The Blish Lock is a friction-lock designed by John Bell Blish, that takes advantage of the fact that under extreme pressures, certain dissimilar materials will resist movement through friction greater than normal friction laws would predict. His locking mechanism was used first in the Thompson submachine gun. Replica U.S. M1928 Thompson with 20-round stick magazine The Thompson submachine gun, also known as the Tommy Gun, was an American submachine gun (SMG) that became infamous during the Prohibition era. ...
The Blish Lock was the result of observations made by Blish of large naval guns. He noticed that guns firing relatively light charges tended to have their breech blocks unscrew and fly open, but the breech blocks of guns firing heavy charges remained closed. Using his mathematical and analytical training, he concluded that dissimilar metals have a tendency to adhere to each other with a force much greater than friction when subjected to very high pressure. This principle of metallic adhesion has since come to be known as the Blish Principle. It did not take Blish very long to put this knowledge to use in a delayed-blowback breech lock. He developed a working model that used a simple wedge as the lock, and was eventually awarded a patent.
External links
Genealogical and Historical Page for John Bell Blish
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