▪ I. hot-press, n.
A contrivance for pressing paper or cloth between glazed boards and hot metal plates, to make the surface smooth and glossy. Also, a similar apparatus used in making plywood (see next). Also attrib. = hot-pressed.
| 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 163 Hot Presses for Cloth. 1712 H. Nevill in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 253 He wanting a flat Stone to make him a Hot-press (for so they do, who want an Iron Plate to Press their Cloth on). 1798 T. Jefferson in Harper's Mag. (1885) Mar. 542/2 A hot-press bible. 1821 Byron Juan iv. cix, A ball-room bard, a foolscap, hot-press darling. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Hot-press, a means of calendering and smoothing paper by subjecting it to pressure between glazed boards; a hot iron plate is placed at every 20 sheets or so, to heat the pile. 1938 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. LX. 60/1 The great scarcity of hot presses in plywood plants. Ibid. 60/2 In the hot-press operation with resin film, the resin film is cut to dimension and laid between the sheets of veneer. 1943 Simonds & Ellis Handbk. Plastics xi. 433 The panels are formed in these hot presses under pressures ranging from 100 to 300 lb. per sq. in. Ibid., At 220° F., hot-press panels are completely bonded in from 3 to 10 minutes' cure in a hot press. 1968 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) XV. 903 By far the largest production [of plywood] is in a hot press in which thermo⁓setting resins are the adhesive basis. |
▪ II. hot-press, v. trans.
Usu. in pa. pple. (ppl. adj.) hot-pressed, or vbl. n. hot-pressing.
a. To subject to pressure in a hot-press; to make (paper or cloth) smooth and glossy by pressure between hot plates. Also, to press (veneers, etc.) between heated platens for a period in order to bond them together to make plywood.
| 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman xx. (1841) I. 193 Every false gloss put upon our woollen manufactures by hotpressing, folding, dressing [etc.]. 1794 Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 223 In one glaz'd glare tracts, sermons, pamphlets vie, And hot-press'd nonsense claims a dignity. 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 191 The serge is to be..hot-pressed. 1874 R. Tyrwhitt Sketch. Club 17, I wish you would all use hot-pressed paper. 1932 Trans. Amer. Soc. Mech. Engin. LIV (sect. WDI). 1/2 The necessity for hot-pressing is the chief disadvantage [of blood-albumin glues]. 1943 Simonds & Ellis Handbk. Plastics xi. 433 Wherever the type of plywood permits it, hot pressing offers quite a few advantages to the manufacturer over cold pressing. 1957 Times 23 Dec. 11/2 A decision was taken to introduce hot-pressing in the veneer mills. 1968 J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 214 After the drying, the cloth is ‘hot-pressed’. |
b. To shape under pressure in a heated die or mould.
| 1913 J. V. Woodworth Drop Forging viii. 254 The Burdict hot-pressed nut-machine. 1938 H. I. Lewenz tr. Brandenburger's Processes & Machinery Plastics Industry i. 5 Constant improvements..have taken place in the production of paste for hot pressing. 1947 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. I. 561 Alloys that can be made in no other way can be produced by compressing and sintering metal powders or by hot pressing loosely compacted slugs. 1967 M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World vi. 173 An alternative technique for forming silicon nitride is to hot-press it. |