Hey, thanks; that cleared things up to where I know that I don't know s--t about linotype machines! I have lots more questions, but I guess they aren't really appropriate for here. BUT--(yep, there always is one, isn't there?) I did find the term "Justifying Spacebands", and that reminded me of what to me is an unusual use of the word justify. To me, justification is the giving of reasons for something. For ex., I justified making this post by asking about a word. I've never known, really, why the term is used to mean how words are spaced on a page, or screen.

Oh, heck--I have to put my main question, anyway.(!) I had sort of thought that a linotype machine does actual printing. I was very surprised to read that lines are cast into metal! Are these, er, slugs if I got the term right, then taken somewhere else, and laid out somehow so that pages can be printed from them? And, are they recycled?