Definition: HOT METAL

Definition: HOT METAL

An American Sign Language definition is provided by Brian Brizendine.

HOT METAL: a form of typesetting machinery that utilized molten lead to cast type; often used to refer to Linotype machines, which cast whole lines of text known as slugs.

Gallaudet Video Services

Drs. John S. and Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center Collection

2019

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American Sign Language

The video begins with a title slide featuring a line drawing of a figure depicting the handshapes and movement for the vocabulary term, Hot Metal. It begins with the sign for METAL, which uses the dominant hand with palm facing the signer at chin level in a claw-5 handshape. The signer rotates their wrist, orienting the palm toward the viewer in a single movement. Followed by the handshapes spelling M-E-T-A-L. Next in a video recording, Brian Brizendine, a white older man, defines the term in American Sign Language. He stands in front of a blue screen in a film studio.

Hot Metal printing, that started with Linotype machines, LINOTYPE, which used lead slugs. For making pages, we used a few signs. For instance, if you worked there, you were called a Floorman. To describe the work that was done by a Floorman, we used this sign, MAKE-UP. This meant that they’d lay out the whole page using the blocks of text. That was signed MAKE-UP. Now, another sign for that work was slugs, SLUG. The make-up page was printed and a proof was reviewed by proofreaders. Their corrections were delivered and we’d sign SLUG, to mean they’d make the corrections by removing the line of text and replacing it with corrected slug. That was signed like this. After the corrections were made and the page was finished, it was locked together. And the tray was pushed onto a truck, and delivered to the engraving room for the next stage of printing at the press. That was Hot Metal printing.