make-and-break

American  

[meyk-uhn-breyk] / ˈmeɪk ənˈbreɪk /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to a device, operated by an electric current, for automatically opening or closing a circuit once it has been closed or opened by a mechanical springlike device, as in a doorbell.

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Etymology

Origin of make-and-break

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

The same method of inspection is adopted with the make-and-break apparatus of an electric magneto.

From Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines by Mathot, R. E.

He made an automatic transmitter which could manipulate the make-and-break of the battery current far more rapidly than any human fingers could do.

From Autobiography of an Electron Wherein the Scientific Ideas of the Present Time Are Explained in an Interesting and Novel Fashion by Gibson, Charles R. (Charles Robert)

Spring-loaded sliding pinion drives make-and-break shaft 38 through peg in inclined slot 39.40.

From The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their Design by Hobbs, Leonard S.

Many others after Reis tried to devise practical make-and-break telephones, and all failed; although their success would have rendered them very valuable as a means of fighting the Bell patent.

From Edison, His Life and Inventions by Dyer, Frank Lewis

Ignition was make-and-break and the inlet valves were mechanically actuated.

From The Wright Brothers' Engines and Their Design by Hobbs, Leonard S.