A single, solid block of lead alloy cast by a machine like a Linotype or Intertype, containing an entire line of text on its upper edge. Instead of assembling individual letters by hand, operators typed on a keyboard to assemble brass matrices, which the machine then used as a mold to cast the complete bar. Once printed, these bars were melted down to reuse the metal.
Heard on the job
The operator cleared a jam in the crucible after the machine cast a bad type bar.
Insider tip
Insiders almost universally call this a slug rather than a type bar.
Also heard as
- slug