born Oct. 29, 1784, Hoes, Leicestershire, Eng.
died Jan. 4, 1833, New York, N.Y., U.S.
born Sept. 12, 1812, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died June 7, 1886, Florence, Italy
Father and son, inventors.
Robert immigrated to the U.S. in 1803. In New York City he cofounded a printing-equipment company and in 1827 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 joined the company in 1827 and became its head when his father died. He replaced the flatbed press with the first successful rotary press (patented 1847). He followed this innovation with the web press (1865) and the web perfecting press (1871), revolutionary improvements that made the large-circulation daily newspaper possible.