Photograph of Flatbed Intaglio Printing Press
This photograph of a four-plate, flatbed, "Hoe" intaglio printing press, complete with automatic feeder and take-off devices, was manufactured by R. Hoe & Company, Inc., of New York City.
From the 1840's to the 1960's flatbed printing presses were employed for the major portion of stamp production in the United States and, indeed, the rest of the world. They were used for producing postage and revenue stamps, bonds, paper currency, and other securities by the government. Flatbed printing presses were used throughout the printing industry, and R. Hoe & Company was a major American manufacturer of flatbed presses. After 1913, the Bureau of Engraving & Printing alone secured a total of 127 presses of this type.
Image courtesy Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
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