Abstract: A shoe press for applying pressure to a moving web of paper or the like includes a press shoe extending along a full width of the web being carried through a nip defined between the shoe and a backing member, a support for the shoe, and a plurality of articulated hydraulic loading cylinders arranged between the support and the shoe for urging the shoe toward the backing member to apply pressure to the web. Each loading cylinder includes a single piston and first and second cylinders attached to the shoe and to the support, respectively. The opposite end portions of the piston are slidably received within the cylinders so as to define working chambers in the cylinders which are pressurizable by hydraulic fluid for urging the two cylinders away from each other.