Patent model for a web perfecting rotary press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a compact rotary press with forms for printing both sides of the paper, mounted on the two ends of a single type cylinder. The invention was granted patent number 212444. After one side of the paper was printed, the web was turned and moved sideways so the other side could be printed. The press was designed particularly for newspaper printing.

Luther Crowell (1840-1903) began his adult life as a sailor, then turned to questions of aerial navigation and patented a flying machine. He also invented machines to make paper bags, then machines to print the paper bags, and from there moved on to printing presses. In 1879 a fast press that he built for the Boston Herald brought a suit for infringement from R. Hoe & Co., as a result of which Hoe was compelled to buy all of Crowell's patents for printing, and ended up hiring him as a superintendent of their mechanical department. There Crowell was responsible for several important improvements to Hoe's presses.

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