Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/688

Rh against curved ramps on the sides of the non-recoiling frame and is forced up, so that thereafter the bolt alone recoils (the ejector is similar in principle to that of a rifle). The recoil spring then acts as before on reloading

Other varieties of the automatic pistol are the “Mannlicher,” the “Mars,” the “Bergmann” and the “Webley.” The last, being simple in construction, small and light, weight 18 oz. and length over all only in., may be classed as a pocket pistol.

Qualities of Automatic Pistols.—In reference to the general qualities of automatic pistols, while these weapons have the advantage over revolvers of longer range and greater rapidity of fire and recharging, on the other hand they are necessarily more complicated in their mechanism, which has to do the work of extraction, reloading and cocking that in the revolver is done by hand. A stoppage may occur through a cartridge missing fire, or continuous uncontrolled fire may take place through the trigger spring breaking until the magazine is exhausted. Their action is also to some extent uncertain, as it depends on the recoil of the discharge, which may be affected by variables in the cartridge, also the effective automatic working of the moving parts depends upon their cleanliness and lubrication. As automatic pistols, like revolvers, are intended for personal defence at short range and for sudden use in emergencies, simplicity of mechanism and certainty of action are in their case of paramount importance. There is usually no time to rectify a stoppage or jam, however slight. From a military point of view, therefore, before the revolver is altogether superseded by the automatic pistol, it is most desirable that the latter should be as certain in its action under service conditions as the former. Some automatic pistols, as already stated, are sighted up to 1000 yards, and provided with attachable butts. The practical value of these improvements is open to question, as the sighting of a pistol differs materially when used with and without a butt, and under no circumstances can the accuracy of shooting of a pistol even with a butt, equal that of a carbine.

The tendency in automatic pistols has been to reduce the bore to ·3 in., and increase the muzzle velocity, on the lines of modern small-bore rifles. These, again, would appear to be advantages of minor importance in a weapon intended for use at short range in the field, where a heavy bullet of fairly large diameter, with a moderate muzzle velocity, has a more immediate and paralysing effect, and is therefore, from this point of view, and particularly in savage warfare, preferable to a small projectile of high muzzle velocity.

PISTOLE, the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a double escudo, the gold unit, and was worth 16s. 11&frac14;d. sterling. The name was also given to the louis d'or of Louis XIII. of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value of the Spanish coin.

 PISTON (through Fr from Ital. pistone or pestone, a great pestle, from Late Lat. pistare, to pound, a frequentative form of classical Lat. pinsere), in the steam engine, a disk or partition placed inside the cylinder, from end to end of which it moves alternately under the pressure of the steam. By means of the “ piston-rod ” attached to it this forward and backward motion is communicated to the machinery which the engine is employed to drive, and is in most cases converted into rotary motion by a “ connecting-rod, ” one end of which is jointed to the “ cross-head " Carried at the Cnd of the piston-rod, While the other turns the crank on the crank-shaft. The piston in gas, oil and air engines has a similar function, but in a pump, instead of imparting motion, it has motion imparted to it by some prime-mover. In every case the piston must fit the cylinder so accurately that as little as possible of the working fluid, whether it be steam, gas or Water, can escape past it, packing of various forms being commonly placed round its periphery in order to secure this fit. In music, the valves which in certain wind instruments, such as the cornet, enable the player to increase the length of the air-column and thus lower the note produced, are known as pistons. (See VALVES.)

PIT (O. E. pytt, cognate with Du. put, Ger. Pfutze, &c., all ultimately adaptations of Lat. puteus, well, formed from root pu-, to cleanse, whence purus, clean, pure), a term of wide application for a hole, cavity or excavation in the earth or other surface, thus it is applied to the excavations made in the ground for the purpose of extracting minerals, e g. chalk, gravel or sand, or for carrying on some industry, e g tan-pit, saw-pit, or to the group of shafts which form a coal-mine Roots and other vegetables can be Stored in the winter in a pit, and the term is thus transformed to a heap of such vegetables covered with earth or straw. The word is also used of any hollow or depression in a surface, as in the body, the arm-pit, the pit of the stomach, or on the skin, as the scars left by small-pox or chicken-pox. As applied to a portion of a building or construction, the word first appears for an enclosure, often sunk in the ground, in which cock-fighting was carried on, a “ cock-pit.” It would seem a transference of this usage that gave the common name to that part of the auditorium of a theatre which is on the floor, the French parterre. In the United States a special usage is that of its application to that part of the floor space in an exchange where a particular branch of business is transacted, thus in the Chicago Board of Trade, transactions in the grain trade are carried on in what is known as the “ Wheat Pit.”

In Scottish legal history there was a baronial privilege which in Latin IS termed furca et fossa, “ fork (1 e. gallows) and pit "; here the term has usually been taken to refer to the drowning-pit, in which women criminals were put to death; others take it to refer to an ordeal pit. There is a parallel phrase in M. Dutch, putte ends galghen; here putte is the pit in which women were buried alive as a penalty.

PITCAIRN, an island in the mid-eastern Pacific Ocean, in 25° 3” S., 130° 6' W, belonging to Great Britain. It lies south of the Paumotu archipelago, 100 m. from the nearest member of this group. Unlike the majority of the islands in this region, it is without coral reefs, but rises abruptly with steep and rugged cliffs of dark basaltic lava. The extreme elevation is over 2000 ft, and the area 2 sq m The soil in the valleys is volcanic and fertile, but the gradual utilization of natural timber increases the liability to drought, as there are no streams. The climate is variable and rainy. Stone axes, remains of carved stone pillars similar to those of Easter Island, and skeletons with a pearl-mussel beneath the head have been found in the island, though it was uninhabited when discovered by Philip Carteret in 1767. Pitcairn was the name of the midshipman who first observed it.

The island was destined to become the scene of a curious social experiment. On the 28th of April 1789 a mutiny broke out on board the "Bounty, " then employed by the British government in conveying young bread-fruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. The commander, Lieutenant William Bligh, was set adrift in the launch with part of the crew, but managed to make his way to Timor in the Malay Archipelago. The twenty-five mutineers at f1rst all returned to Tahiti. Some remained, and six of these were ultimately court-martial led in England, three being executed in 1792. Meanwhile in 1790 a party consisting of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny, eight Englishmen, six Polynesian men and twelve Polynesian women had taken possession of Pitcairn Island and burned the “ Bounty.” Treachery and debauchery filled the first years of the annals of the beautiful island By ISOO all the men were dead except Alexander Smith, afterwards known as John Adams, who rose to a sense of his responsibility and successfully trained up the youthful generation left in his charge. An American vessel, the “Topaze, ” discovered the strange colony in 1808; again, by accident, it was visited by the “ Briton, ” Captain Sir F Staines, and the “ Tagus, " Captain Pipon, in 1817; and by the exploring ship “ Blossom ” in 1825 On the death of John Adams on the 29th of March 1829 George Hunn Nobbs, who had settled at Pitcairn in 1828, was appointed pastor and chief magistrate. Through fear of drought the islanders removed to Tahiti in 1830, but disapproved of both the climate and the morals of this island, and returned to Pitcairn in 1831. Shortly after this an adventurer named Ioshua Hill appeared, and, claiming government authority, tyrannized over the islanders till his removal by a British man-of-war in 1838. In 1856 the whole of the islanders-60 married persons and 134 young men, women and children-were landed on