Engineering Dictionary
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An alphabetical listing of General terms and items. |
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(1) The front between two neighbouring bastions or any other type of salient work. (2) The part of a work formed by one side of a salient angle. (3) The outer surface of any work projecting forwards which meet to form a salient angle.
The exterior face of a bastion between the salient point and the flank. See face.
A temperature scale defined by 32 at the ice point and 212 at the boiling point of water at sea level.
A form of gateway defence. See drop box
Brackets serving a purely decorative function. See blind machicolations, bracket, mock machicolations.
Bundles of brushwood were used to; fill in ditches, in the construction of field works, strengthening earthworks and to prevent erosion. (L. fascis, bundle).
A low third wall outside the double walled defences of a town. Similar to Constinoples Theodosian land walls. (Arabic)
A major fortification; a stronghold or fortress. (O.E. fads).
A low rampart provided with a parapet built forward, parallel and below the main rampart, forming an outer enceinte, used in the 16th and 17th century by engineers as a covered way. Later the work was abandoned because when under bombardment the fragments from the rear wall wounded the defenders present, forming what came to be known as a shot trap. M.Vauban continued to use these types of works placing them before curtains, they were then called tenailles.
A work with a parapet in the shape of a horseshoe.
A compressible tubular fitting that is compressed onto a probe inside a compression fitting to form a gas-tight seal.
An assembly of measuring instruments for performing balancing operations on assembled machinery which is not mounted in a balancing machine.
A gate in the curtain wall leading out to the country surrounding a castle. See postern.
A volume in space defined by an angular cone extending from the focal plane of an instrument.
A temporary work constructed by an army in the field, used to cover an attack on a fortification, or as protection against another enemy army, especially a relieving force.
A set of related records or data treated as a unit.
A solution of defined composition to make contact between an internal element and a membrane or sample. The solution sealed inside a pH glass bulb is called an internal filling solution. This solution normally contains a buffered chloride solution to provide a stable potential and a designated zero potential point. The solution which surrounds the reference electrode internal and periodically requires replenishing is called the reference filling solution. It provides contact between the reference electrode internal and sample through a junction.
An ancient tunneling technique in which rock is heated with fire and then doused with cold water, causing the rock to fracture
A gallery which was set into the walls or towers of a castle below the level of the battlements. A firing galley was provided with slits for firing arrows and bolts at an enemy. With the introduction of the galleries the fire power of a castles defences was increased. See mural gallery.
Apertures in the walls of a castle which were used by defenders to discharge arrows and bolts though at the enemy. See arrow loop, arrow slit, loop.
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Programs stored in PROMs.
Any of various types of indicators used for identification of a condition or event; for example, a character that signals the termination of a transmission.
(1) The flank or side of a work, such as that of a bastion from the salient point to the curtain wall, used to provided a position for flanking fire. (2) To provide defensive flanking fire which defends another work along the length of the work. (Fr. flanc).
The flank which is made in an arc of a circle.
The flank which is perpendicular to the opposite face produced, and oblique when the flank makes an acute angle with that face.
The flank which is built behind the line of the face of the bastion and the curtain. See retired flank.
The flank which is made when the face of the bastion does not extend to the curtain but joins it at some other point, then the part of the curtain between that point and the flank is called the second flank.
The section of the bastion between the face and the curtain, from which the ditch in front of the adjacent curtain and the face of the neighbouring bastions were defended. See enfilade, flank, flanking.
The angle formed by a curtain wall and a flank of a bastion.
(1) A work which commanded the flank of an assailing force. See flanking, flanking tower. (2) A battery in the flank of a bastion, which was used to flank the adjacent rampart.
The use of fortifications designed to provide flanking fire, for example; the approaches to a tower were covered by the neighbouring curtain walls. Flanking reduced the amount of dead ground surrounding a fortification thus improving its defencibility. See deadground, flank, flanking tower.
The angle formed by a flank of a bastion or other work with a curtain wall. Also known as a curtain flank. See curtain angle.
The effect of flanking fire on an enemy or their position. See maximum flanking effect.
A tower which was built not only beside the entrance but also at strategic points on the curtain wall, usually at the angles, which were used to provide flanking fire.
A turret situated at the corner of a castle which was used to provide flanking fire. See bartizan, machicoulis.
A curtain wall flanking a tower or bastion or some other work.
An arrow shaped outwork consisting of two faces with a parapet and an open gorge, which formed a salient angle at the base of a glacis, smaller in size than a redan or a lunette. (Fr. fleche, arrow).
A small, flexible disk carrying a magnetic medium in which digital data is stored for later retrieval and use.
Travel of liquids or gases in response to a force (i.e. pressure or gravity).
Actual speed or velocity of fluid movement .
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A device used for measuring the flow or quantity of a moving fluid.
(1) A narrow wooden bridge which was used for the purpose of communication between the motte and the bailey of a motte and bailey castle. The flying bridge was usually supported on wooden piles, the bridge could be then demolished by the defenders if the enemy took the bailey. See motte. (2) A small bridge which was used for the purpose of intercommunication between the different parts of a fortification (eg. between outer and inner defences). They could be withdrawn, thrown down or destroyed if necessary, depending on the situation. See chemise foot bridge.
Factory Mutual Research Corporation. An organization which sets industrial safety standards.
An instrument that meets a specific set of specifications established by Factory Mutual Research Corporation.
any action that tends to maintain or alter the position of a structure
Vibration of a system caused by an imposed force. Steady-state vibration is an unchanging condition of periodic or random motion.
(1) A subsidiary tower projecting in front of a castles main entrance. See barbican, gatehouse, small keep. (2) A small tower which covered the first floor entrance of a keep. See small keep.
The court formed by the walls of a barbican, or the barbican as a whole. See outer bailey.
The ground between the wall of a fortification and the moat.
An outwork or forebuilding. See barbican. (L. fortis, strong).
A small fort or outwork of a fortification.
(1) The act or art of fortifying a military position by means of defensive and/or offensive works. (2) A work or structure, used as a military position; a fortified place or position. (L. fortis, strong; Fr. facere, to make).
From the earliest periods the use of a church as a place of refuge in times of strife was common, in some cases the church was provided with features of military architecture to increase its defensibility. See church (fortified).
(1) The fortified waterside part of a `wasserburg' or German water castle, the purpose of the castle was to control the traffic on the water way it fronted and to extract dues from the shipping. (2) A dock or harbour which was provided with defences.
During the late 14th and the 15th centuries the necessity of fully defensible castles was on the decline, so that the number of fortified manors increased and developed into the undefended mansions of the Elizabethan and following periods. The plans of the fortified manors varied because of the addition of piece-meal defences to existing halls and manor houses. The most common design was of quadrangular plan, and were often surrounded by a wet moat. Also known as a defensible house or just a manor house.
A small fort, which was used as a watch tower of as a signal station.
Formula Translation language. A widely used high-level programming language well suited to problems that can be expressed in terms of algebraic formulas. It is generally used in scientific applications.
A strong permanent fortification which may include a town. (O.Fr. fortresse).
(1) A ditch, moat, canal or pit, which were used to impede the advance of an enemy force. See ditch. (2) The ditch or a set of ditches which surrounded a Roman fortification, the excavated soil was used to construct the vallum or rampart. (L. folio, dig).
A type of Roman ditch described by Hyginus that was V shaped in cross section. These ditches could be provided with a narrow channel in the bottom. See Foss.
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A type of Roman ditch described by Hyginus that had a much steeper outer scarp, and was used in the outermost ditch. See Foss.
A keep consisting of four round towers which mutually intersected, dating from the 12th century. See quatrefoil keep.
Flow velocity in feet per minute.
Flow velocity in feet per second.
A horizontal or inclining palisade which was placed on the outward slope of a rampart or the berm of a earthwork, to prevent the work from being taken by surprise and to impede an enemy's advance.
The temperature at which the substance goes from the liquid phase to the solid phase.
The number of cycles over a specified time period over which an event occurs. The reciprocal is called the period.
A transducer output which is obtained in the form of a deviation from a center frequency, where the deviation is proportional to the applied stimulus.
The number of cycles occurring in a given unit of time. RPM - revolutions per minute. CPM- cycles per minute.
An output in the form of frequency which varies as a function of the applied input.
The frequency of free (not forced) oscillations of the sensing element of a fully assembled transducer.
The distance which lies between to adjacent bastions.
When the terrain within a bastion is at the same height as the rampart with only the parapet rising up to protect the soldiers behind, the bastion is said to be full. Fukugshiki tenshu
A Wheatstone bridge configuration utilizing four active elements or strain gages.
The algebraic difference between the minimum output and maximum output.
Three mode PID controller. A timeproportioning controller with integral and derivative functions. The integral function automatically adjusts the system temperature to the set point temperature to eliminate droop due to the time proportioning function.
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