Hoe Patent Lithographic Power Press

side view of Hoe's lithographic power press as marketed in 1881. It came in lengths ranging from 13 ft. 5 in. (4.08 m) to 18 ft. (5.48 m) and weighted between 5 and 12.5 tons; its price ranged from $4,300 to $7,200. The catalog further describes it as follows:

The stone is placed in the travelling bed, on a plate which is adjustable vertically to suit the varying and uneven thickness of the stones, and these can also be moved laterally by set screws, without altering their height.
The impression cylinder gears into a rack on the side of the bed, and is never altered in height, the stone being set instead. There is no danger of the stones getting broken, or scratched, the cylinder having rubber cushions to compensate for any unevenness in their surface, and the points of the fingers lying in a recess out of reach.

The description page comes with some "lithographers' axioms," of which here is a selection:

• To get high speed, use soft and easily distributed ink.
• To get fine, sharp lines, and clean tints, use stiff or strong ink, necessarily at some sacrifice of speed.
• The finest prints are taken from soft and calendered paper.
• Hand-made or laid dry writing papers are not suitable for lithographic work.
• Never touch the face of a stone with a warm or sweating finger.