Hoe, Robert

Hoe, Robert

(born Oct. 29, 1784, Hoes, Leicestershire, Eng.—died Jan. 4, 1833, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Inventor and printing-press manufacturer. Hoe immigrated to the U.S. in 1803. Two years later he cofounded a printing-equipment company in New York City, and in 1827 he introduced the cast-iron frame, which soon replaced the standard wooden frames used for printing presses. His improved version of the Napier cylinder printing press supplanted all English-made presses in the U.S. Richard Hoe, his son, was also a noted inventor.

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Hoe, Robert (1839–1909) manufacturer, bibliophile; born in New York City. Succeeding his uncle, Richard Hoe, as head of a firm manufacturing printing equipment, he introduced key innovations in newspaper presses. He assembled an impressive personal library of over 20,000 titles and was a founder and first president of the Grolier Club, formed to foster arts relating to book production.