. 200 police respondedand joined the riot on the side of the factory workers. By 1909 the companyemployed 2,500 at its New York factory and 800 in London. During World War II,the company began to manufacture parts for weapons. The company added asubsidiary, Hoe Export-Import Company, in late 1950. The business introducedthePrintmasterin 1954. The new printing press was suited tonewspapers of medium and small size, with a circulation between 7,500 and100,000. The presses were first built in the fall of 1954 for a spring 1955delivery. It was capable of turning out 40,000 newspapers per hour and couldeasily convert to four color or spot color printing throughout the newspaper.Without stopping the press, the equipment responsible for folding thenewspapers could switch from a mail fold to a regular newspaper fold.Additional features were ink economy, cleanliness, and ease of maintenance. Afterthe war, the price of Hoe stock dropped and by 1969 the company was forced[toseek bankruptcy protection. Throughout the 1970s, production of printingpresses was discontinued and the factory was dismantled while the board focusedon revitalizing the saw-making aspect of the company. In 1984,Pacific Saw and Knife Companypurchased R. Hoe &Company and formed Pacific/Hoe Saw and Knife Company. It is still in operationtoday.

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