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 612 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 From a military point of view, therefore, before the revolver is altogether superseded by the automatic pistol, it is most desirable that the latter should be as certain in its action under service conditions as the former.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. (H. S.-K.)
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. 11¼d. 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
