BELL-PUNCH
\bˈɛlpˈʌnt͡ʃ], \bˈɛlpˈʌntʃ], \b_ˈɛ_l_p_ˈʌ_n_tʃ]\
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A small punch fitted to the jaws of a pincers-shaped instrument, combined with a little bell which sounds when the punch makes a perforation. Such punches are generally used to cancel tickets, as in tramway cars, etc., as a check on the conductors, the ringing of the bell indicating to the passenger that his ticket has been properly punched, and that the blank cut has passed into a receptacle in the instrument from which the blanks are taken and counted by an official of the company. Other forms of bell-punches are in use, as a combined telltale and bell, the ringing of which indicates to an official at some distance that the instrument has been duly pressed.
By Daniel Lyons
Word of the day
basidiomycota
- comprises fungi bearing the spores on basidium: Gasteromycetes (puffballs); Tiliomycetes (comprising orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts)); Hymenomycetes (mushrooms; toadstools; agarics; bracket fungi); in some classification systems considered a division of kingdom comprises fungi bearing spores on a basidium; includes Gasteromycetes (puffballs) Tiliomycetes comprising the orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts) Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, toadstools, agarics bracket fungi).