Hoe Iron Hand Press ????

Found in old barn in Ohio, R. Hoe Co. Hand Press
I have never seen this model before. It appears to be a very
early improved model No. 151 on brass emblem in center top with fancy castings on top and uprights. The upper platen is
14 1/2 x 18 and the press stands 59” high by 23” wide. It
Is not very large, maybe 500 pounds and only 43” long. See photos below.
I would like any information I can get on this press.
Don’t know why photos are loading upside down.

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That is a rather small one- their No. 1 model. I have a small R. Hoe press with a 16x21 platen which is the next size up. Are you intending to set it up for printing? Can you get any better photos?

DGM

I have more photos but I am not computer guy. Don’t
know why photos are loading upside don. Yes I am
planning to print and have a lot of wood type. Also have
A Shniedewend 17 x 22.

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I hope Bob Oldham will chime in here. This is one of the earlier R. Hoe presses I’ve seen. I am curious to know the earliest examples in his registry.

Any thoughts on making that registry accessible to the rest of us, Bob?

DGM

Bob Oldham has contacted me and said this the lowest
R. Hoe number he knows of. I to would like a list.

I’ve tried to find a host who can help me put the database online without access to the names and addresses of private press owners, so far without success. However, searching it is not easy as I entered the presses as I found out about them, so they are all mixed together in two Access database tables. With over 1100 presses all together it’s a pretty large amount of data to massage into shape and post online. But I’d certainly like to see it more widely available. I do not mind searching it for specific information for others.

Bob

It certainly is one of the oldest R. Hoe Washington presses still surviving. The size would be Foolscap, because of the maximum size of paper the press would take. The number on it would be a serial number rather than a model number. I would judge it to have been made shortly after Hoe acquired the patents in 1835 (through early industrial intrigue), and probably dates to 1836 or 1837. Whether they were still using the earlier Rust patterns will take some photographic comparison, but it certainly is a wonderful find.

Paul

There is a S. Rust Washington Hand Press listed on Ebay
with simalur castings to the No. 151 Hoe. It appears that
Hoe used Rust casting a least up until that time.

I have seen a S. Rust press in storage that has an acorn frame and the Washington style figure-4 toggle. I believe the press belongs to the Danbury Museum and Historical Society in CT.

DGM

Please post a link to that listing on Ebay. The only one I know of is quite different from the #151 castings, both in size and in style. The only element common to both is the wreath surrounding the ID plate and that could be different also. There is only one existing Rust Washington of this style frame with Rust’s name on it that I know of and it is considerably different from this press. The serial number on this press is also an anomaly that requires more study.

Bob

The one on Ebay is listed as a S. Rust, could be an early
Hoe missing serial No. Plate. You would know about this
than myself. Don’t how to tell, this area is new to me ???

I think this might be the one: 111146057135. Samuel Rust Washington Handpress, starting at $40,000. The seller does seem to have done some research, but the identification of the press as a Rust is not guaranteed as the original nameplate is missing. I am not an expert on these presses (or any others for that matter) so I will not comment on their research or the identification as a Samuel Rust press.

Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

That one is quite different from the press #151 both in size and style and could not have been made from the same patterns. I believe there were some hiccups in the transition from Rust to Hoe and one of them was the serial numbering. There are a number of lines of evidence regarding these presses including the use of different decorations by different manufacturers. The decorations on this press were also used on some Hoe Smith presses which have a similar frame based on the Rust patent of 1829. Unless Hoe violated Rust’s patents by copying the frame design before they obtained the patents, these presses were made by Hoe after the acquisition of the patents in 1835.

Bob

Bob, did Rust display an identification tag in a similar way? I have seen presses that are similar to this one on line, but not being able to examine them in person it’s hard to see subtle differences.

Paul

It’s interesting that instead of a lock nut and a finial,
a lead cone (it appears) had been poured
over the end of the rods.

How common is this?

Calvert

The Rust press in storage at the Danbury Museum is an earlier version of the Washington hand press — that’s what Rust named it. He actually made two different frame styles, that acorn frame and an oval frame that The Henry Ford has. The early Rust acorn and oval presses had a wide oval curved ID tag that looks like a lengthwise slice of a fat hot dog. Most of the half dozen or so survivors still have their ID.

The only Rust late Washington press I’ve found that still has its ID plate (though there may be another one) is in the Museum of Printing in MA. The ID shape is like a keystone with curved sides that fits into a raised border of the same shape on the head. There is a press with an identical frame but different legs in the Mercer Museum in PA which also has its ID tag, which says “S. Rust’s Patent/Manufactured by R. Hoe & Co./New York/No. 538”. The press was clearly made with Rust’s patterns except for the legs but it is clearly a Hoe product. I believe the Museum of Printing Rust and the Mercer Museum Hoe were made within a couple of years of each other, one just before and the other just after Hoe obtained the patents. But because there are no written records I can’t prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Rust’s second invention, the rectangular and familiar Washington press frame, was a one-piece casting of the frame (later versions were made in 4 pieces joined together) with the columns hollow. A large wrought iron rivet, with a head shaped like a truncated cone with a slot through it, was installed through the hollow, probably red hot, and swaged over at the top of the frame to lock it in place. When it cooled it shrank and pulled the frame tightly together, providing the tensile strength required to resist breaking under the force of Rust’s very powerful “figure-4” toggle. The legs have a cone-shaped hole at the top which fits onto the rivet head and they are held on by a wedge through the slot.

It was an ingenious solution to a knotty problem and it’s no wonder Hoe went to extreme subterfuge to obtain it.

Bob