title: Bleak House

text: Much criticism of "Bleak House" focuses on its unique narrative structure: it is told both by a third-person omniscient narrator and a first-person narrator (Esther Summerson). The omniscient narrator speaks in the present tense and is a dispassionate observer. Esther Summerson tells her own story in the past tense (like David in "David Copperfield" or Pip in "Great Expectations"), and her narrative voice is characterised by modesty, consciousness of her own limits, and willingness to disclose to us her own thoughts and feelings. These two narrative strands never quite intersect, though they do run in parallel. Nabokov felt that letting Esther tell part of the story was Dickens's "main mistake" in planning the novel. Alex Zwerdling, a scholar from Berkeley, after observing that "critics have not been kind to Esther", nevertheless thought Dickens's use of Esther's narrative "one of the triumphs of his art".


title: Bleak House

text: Esther's portion of the narrative is perceived by some scholars as an interesting case study of the Victorian ideal of feminine modesty. She introduces herself thus: "I have a great deal of difficulty in beginning to write my portion of these pages, for I know I am not clever" (chap. 3). This claim is almost immediately belied by the astute moral judgement and satiric observation that characterise her pages. In the same introductory chapter, she writes: "It seems so curious to me to be obliged to write all this about myself! As if this narrative were the narrative of life! But my little body will soon fall into the background now" (chap. 3). This does not turn out to be true.


title: Bleak House

text: For most readers and scholars, the central concern of "Bleak House" is its indictment of the English Chancery court system. Chancery or equity courts were one half of the English civil justice system, existing side-by-side with law courts. Chancery courts heard actions having to do with wills and estates, or with the uses of private property. By the mid-nineteenth century, English law reformers had long criticised the delays of Chancery litigation, and Dickens found the subject a tempting target. He already had taken a shot at law-courts and that side of the legal profession in his 1837 novel "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" or "The Pickwick Papers". Scholars, such as the English legal historian Sir William Searle Holdsworth, in his 1928 series of lectures, have made a plausible case for treating Dickens's novels, and "Bleak House" in particular, as primary sources illuminating the history of English law.


title: Bleak House

text: Dickens claimed in the preface to the book edition of "Bleak House" that he had "purposely dwelt upon the romantic side of familiar things". And some remarkable things do happen: One character, Krook, smells of brimstone and eventually dies of spontaneous human combustion. This was highly controversial. The nineteenth century saw the increasing triumph of the scientific worldview. Scientifically inclined writers, as well as doctors and scientists, rejected spontaneous human combustion as legend or superstition. When the instalment of "Bleak House" containing Krook's demise appeared, the literary critic George Henry Lewes accused Dickens of "giving currency to a vulgar error". Dickens vigorously defended the reality of spontaneous human combustion and cited many documented cases, as well as his own memories of coroners' inquests that he had attended when he had been a reporter. In the preface of the book edition of "Bleak House", Dickens wrote: "I shall not abandon the facts until there shall have been a considerable Spontaneous Combustion of the testimony on which human occurrences are usually received."


title: Bleak House

text: George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton are among those literary critics and writers who consider "Bleak House" to be the best novel that Charles Dickens wrote. As Chesterton put it: ""Bleak House" is not certainly Dickens's best book; but perhaps it is his best novel". Harold Bloom, in his book "The Western Canon", considers "Bleak House" to be Dickens's greatest novel. Daniel Burt, in his book "The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time", ranks "Bleak House" number 12. Horror and supernatural fiction author Stephen King named it among his top 10 favourite books.


title: Bleak House

text: The house named Bleak House in Broadstairs is not the original. Dickens stayed with his family at this house (then called Fort House) for at least one month every summer from 1839 until 1851. However, there is no evidence that it formed the basis of the fictional Bleak House, particularly as it is so far from the location of the fictional house.


title: Bleak House

text: The house is on top of the cliff on Fort Road and was renamed Bleak House after his death, in his honour. It is the only four storey grade II listed mansion in Broadstairs.


title: Bleak House

text: Dickens locates the fictional Bleak House in St Albans, Hertfordshire, where he wrote some of the book. An 18th-century house in Folly Lane, St Albans, has been identified as a possible inspiration for the titular house in the story since the time of the book's publication and was known as Bleak House for many years.


title: Bleak House

text: In the late nineteenth century, actress Fanny Janauschek acted in a stage version of "Bleak House" in which she played both Lady Dedlock and her maid Hortense. The two characters never appear on stage at the same time. In 1876 John Pringle Burnett's play, "Jo" found success in London with his wife, Jennie Lee playing Jo, the crossing-sweeper. In 1893, Jane Coombs (actress) acted in a version of "Bleak House".


title: Bleak House

text: A 1901 short film, "The Death of Poor Joe", is the oldest known surviving film featuring a Charles Dickens character (Jo in "Bleak House").


title: Bleak House

text: In the silent film era, "Bleak House" was filmed in 1920 and 1922. The latter version featured Sybil Thorndike as Lady Dedlock.


title: Bleak House

text: In 1928, a short film made in the UK in the Phonofilm sound-on-film process starred Bransby Williams as Grandfather Smallweed.


title: Bleak House

text: In 1998, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of five hour-long episodes, starring Michael Kitchen as John Jarndyce.


title: Bleak House

text: The BBC has produced three television adaptations of "Bleak House". The first serial, "Bleak House", was broadcast in 1959 in eleven half-hour episodes. The serial survives. The second "Bleak House", starring Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott, aired in 1985 as an eight-part series. In 2005, the third "Bleak House" was broadcast in fifteen episodes starring Anna Maxwell Martin, Gillian Anderson, Denis Lawson, Charles Dance, and Carey Mulligan. It won a Peabody Award that same year because it "created 'appointment viewing,' soap-style, for a series that greatly rewarded its many extra viewers."


title: Bleak House

text: Charles Jefferys wrote the words for and Charles William Glover wrote the music for songs called "Ada Clare" and "Farewell to the Old House", which are inspired by the novel.


title: Bleak House

text: Anthony Phillips included a piece entitled "Bleak House" on his 1979 progressive rock release, "Sides". The form of the lyrics roughly follows the narrative of Esther Summerson, and is written in her voice.


title: Bleak House

text: Like most Dickens novels, "Bleak House" was published in 20 monthly instalments, each containing 32 pages of text and two illustrations by Phiz (the last two being published together as a double issue). Each cost one shilling, except for the final double issue, which cost two shillings.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Phillip Joel Hughes (30 November 1988 – 27 November 2014) was an Australian Test and One Day International (ODI) cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia and Worcestershire. He was a left-handed opening batsman who played for two seasons with New South Wales before making his Test debut in 2009 at the age of 20. He made his One Day International Debut in 2013.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes scored his first Test century in March 2009, aged 20, in his second Test match for Australia, opening the batting and hitting 115 in the first innings against South Africa in Durban. This made Hughes Australia's youngest Test centurion since Doug Walters in 1965. In the second innings of the same match, Hughes scored 160, becoming the youngest cricketer in history to score centuries in both innings of a Test match (Australia won the match by 175 runs). On 11 January 2013, he became the first Australian batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score a century on debut, a feat which he achieved against Sri Lanka in Melbourne.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: On 25 November 2014, Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer, during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing a vertebral artery dissection that led to a subarachnoid hemorrhage. The Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, noted that only 100 such cases had ever been reported, with "only one case reported as a result of a cricket ball". Hughes was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent surgery, was placed into an induced coma and was in intensive care in a critical condition. He never regained consciousness, and died on 27 November, three days before his 26th birthday.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes was born in Macksville, New South Wales, to father Greg, a banana farmer, and Italian mother, Virginia. Hughes was also a talented rugby league footballer who once played alongside former Australia international Greg Inglis. He played his junior cricket for Macksville RSL Cricket Club, where he excelled so quickly that he was playing A-Grade at the age of 12 and in Representative Cricket he scored a century. At the age of 17, Hughes moved from Macksville to Sydney to play for Western Suburbs District Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket while he attended Homebush Boys High. He scored 141* on his grade debut and enjoyed a solid 2006–07 season, scoring 752 runs at an average of 35.81, with a highest score of 142*. He represented Australia at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was coached at Triforce Sports Cricket Centre in Mortlake.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: After scoring runs prolifically for New South Wales youth teams and Western Suburbs in Grade Cricket, Hughes was handed a rookie contract by New South Wales for the 2007–08 season. After scores of 51 and 137 for the New South Wales Second XI against Victoria's Second XI, He was rewarded with a call-up by Blues selectors to make his first-class debut. He played his first senior game against Tasmania on 20 November 2007 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. At 18 years and 355 days, Hughes was the youngest New South Wales debutant since Michael Clarke in 1999. In a comfortable victory for New South Wales, Hughes opened the batting and got his career off to a solid start, scoring a fluent 51 and taking 2 catches.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes had an outstanding debut season for New South Wales, playing seven matches and scoring 559 runs at an average of 62.11 with one century and six 50s. The highlight of Hughes' excellent season came in New South Wales' Pura Cup final victory over Victoria. He scored 116 off 175 balls in the Blues' second innings to help put his team in a commanding position. At 19 years of age, this innings made him the youngest-ever player to score a century in a Sheffield Shield final. Hughes was rewarded for his achievements by winning the New South Wales Rising Star Award and earning an upgrade to a full state contract for the 2008–09 season.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes was signed by Middlesex on a short-term contract, as cover for Murali Kartik, for the beginning of the 2009 English cricket season. He was available for the first six weeks of the season and played in three County Championship matches, all eight of Middlesex's Friends Provident Trophy group matches and the first few matches in the Panthers' defence of the Twenty20 Cup. In most other years, a contract for the opening six weeks of the season would involve playing four to six championship matches, some but not all FPT matches and no Twenty20, but the scheduling for 2009 had to accommodate ICC World Twenty20 and the eventually-cancelled Stanford Super Series. Despite Hughes holding an Italian passport by virtue of his Italian mother, Middlesex resisted signing him up as a Kolpak player and instead signed him as a foreign player. He enjoyed strong success in England, scoring 574 runs in his three first-class matches, including three hundreds, at an average of 143.50. Of his time at Middlesex, Hughes commented:


title: Phillip Hughes

text: I thoroughly enjoyed it and the preparation has been great. The big thing that came out of it was that I played at three Test grounds I'm going to be playing on and got to experience them before this big series coming up. Lord's was my home ground there for Middlesex and I played at The Oval as well and Edgbaston. It couldn't have really worked out any better. The big thing was just going over there to experience the whole different culture really, the weather, the wickets and the bowlers as well."


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes hit consecutive hundreds at the end of the 2010/11 season to earn the praise of Australian chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch. In his last two first-class matches for New South Wales in the 2010/11 season he scored 54, 115, 138 and 93. Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, said "I was thrilled for Phil, I think he turned the corner the last game. I spent a bit of time with him before the last Shield game and he seemed to be in a really good place. Having had a tough season, to emerge like he has is a credit to him."


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Less than a week after his debut in first-class cricket, on 28 November 2007, Hughes made his List A debut in against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. While he was not originally scheduled to play the match, sickness to Australian opening batsman Phil Jaques handed him the spot. Just as he did in his first-class debut, Hughes passed 50 but was eventually dismissed for 68, top scoring for New South Wales in a "controlled" display.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: After New South Wales' wicket-keeper Brad Haddin was struck in the head by a top edge, Hughes took on the keeping duties for nine overs. On 17 May 2009, Hughes made his first limited overs century, scoring 119 for Middlesex against Warwickshire. On 29 July 2014, he made a double century (202 not out from 151 balls) in a match with South Africa A in Darwin.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: After consistently making runs at domestic level, Hughes was called up to replace Matthew Hayden on Australia's tour of South Africa in February and March 2009. He was selected to make his debut in the first Test match starting on 26 February 2009 at the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg after making 53, then retiring, in Australia's tour match against the South African Board President's XI. He was dismissed for a duck in his first Test innings by Dale Steyn off just the fourth ball of the match, however he went on to top-score with 75 in the second innings, including 11 fours and a six.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes hit his maiden Test century in the first innings of the second Test at the Sahara Stadium, Kingsmead, Durban, on 6 March 2009, before adding another hundred in the second Innings. In doing so, at the age of 20 years and 96 days, he became both the youngest Australian since Doug Walters to score a Test century and the youngest player from any country to score a century in both innings of a Test match.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: During the 2009 Ashes campaign, Hughes' unorthodox technique was exploited by fast bowlers, who targeted his upper body and avoided bowling wide outside off stump, restricting his opportunities to play shots through the offside, most notably the cut shot. He was dropped from the team for the third Edgbaston Test in favour of Shane Watson, who opened the batting in his place and provided the Australians with an extra bowling option. Upon his return from South Africa, the Phillip Hughes Award, to be given annually to a promising young cricketer from the local district, was announced in his home town of Macksville. He was awarded the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2009.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes was a fringe player for the next year or so, playing some Tests to cover for other injured batsmen. He played two home Tests against Pakistan in this capacity, covering for the injured Ricky Ponting in the Boxing Day Test, then Simon Katich in the New Year's Test. He was then called up to the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand in March 2010 to replace Shane Watson in the first Test; he scored a rapid 86 from 75 balls in a small fourth-innings run chase in this Test.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes was dropped from the 2010–11 Ashes squad, but was called up for the Third Test as a replacement for the injured Simon Katich. He was a regular in the Australian team for the following year, playing in the last three Ashes tests, tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa and then a home series against New Zealand, but his spot came under pressure due to his inconsistency during that time. He achieved two big scores (126 in Colombo and 88 in Johannesburg), but his next-highest score was only 36, and he consistently fell to catches at slip and gully. He was heavily criticised for his performance in the two-Test series against New Zealand, in which he managed only 41 runs at 10.25, and was dismissed exactly the same way in all four innings: caught at slip by Martin Guptill from the bowling of Chris Martin. He was dropped from the Australian team following the series.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: In a stint for Worcestershire in the English County Cricket competition, Hughes made adjustments to his much maligned technique resulting in a more expansive range of strokes with more emphasis on legside play. Upon return to Australia, Hughes left his home state of New South Wales, moving to South Australia. This resulted in a strong return of runs in first-class cricket in the Sheffield Shield and one day cricket in the Ryobi Cup. These returns earned Hughes a recall to the Australian Test team to face Sri Lanka in Hobart following the retirement of Ricky Ponting in December 2012. He made an impressive first inning 86 batting at number 3.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: After almost a year away from the Test arena, Hughes found himself back in the Test side for the series against Sri Lanka in lieu of the retiring Ricky Ponting, occupying the number 3 position over Watson. Immediately he made an impact, scoring a solid 86 in the first Test match at Hobart, with a new-found confidence and tighter technique that had eluded him 12 months prior. He made two half centuries during his comeback scoring 233 runs at 46.60 in what was the most successful stint at the number 3 spot that the Australians had seen for some time. Hughes was set to receive a $1 million contract with Cricket Australia and be selected in Australia's ODI and T20 international squads in the wake of Michael Hussey's international retirement at the end of the 2012/13 Australia summer. Hughes' selection in the Australian ODI squad was confirmed on 6 January 2013. National selection boss John Inverarity noted that players such as Hughes were included with an eye to the 2015 World Cup, suggesting that he was viewed as a long-term player for Australia in all three forms of the game.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes made his mark with a solid 112 (from 129 balls) in his ODI debut, becoming the first Australian to reach a century on debut. He opened the innings with Aaron Finch at Melbourne, and added a 140-run 3rd wicket partnership with captain George Bailey, before being dismissed by Lasith Malinga. Hughes scored his 2nd match-winning ODI century with 138 (n.o) off 154 balls in the fifth ODI of the same series.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Following his successful summer season in Australia in 2012/2013, Hughes was selected to play in the Test series in India, but he struggled, scoring 147 runs in eight innings and averaging only 18.37. He played the first two Tests of the 2013 Ashes, and shared a world record tenth wicket partnership of 163 runs with debutant Ashton Agar in the first innings at Trent Bridge, but was dropped for the third test. Hughes did not play another Test for Australia, but played in ODI series in India in October 2013, in Zimbabwe (against both Zimbabwe and South Africa) in September 2014, and against Pakistan in the UAE in October 2014. Hughes made his only Twenty20 International appearance for Australia against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates on 5 October 2014.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: He was a close friend of teammates Michael Clarke and David Warner, as well as boxer Anthony Mundine. He grew up with fellow Macksville local and former rugby league footballer; Greg Inglis.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: During a session of the Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 25 November 2014, Hughes, batting on 63 runs, was struck in the neck by the ball after missing an attempted hook shot to a bouncer from New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott. Hughes was wearing a helmet, but the ball struck an unprotected area just below his left ear. He collapsed before receiving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and was subsequently taken to St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, where he underwent surgery and was placed into an induced coma. Hughes' injury was a rare but described type of sport-related blunt-force cerebrovascular injury called a vertebral artery dissection which led to subarachnoid haemorrhage.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: The match was immediately abandoned. The other two Shield games that were being played elsewhere in Australia—Brisbane and Melbourne—were abandoned at the end of the day, with Cricket Australia stating that "Given how players across the country are feeling right now, it's just not the day to be playing cricket."


title: Phillip Hughes

text: On the morning of 27 November 2014, Hughes died from the injuries that he had sustained two days earlier, three days before his 26th birthday. Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke read a statement on behalf of Hughes' family.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: In May 2015, Cricket Australia announced that an independent review would be undertaken into Hughes' death.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: As a result of Hughes' death, calls were made for improvements to the cricket helmet, and this has resulted in new designs which have additional guards fitted to the rear of the helmet. However, an independent review released by Cricket Australia states that "The now mandated British Standard helmet would have offered no protection where he was struck. There is limited scientific evidence that current neck guards will prevent a similar tragedy and they must be properly evaluated before they are mandated." After the review was completed in 2016, it was concluded that the incident was purely accidental, and any changes made to improve safety during the review period, such as mandatory helmets for wicketkeepers, close-in fielders, and batsmen facing fast or medium pace bowling (even during net sessions) would not have prevented the accident. Also, for all Cricket Australia-sanctioned matches, defibrillators must be available at all grounds.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: A coronial inquest into Hughes' death began on 10 October 2016. The final result of the investigation was that the death of Hughes was a tragic accident arising from a "minuscule misjudgement" from the batsman and no players or umpires were at fault.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Many tributes were paid to Hughes within and outside the world of cricket, particularly over the rest of the 2014–15 summer season. Play on the second day of the third Test between Pakistan and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates was suspended, due to its scheduled start occurring not long after Hughes' death. The match was extended by an extra day. The second ODI between Sri Lanka and England, played on 29 November, went ahead with the teams paying tribute to Hughes. People from around the world posted photos of their bats on social media to pay tribute to Hughes.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes' funeral was held on 3 December 2014 at Macksville High School, in a Catholic ceremony. The eulogy was given by Hughes' cousin Nino Ramunno, with speeches also given by Hughes' siblings Jason and Megan; Australia's cricket captain at the time, Michael Clarke; and the Cricket Australia chief executive at the time, James Sutherland. Clarke, Aaron Finch and Tom Cooper were among the pallbearers. The service was attended by around one thousand people, including many national and sporting dignitaries as well as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Thousands of people followed the service at venues in Macksville and around the country. Representatives from the Indian team touring the country also attended.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: The first two matches of that series between Australia and India, to have been held in early December, were rescheduled to provide an additional five days of mourning. Hughes was named and listed as "the 13th man" for the first Test, and his test cap number 408 was sewn under the badge of all Australian players and painted on the field, and there were 63 seconds of applause before the start of the match. During the first Test, David Warner and Steve Smith both raised their bats in commemoration of Phillip Hughes when they passed 63 not out, and when Australia reached 408 runs, the match temporarily stopped as the crowd recognised the occasion. When Warner passed 63 in the fourth Test at the SCG, he kissed the ground near to the place where Hughes was fatally injured. Clarke continued to wear a black armband with Hughes's initials on it through to the final of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and dedicated their victory at the MCG over co-host New Zealand to Hughes after Australia reclaimed the World Cup.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Hughes' One-Day International shirt number, 64, was retired in his memory. The scorecard of Hughes' final innings was formally amended to show him being 63 not out, instead of retired hurt. A 63-over tribute match (31½ overs per team) featuring some Australians was played in Nepal on 11 April 2015. During the men's trials for the 2015 Boat Race contested by Oxford and Cambridge, the senior men's trial boats for the Cambridge team were called "63" and "Not Out" in honour of Hughes.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: Sydney rapper Urthboy released "Nambucca Boy" as a tribute to Hughes. Matthew Wade also has a likeness of Hughes tattooed on his right forearm.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: In the first home Ashes series since Hughes' passing, Australia decided to extend play to the 5th day on the First Ashes Test in 2017, which coincided with the third anniversary of his passing, with David Warner looking skyward as he scored past 63*; the Barmy Army sang a light-hearted parody as a tribute to Hughes to the tune of "Winter Wonderland". Australia won the first test at The Gabba, Brisbane, by 10 wickets.


title: Phillip Hughes

text: A road bridge on the Pacific Highway over the Nambucca River near his rural NSW hometown of Macksville has been named after Hughes.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The Big Sleep is a 1946 American film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of the 1939 novel of the same name by Raymond Chandler. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its results". William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay. In 1997, the U.S. Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and added it to the National Film Registry.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Parts of the unreleased 1945 cut were significantly re-scripted and shot to take advantage of the public's fascination with "Bogie and Bacall". The original version was restored and released in 1997.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe is summoned to the mansion of General Sternwood, who wants to resolve "gambling debts" his daughter Carmen owes to bookseller Arthur Geiger. As Marlowe leaves, Sternwood's older daughter Vivian stops him. She suspects her father's true motive for hiring a detective is to find his protégé Sean Regan who disappeared a month earlier.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Marlowe goes to Geiger's shop, which is minded by Agnes Louzier, and then follows Geiger home. Hearing a gunshot and a woman's scream, he breaks in to find Geiger's body and a drugged Carmen, as well as a hidden camera empty of film. After taking Carmen home, he returns and discovers that the body has disappeared. During the night, Marlowe learns that Sternwood's driver, Owen Taylor, has been found dead in a limo floating off the Lido Pier, having been struck on the back of the head.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Vivian comes to Marlowe's office the next morning with scandalous pictures of Carmen that she received with a blackmail demand for the negatives. Marlowe returns to Geiger's bookstore and follows a car to the apartment of Joe Brody, a gambler who previously blackmailed General Sternwood. He then finds Carmen in Geiger's house, where she insists that it was Brody who killed Geiger. They are interrupted by the landlord, gangster Eddie Mars.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Marlowe goes to Brody's apartment, where he finds Agnes and Vivian. They are interrupted by Carmen, who wants her photos. Marlowe disarms her and sends Vivian and Carmen home. Brody admits he was behind the blackmailing, having stolen the negatives from Taylor, but then has to answer the door and is shot. Marlowe chases the killer and apprehends Carol Lundgren, Geiger's former driver, who believes Brody is swindling him. Marlowe calls the police to arrest Lundgren.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Marlowe visits Mars' casino where he asks about Regan, who supposedly ran off with Mars' wife. Mars is evasive and tells Marlowe that Vivian is running up gambling debts. Vivian wins a big wager and then wants Marlowe to take her home. A stooge of Mars' attempts to rob Vivian but Marlowe knocks him out. While driving back, Marlowe presses Vivian on her connection with Mars but she admits nothing. Back at home, Marlowe finds a flirtatious Carmen waiting for him. She says she did not like Regan and mentions that Mars calls Vivian frequently. When she attempts to seduce Marlowe, he throws her out. The next day, Vivian tells him he can stop looking for Regan; he has been found in Mexico and she is going to see him.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Mars has Marlowe beaten up to stop him investigating further. He is found by Harry Jones: an associate of Agnes and besotted with her. Jones conveys her offer to reveal Mars' wife's location for $200. When Marlowe goes to meet him and be taken to her hiding place, he spots Canino, a gunman hired by Mars, who is there to find Agnes. As Marlowe watches from hiding, Canino threatens Jones until Jones tells him Agnes's location. Canino then forces Jones to have a "drink" which turns out to be poison. Afterward, Marlowe discovers that Jones lied about Agnes's location.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Agnes telephones the office while Marlowe is still there and he arranges to meet her. She has seen Mona Mars behind an auto repair shop near a town called Realito. When he arrives, Marlowe is attacked by Canino. He awakes tied up, with Mona watching over him. Vivian is there too and frees Marlowe, allowing him to get his gun and kill Canino. They drive back together and Marlowe calls Mars from Geiger's house, pretending to be still in Realito.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Mars arrives with four men, who set up an ambush outside. When Mars enters, surprised to see Marlowe, Marlowe says Mars has been blackmailing Vivian, as Carmen had killed Regan; Mars claims she did this in a mental haze, though Marlowe doubts Mars' credibility. He then forces Mars outside, where he is shot by his own men. Marlowe calls the police, telling them that Mars killed Regan, which may be the truth. He also convinces Vivian that her sister needs psychiatric care, and Vivian says to Marlowe, of her own problems, that there's "Nothing you can't fix."


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The composition of the screenplay involved three writers, including the American novelist William Faulkner. The writing had to be acceptable to the Hays Office censorship, which was vehement about excluding sexual themes. In the novel, Geiger is selling pornography, illegal then and associated with organized crime, and is a homosexual having a relationship with Lundgren. Carmen is described as being nude in Geiger's house and later nude and in Marlowe's bed. To pass the censorship, changes were made; Carmen had to be fully dressed and the pornographic elements could only be alluded to with cryptic references to photographs of Carmen wearing a "Chinese dress" and sitting in a "Chinese chair". The sexual orientation of Geiger and Lundgren goes unmentioned in the film because explicit references to homosexuality were prohibited.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The scene of Carmen in Marlowe's bed was replaced with a scene in which she appears, fully dressed, sitting in Marlowe's apartment, when he promptly kicks her out. The scene, shot in 1944, was entirely omitted in the 1945 cut but restored for the 1946 version. "The Big Sleep" is known for its convoluted plot. During filming, neither the director nor the cast knew whether the chauffeur Owen Taylor had killed himself or was murdered. A cable was sent to Chandler, who told his friend Jamie Hamilton in a March 21, 1949 letter: "They sent me a wire ... asking me, and dammit I didn't know either".


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner was frustrated that he was shut out of the production and sent a memo:"Word has reached me that you are having fun on the set. This must stop."


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: After its completion, Warner Bros. did not release "The Big Sleep" until they had turned out a backlog of war-related films. Because the war was ending, the studio feared the public might lose interest in the films, while "The Big Sleep" subject was timeless. Indications of the film's wartime production include period dialogue, pictures of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a woman taxi driver, who says to Bogart, "I'm your girl". Wartime rationing influences the film: dead bodies are called "red points", which referred to wartime meat rationing and Marlowe's car has a "B" gasoline rationing sticker in the lower passenger-side window, indicating he is essential to the war effort and therefore allowed eight gallons of gasoline per week.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The "Bogie and Bacall" phenomenon, a fascination with the couple that began with "To Have and Have Not", was well developed by the end of the war. Bacall's agent, Charles K. Feldman, asked that portions of the film be re-shot to capitalize on their chemistry and counteract the poor reviews Bacall had received for her performance in "Confidential Agent" (1945) which was released prior to "The Big Sleep", even though it was produced after the original principal photography. Jack Warner agreed and new scenes for "The Big Sleep", such as the sexually suggestive racehorse dialogue, were added (scripted by an uncredited Julius Epstein). The re-shot ending featured Peggy Knudsen as Mona Mars because Pat Clark, the originally cast actress, was unavailable. The parts of James Flavin and Thomas E. Jackson were eliminated. Because of the two versions created by the re-shooting, there is a substantial difference in content of some twenty minutes between them, although the difference in running time is only two minutes. Chandler said Martha Vickers (Carmen) overshadowed Lauren Bacall (Vivian) in their scenes together, which led to the producers deleting much of Vickers' performance to enhance Bacall's.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The re-shot, re-edited and revised "The Big Sleep" was released on 23 August 1946. This cinematic release is regarded as more successful than the 1945 pre-release version (see below), even though audiences find it difficult to follow; this may partly be due to the omission of a long conversation between Marlowe and the Los Angeles District Attorney where the facts of the case, thus far, are laid out. Yet some film critics prefer the 1946 version because they consider the Bogart-Bacall appearances more important than a well-told story. For an example of this point of view, see Roger Ebert's The Great Movies essay on the film. According to Warner Bros records the film earned $3,493,000 domestically and $1,375,000 foreign.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: At the time of its 1946 release, Bosley Crowther said the film leaves the viewer "confused and dissatisfied", points out that Bacall is a "dangerous looking female" ..."who still hasn't learned to act" and notes:


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: "The Big Sleep" is one of those pictures in which so many cryptic things occur amid so much involved and devious plotting that the mind becomes utterly confused. And, to make it more aggravating, the brilliant detective in the case is continuously making shrewd deductions which he stubbornly keeps to himself. What with two interlocking mysteries and a great many characters involved, the complex of blackmail and murder soon becomes a web of utter bafflement. Unfortunately, the cunning script-writers have done little to clear it at the end.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: "Time" film critic James Agee called the film "wakeful fare for folks who don't care what is going on, or why, so long as the talk is hard and the action harder" but insists that "the plot's crazily mystifying, nightmare blur is an asset, and only one of many"; it calls Bogart "by far the strongest" of its assets and says Hawks, "even on the chaste screen...manages to get down a good deal of the glamorous tawdriness of big-city low life, discreetly laced with hints of dope addiction, voyeurism and fornication" and characterizing Lauren Bacall's role as "an adolescent cougar".


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: In the mid-1990s, a pre-release version—director Hawks's original cut—was found in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. That version had been released to the military to play to troops in the South Pacific. Benefactors, led by American magazine publisher Hugh Hefner, raised the money to pay for its restoration and the original version of "The Big Sleep" was released in art-house cinemas in 1997 for a short exhibition run, along with a comparative documentary about the cinematic and content differences between Hawks's film noir and the Warner Brothers "movie star" version.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Working from Chandler's original words and adding spins of their own, the writers (William Faulkner, Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett) wrote one of the most quotable of screenplays: it's unusual to find yourself laughing in a movie not because something is funny but because it's so wickedly clever.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: Ebert praised the film's writing (the above quote is not specific to the 1945 version but is in reference to both films). Ebert preferred the 1946 version and said,


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: The new scenes [of the 1946 version] add a charge to the film that was missing in the 1945 version; this is a case where "studio interference" was exactly the right thing. The only reason to see the earlier version is to go behind the scenes, to learn how the tone and impact of a movie can be altered with just a few scenes... As for the 1946 version that we have been watching all of these years, it is one of the great films noir, a black-and-white symphony that exactly reproduces Chandler's ability, on the page, to find a tone of voice that keeps its distance, and yet is wry and humorous and cares.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: In a 1997 review, Eric Brace of "The Washington Post" wrote that the 1945 original had a "slightly slower pace than the one released a year later and a touch less zingy interplay between Bogart and Bacall, but it's still an unqualified masterpiece".


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: In 2003, AFI named Philip Marlowe the 32nd greatest hero in film. The film placed 202nd on the 2012 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of the greatest films ever made and also received two directors' votes.


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: A region-1 (U.S. and Canada) DVD version of "The Big Sleep" was released in 2000. It is a double-sided, single-layer disc; with the 1946 theatrical version on side-A (114 m), and the 1945 version (116 m) on side-B. The 1946 opening credits appear on both versions, including Peggy Knudsen, who never appears in the original version. Nowhere is the original actress, Pat Clark, ever credited. The DVD also contains a 16-minute, edited version of the 1997 documentary comparing the two versions that is narrated by Robert Gitt, who worked on the restoration of the 1945 version. Film critic Walter Chaw writes of the DVD releases of "The Big Sleep" and "To Have and Have Not" (1944), "The fullscreen transfer of "The Big Sleep" is generally good but, again, not crystalline, though the grain that afflicts the earlier picture is blissfully absent. Shadow detail is strong—important given that "The Big Sleep" is oneiric—and while the brightness seems uneven, it's not enough to be terribly distracting. The DD 1.0 audio is just fine."


title: The Big Sleep (1946 film)

text: A Blu-ray edition was released by Warner Bros. in 2015. It "includes the 1945 cut of the film that was screened for overseas servicemen, running two minutes longer and containing scenes not used in the official release".


title: Battery (crime)

text: Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the act of creating apprehension of such contact.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Battery is a specific common law offense, although the term is used more generally to refer to any unlawful offensive physical contact with another person. Battery is defined at American common law as "any unlawful and or unwanted touching of the person of another by the aggressor, or by a substance put in motion by them". In more severe cases, and for all types in some jurisdictions, it is chiefly defined by statutory wording. Assessment of the severity of a battery is determined by local law.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Specific rules regarding battery vary among different jurisdictions, but some elements remain constant across jurisdictions. Battery generally requires that:


title: Battery (crime)

text: Under the US Model Penal Code and in some jurisdictions, there is battery when the actor acts recklessly without specific intent of causing an offensive contact. Battery is typically classified as either simple or aggravated. Although battery typically occurs in the context of physical altercations, it may also occur under other circumstances, such as in medical cases where a doctor performs a non-consented medical procedure.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Battery is not defined in the Canadian Criminal Code. Instead, the Code has an offense of assault, and assault causing bodily harm.


title: Battery (crime)

text: This offence is a crime against autonomy, with more violent crimes such as ABH and GBH being statutory offences under the Offences against the Person Act 1861.


title: Battery (crime)

text: As such, even the slightest of touches can amount to an unlawful application of force. However, it is assumed that everyday encounters (such as making contact with others on public transportation) are consented to and not punishable.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Much confusion can come between the terms "assault" and "battery". In everyday use the term assault may be used to describe a physical attack, which is indeed a battery. An assault is causing someone to apprehend that they will be the victim of a battery. This issue is so prevalent that the crime of sexual assault would be better labelled a sexual battery. This confusion stems from the fact that both assault and battery can be referred to as common assault. In practice, if charged with such an offence, the wording will read "assault by beating", but this means the same as "battery".


title: Battery (crime)

text: There is no separate offence for a battery relating to domestic violence; however, the introduction of the crime of "controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship" in section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 has given rise to new sentencing guidelines that take into account significant aggravating factors such as abuse of trust, resulting in potentially longer sentences for acts of battery within the context of domestic violence.


title: Battery (crime)

text: In "DPP v Taylor, DPP v Little", it was held that battery is a statutory offence, contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. This decision was criticised in "Haystead v DPP" where the Divisional court expressed the "obiter" opinion that battery remains a common law offence.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Therefore, whilst it may be a better view that battery and assault have statutory penalties, rather than being statutory offences, it is still the case that until review by a higher court, "DPP v Little" is the preferred authority.


title: Battery (crime)

text: In England and Wales, battery is a summary offence under section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. However, by virtue of section 40, it can be tried on indictment where another indictable offence is also charged which is founded on the same facts or together with which it forms part of a series of offences of similar character. Where it is tried on indictment a Crown Court has no greater powers of sentencing than a magistrates' court would.


title: Battery (crime)

text: It is punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both.


title: Battery (crime)

text: There is an offence which could be (loosely) described as battery in Russia. Article 116 of the Russian Criminal Code provides that battery or similar violent actions which cause pain are an offence.


title: Battery (crime)

text: There is no distinct offence of battery in Scotland. The offence of assault includes acts that could be described as battery.


title: Battery (crime)

text: In the United States, criminal battery, or simple battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact, including sexual contact. At common law, simple battery is a misdemeanor. The prosecutor must prove all three elements beyond a reasonable doubt:


title: Battery (crime)

text: The common-law elements serve as a basic template, but individual jurisdictions may alter them, and they may vary slightly from state to state.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Under modern statutory schemes, battery is often divided into grades that determine the severity of punishment. For example:


title: Battery (crime)

text: In some jurisdictions, battery has recently been constructed to include directing bodily secretions (i.e., spitting) at another person without their permission. Some of those jurisdictions automatically elevate such a battery to the charge of aggravated battery. In some jurisdictions, the charge of criminal battery also requires evidence of a mental state ("mens rea"). The terminology used to refer to a particular offense can also vary by jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions, such as New York, refer to what, under the common law, would be battery as assault, and then use another term for the crime that would have been assault, such as menacing.


title: Battery (crime)

text: A typical overt behavior of an assault is Person A chasing Person B and swinging a fist toward their head. That for battery is A striking B.


title: Battery (crime)

text: Assault, where rooted on English law, is an attempted battery or the act of intentionally placing a person in apprehension of a harmful or offensive contact with their person. Elsewhere it is often similarly worded as the threat of violence to a person while aggravated assault is the threat with the clear and present ability and willingness to carry it out. Aggravated battery is, typically, offensive touching without a tool or weapon with attempt to harm or restrain.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal is the currently state-owned flag carrier airline of Portugal, headquartered at Lisbon Airport which also serves as its hub. TAP – Transportes Aéreos Portugueses – has been a member of the Star Alliance since 2005 and operates on average 2,500 flights a week to 90 destinations in 34 countries worldwide. The company has a fleet of 100 aircraft, all of which are manufactured by Airbus with the exception of 22 aircraft manufactured by Embraer and ATR, operating on behalf of the regional airline TAP Express.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The airline was established on 14 March 1945 and began commercial services on 19 September 1946. Having been founded as a national institution, the airline was privatised for the first time in its history during 1953. Throughout its existence, TAP has alternated interminably between public and private ownership.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1965 it bought its first Boeing-built jetliner, the 707. In 1967, the airline became the first in Europe to exclusively operate jets. In 1979, the airline underwent a modernisation programme, changing its name to TAP Air Portugal. By the end of the decade, the airline operated a fleet of 32 modern airliners that served in excess of 40 destinations on four continents. During the 1980s, the fleet of Boeing 707s and 747s was replaced with Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and Airbus A310s on long-haul routes. In 1983, TAP started operating its first Boeing 737-200s on short-haul routes. By the late 1990s, TAP had sold its Boeing 727s and 737s, replacing them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Its Lockheed L-1011 TriStars were also replaced by Airbus A340s. These changes led to TAP becoming ever since an Airbus-only operator and exclusive customer of the European aircraft manufacturer.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The current Portuguese government has unveiled plans to reprivatize the airline. The Portuguese Court of Audits has been highly critical of the public intervention on TAP. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced 'historic' enforcement actions against six airlines, including TAP: $126.5 million in required refunds paid and a $1.1 million penalty, 'for extreme delays in providing refunds'.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 14 March 1945, the airline was founded as state-owned company with the name Transportes Aéreos Portugueses ("Portuguese Air Transportation") and operated under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese Civil Aviation Office. Later that same year, it took delivery of its first aircraft, a pair of Douglas DC-3s. The airline began commercial services on 19 September 1946, performing an inaugural flight from Lisbon to Madrid, carrying a total of 11 passengers on one of its DC-3s. On 31 December 1946, TAP Air Portugal began its "Linha Aérea Imperial", a twelve-stop colonial service including Luanda, Angola and Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Mozambique. It covered 24.450 km within 15 days (both ways), making it the longest air service operated with twin-engine airliners at that time. To suit the tropical conditions at most of these destinations, a special uniform was adopted, comprising khaki shirts with either skirts or shorts.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1947, the airline launched its first domestic services, commencing a route between Lisbon and Porto, as well as another international route between São Tomé and London. That same year, a total of four Douglas DC-4 Skymasters were purchased; these reportedly remained in the airline's service as late as 1960. These were used on the routes to Africa and to major European destinations, including London. During 1948, new services to Seville and Paris were launched.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During 1953, the airline was privatised for the first time in its history, reorganising from a public service to a public limited company (plc); that same year, it commenced new services to Tangier and Casablanca. During late 1955, several Lockheed Super Constellation four-engined pressurised airliners were acquired; these were immediately introduced on the TAP African scheduled services to Luanda and Lourenço Marques. The Super Constellation was credited with noticeably reducing flight times over prior airliners on its routes.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During 1955, the airline broke new ground with a successful long-distance experimental transatlantic trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On this flight, as a passenger, was the Portuguese aviator and cartographer Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho. By the end of the decade, the firm had attained several milestones, including the carriage of 64,000 passengers, its fleet performing 10,000 hours of flight, a route network spanning 14,000 km, while also employing over 1,000 members of staff.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: Beginning in 1960, TAP Air Portugal launched Rio de Janeiro as its first destination in Brazil, in a jointly-operated air service named "Voo da Amizade" ("Friendship Flight") with Panair do Brasil (1960–1965) and Varig (1965–1967). A route from Lisbon to Goa, a 19-hour flight with five stopovers, was added to the network during 1961.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During July 1962, TAP entered the jet era, having procured an initial batch of three French-built Sud Aviation Caravelle, an early twin-jet airliner. These were first operated upon the airline's most competitive European routes. That same year, new services were launched between Lisbon and Las Palmas, as well as Santa Maria in the Azores. During 1963, additional European routes, serving Geneva, Munich, and Frankfurt, commenced.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 19 June 1964, the one-millionth passenger was carried by the airline, broadly 18 years following the commencement of operations. During the following year, TAP procured its first Boeing-built jetliner, the 707. Two years later, it would be followed by the short-haul Boeing 727. On 17 June 1966, TAP operated its first sole flight to Brazil, one of its 707s landed at Galeão Airport in Rio de Janeiro at precisely at the same time and on the same day as when the hydroplane "Santa Cruz" moored in Guanabara Bay in 1922, when Sacadura Cabral and Gago Coutinho made their historic South Atlantic crossing. The route to Brazil was inaugurated.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1967, the airline achieved a milestone: it became the first European airline to fly exclusively with jets. In 1969, service to New York City via Santa Maria Island began; two years later, Boston was added to the New York service. During 1971, the airline opted to relocate its headquarters to Lisbon Airport. In the following year, TAP received the first of an initial batch of four Boeing 747-200s. In 1974, it became the first European airline to perform complete overhauls of the Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engine, which powered early versions of the Boeing 747 amongst other aircraft. By the end of the decade, the airline operated a fleet of 32 modern airliners that served in excess of 40 destinations on four continents.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1974, TAP introduced a new computerised system handling reservations, load control, and check-in, known as "Tapmatic". and became the first European airline to carry out major comprehensive overhauls of Boeing 747 engines. By the end of 1974, TAP had carried more than 1.5 million passengers, flown 68,210 hours over a network of almost 103,000 kilometres and had a staff of over 9,000.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: Following the 25 April 1974 revolution, Portugal was caught up in the wave of nationalisations during the following year and TAP was no exception, thus becoming a state-owned corporation during 1975.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: Following the independence of both Angola and Mozambique, the importance of the African market decreased tremendously; due to decreasing passenger demand, two of the 747s were sold on during 1976. During 1979, the airline launched a modernisation programme; amongst other brand changes, its name changed to "TAP Air Portugal", which was deemed to be easier for international customers to recognise.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1980, TAP launched a new service between Lisbon and Barcelona; operations were also expanded between Milan and Rome. During the following year, Teresa Carvalho became the airline's first female pilot; that same year, its first in-flight magazine, "Atlantis", was launched. During 1985, the airline reportedly carried two million passengers within a single year for the first time; a museum dedicated to the airline was also opened on 14 March 1985 to mark the company's fortieth anniversary.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During the 1980s, the fleet of Boeing 707s and 747s was replaced with Lockheed L-1011 TriStars and Airbus A310s on long-haul routes. During 1983, TAP started operating its first Boeing 737-200s on short-haul routes. In 1988, it launched a new fare-calculation and ticketing system. That same year, it also became the first airline to harness land-to-air datalinks via a satellite connection.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During 1985, TAP established its charter subsidiary Air Atlantis, providing leisure flights to most European cities, which operated Boeing 707, Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 jetliners..


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During 1991, the airline reportedly carried three million passengers that year for the first time. In 1993, TAP began flying to Tel Aviv. In 1994, TAP signed for a code sharing arrangement with Delta Air Lines for North Atlantic service; this agreement came to an end during 2005. 1996 saw the introduction of service to Boston via Terceira Island, the inauguration of service to Macau and the launch of TAP's website. In 1997, service began to Punta Cana and Bangkok; however, flights to Bangkok and Macau were discontinued during the following year.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: By the late 1990s, TAP had expanded its fleet by selling its older Boeing 727s and Boeing 737s and replacing them with Airbus A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Its TriStars were sold to Air Luxor and were replaced with Airbus A340s beginning in 1995. These changes led to TAP becoming an Airbus-only operator, which it claimed to have also made its fleet more economical and versatile. Furthermore, the airline had initiated a program of continuous cabin modernisation and renewal with the aim of implementing ever greater levels of service. In 1999, TAP introduced its first "Blue Flights", upon which smoking was banned.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 1997, a strategic alliance was formed between TAP and Swissair. Within the scope of this agreement, a team of professional managers arrived at TAP, led by the Brazilian . Part of the agreement would lead to Swissair buying a 34% stake of TAP. Also, TAP became a member of Qualiflyer, the frequent-flyer program led by the Swiss flag carrier. Due to financial difficulties, the Swiss company ends up not buying the agreed shares of TAP Air Portugal, unilaterally revoking the partnership agreement which led to unexpected costs for the Portuguese airline in 2000. This revocation culminated in legal action being taken by TAP against Swissair.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During February 2005, TAP Air Portugal was re-branded as "TAP Portugal". On 14 March 2005, TAP became a member of the multinational Star Alliance, which was also the same day on which the company celebrated its 60th anniversary. TAP also ended its code-sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines and began a new agreement with United, as part of its membership in the Star Alliance. Under this agreement, United's code (UA) is placed on TAP Air Portugal's transatlantic flights and some African flights, and TAP Air Portugal's code (TP) is placed on United flights.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2006, TAP Air Portugal signed a deal with Espírito Santo International for the acquisition of 99.81% of the Portuguese regional airline Portugália. Furthermore, it started a code-sharing agreement with US Airways on all routes between Portugal and the United States with connecting services out of Newark and Philadelphia.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2007, TAP Air Portugal was awarded by NATO as the Best Engine/Aircraft Source of Repair for the NATO AWACS Maintenance Program. TAP Air Portugal has complete maintenance and overhaul bases in Portugal (Lisbon) and Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre) and has specialised line maintenance stations in three continents: 4 in Portugal, 8 in Brazil, and 1 in Angola. It started scheduled flights to Moscow, Warsaw and Helsinki, in June 2009.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: After deciding to outsource its Passenger Service System in 2008, TAP migrated its reservation and inventory systems to the Altéa system managed by Amadeus. Before the migration to Altéa, TAP was using a system derived from Delta Air Lines called Tapmatic, in use since 1972.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: During 2010, TAP introduced two new routes to Africa: Marrakesh and Algiers, the latter was discontinued in 2017. The launch of these new routes highlighted the carrier airline reinforcement of its growth strategy for Africa, which is an important segment in the network where the airline has continually expanded since 2001, going from 236,000 to 541,000 passengers, an increase of more than 129%. In 2011, new long range routes to both Miami and Porto Alegre were introduced.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In order to obtain its three-year national bailout, Portugal was forced to sell its interests in several companies, including the state-run airline. Several international operators were drawn by the airline's strategic position, but on 18 October 2012, the Portuguese government announced a sole potential bidder for the privatized national carrier: South American consortium Synergy Aerospace, owner of Colombian airline Avianca. Portuguese financial daily "Dinheiro Vivo" indicated that the government would suspend privatization negotiations if German Efromovich's Synergy Aerospace bid was not approved.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 21 March 2014, the airline announced it would purchase two ATR 42-600s for subsidiary Portugália, replacing the smaller Beechcraft 1900D previously operated by PGA Express.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The Portuguese government planned to sell its controlling stake in the flag carrier to one or more large investors in a relaunch of the privatisation in 2014. It intended to sell a 66% stake in the airline, with 5% of that set aside for its 7,500 staff. Among known bidders were South American businessman German Efromovich, whose 2012 bid for TAP failed to meet the initial conditions; a consortium formed by American businessman Frank Lorenzo and Portuguese entrepreneur Miguel Pais do Amaral; the American Brazilian businessman David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue in the United States and Azul in Brazil; and finally Globalia, the parent company of Air Europa.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In May 2015, a pilot strike lasting over a week led to the cancellation of around 3,000 TAP Air Portugal flights.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In June 2015, the Portuguese government decided to sell the TAP Air Portugal Group, owner of TAP Air Portugal, to the Atlantic Gateway consortium formed by partners David Neeleman and Humberto Pedrosa, who took control of 61% of the capital of the flag carrier. On the memorandum signed by the new owner, TAP Air Portugal had to keep Portugal as the airline's main hub for a minimum of 30 years. The consortium that secured the company's privatization in June 2015 promised to buy 53 new Airbus aircraft for the airline; new orders included 14 wide-body A330s and 39 narrow-body A320-family aircraft.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In October 2015, a new left-wing government sought to return majority control of the airline to the state through renationalization, and in February 2016 signed a deal with the private consortium stating that the company was 50% owned by the Portuguese state, 45% by the Atlantic Gateway Consortium and 5% of available shares to TAP collaborators and employees.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 14 January 2016, TAP Air Portugal announced that subsidiary Portugália Airlines would be rebranded TAP Express by 27 March 2016, as part of further restructuring measures within the group. That same day, it announced that the entire Portugália fleet would be replaced with new aircraft by July 2016, receiving a livery similar to TAP Air Portugal's. A downsizing of the carrier network also took place that month, with TAP announcing the end of long-haul flights to Panama City, Manaus and Bogota as well as European connections to Hanover and Zagreb.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal planned to promote Portugal as a tourism destination in the United States, and Lisbon as a gateway into Europe for North American travellers, and in February 2016 announced the return of New York's John F. Kennedy International and Boston's Logan International as daily non-stop destinations from Lisbon. The Boston service started on June 11 and the new JFK daily flights on July 1, both operated with new Airbus A330-200s received in June of the same year from Azul Brazilian Airlines. These two new routes reinforced the airline's presence in the American market, along with service to Miami from Lisbon and Newark from Lisbon and Porto. Taken together, the amount of TAP Air Portugal flights to the US grew to 30 per week.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP expanded its network in 2017, adding 10 routes, some of which were previously operated by the airline: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Alicante and Las Palmas, Spain; Bucharest, Romania; Budapest, Hungary; Cologne and Stuttgart, Germany; Fez, Morocco; Lomé, Togo; London City Airport, United Kingdom and Toronto, Canada.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In March 2017, Miguel Antunes Frasquilho, president and CEO of AICEP Portugal Global, was selected to be TAP Air Portugal's new chairman of the board.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 14 September 2017, TAP Portugal was renamed "TAP Air Portugal", going back to the name used between 1979 and 2005.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 Crisis, the European Commission approved the Portuguese government’s plan to bail out the flag carrier, paving the way for the first tranche of €1.2 billion ($1.36 billion) government loan to help it through the crisis and a restructuring plan including employee downsizing and sale of aircraft.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: On 14 November 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced historic enforcement actions against six airlines, including TAP, $126.5 million in required refunds paid and a $1.1 million penalty, 'for extreme delays in providing refunds.' The Department expects to issue additional orders assessing civil penalties for consumer protection violations this calendar year.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The Portuguese governing majority in Parliament has since announced, in September 2022, it wants to reprivatize the company once again and is awaiting the right market moment to proceed with the plan. According to it, the Portuguese government wants to conclude the sale within the first semester of 2023. The immediate previous renationalization which currently remains was a prominent political promise from the first mandate of the current executive, within the argument that TAP was a strategic company for the country's economy and as such must be public. The renationalization received strong criticism from the Portuguese Court of Audits which affirmed it would not be efficient and would burden taxpayers in various millions of euros. The injection of Portuguese taxpayer's money was € 337.500.000,00 directly and € 615,000,000.00 indirectly on debts' guarantees for the company. In October 2022 the Portuguese Court of Audits again highly criticized the taxpayers' injection of money into TAP stating in its Assessment on the General State Account for 2021 that it should have been accounted as an effective expense and not as a financial asset: 'the classification of financial assets, with no expression in actual expenditure but with a significant impact on debt, which essentially seek to pursue social and public policy objectives and are not intended to produce a financial return'. Thus considering it an unprofitable public investment, with sovereign debt risk association for the State and consequentely menacing taxpayers' legitimate interests.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP has its head office in Building 25 on the grounds of Humberto Delgado Airport in Santa Maria dos Olivais, Lisbon.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: Up until the end of 2016, TAP Air Portugal had a 51% stake in Lojas Francas de Portugal (LFP), a retail joint-venture created in 1995 between the flag carrier and Dufry. LFP is present in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Madeira and Azores, with over 30 stores, and is also present on board of TAP Air Portugal with its "On Air" shopping magazine. Its stake in the company was sold to Vinci, the owner of ANA Aeroportos de Portugal.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Cargo is the freight branch of TAP Air Portugal. It does not operate its own cargo aircraft, but sells freight capacity aboard TAP's passenger flights and also maintains five scheduled all-cargo routes utilising other airlines:


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Cargo also operates Lisbon-Luanda all-cargo non-regular flights, in an Avient Aviation DC-10F, a Girjet 747-200F, and other leased aircraft.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: Beginning on 28 February 2011 TAP began airing its "TAP With Arms Wide Open" ("TAP de Braços Abertos") campaign, featuring its new slogan. Three singers, the Brazilian singer Roberta de Sá, the Portuguese singer Mariza, and the Angolan singer Paulo Flores starred in a music video with the song "Arms Wide Open." The music video featured TAP employees. The inclusion of the three singers was intended to highlight the proximity between peoples in the Lusophone countries.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2005, TAP unveiled its current logo and livery, to coincide with its Star Alliance membership, during the airline's 60th anniversary. It also saw the name change from TAP Air Portugal, introduced in the 1970s, to TAP Portugal. On 14 September 2017, TAP returned to its previous name. The first logo dates back to 1945 when the airline was founded. It consisted of a blue wing with the acronym TAP written to its left.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The TAP museum unit was created in 1978, but it only opened officially on 14 March 1985 as part of the company's 40th-anniversary celebrations. Its venue was at the company's head office on the grounds of Lisbon airport. Due to space limitations, on 29 January 2010, the new premises of the Museu do Ar (Air Museum), in the municipality of Sintra, opened to the public. This extensive museum is the result of a three-way partnership between airport operator Ana-Aeroportos, the Portuguese Air Force and TAP. The collection on display recounts the history of military and civil aviation in Portugal. Visitors can see 40 aircraft, including a TAP Douglas DC-3, simulators, engines, and other exhibits. A panel of photographs in the main hangar tells the story of 100 years of aviation in Portugal.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2007, TAP Air Portugal was awarded by NATO as the Best Engine/Aircraft Source of Repair for the NATO AWACS Maintenance Program and has been distinguished with the highest maintenance and overhaul practice awards from Airbus Industries in 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2005, being certified for full aircraft, engine and component maintenance and overhaul by the FAA, EASA, and several other important certification entities and aircraft manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer).


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In 2010, TAP Air Portugal was awarded the "World's Best Airline Award" by British Condé Nast Traveler magazine, after being rated for its excellence in previous years, and was rated as the "Best Airline to South America" by the World Travel Awards in 2009 and 2010, with nominations for "Europe's Leading Airline" and "Europe's Leading Business Class" in 2007, 2009 and 2010. TAP Air Portugal has also consistently achieved high ranks and various awards from specialized air travel publications such as Skytrax and Publituris due to the company's excellence in service and performance. In recent years, TAP Air Portugal has been consecutively elected World's Leading Airline to Africa and South America by the World Travel Awards (WTA), considered the "Oscars" of the world travel industry.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In the December 2017/January 2018 edition of the magazine "Monocle"s Travel Top 50, an annual list, selected by the magazine's editors, awarded Portugal's TAP airline the accolade of "most handsome crew."


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: As of June 2017, TAP Air Portugal serves 87 destinations in 34 countries across Europe, Africa, North America and South America, with some domestic, European and African destinations being operated by TAP Express.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal is the leading European airline flying to Brazil, offering more destinations from its hub in Lisbon than any other European airline. Many Europeans transit through Portugal to fly to Brazil due to a large number of slots TAP holds on the South American country.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: In March 2016, TAP Air Portugal began an air shuttle service, designated "Ponte Aérea", to connect Lisbon and Porto's airports with flights every hour adding up to 18 round-trip flights. It is operated by White Airways on behalf of the regional brand TAP Express. As of 2019, TAP Air Portugal will launch 15 new routes as well as receive 15 new aircraft.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal became the launch customer of the Airbus A330neo in November 2018 when the airframer delivered to the airline the first aircraft of the type, on lease from Avolon. TAP ordered 21 of these aircraft, of which 10 are directly ordered from Airbus and the rest will be leased. They also estimated to have 133 aircraft in the fleet by 2025 including TAP Express.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal offers two different lounges at Lisbon Airport, the TAP Premium Lounge, available for Victoria Gold Winners, Star Alliance Gold members and passengers flying on business class on Star Alliance flights, while Victoria Silver Winners only have access to the Blue Lounge, contracted with the handling subsidiary Groundforce.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The aircraft are divided into a two-class cabin: business class (branded as tap|executive) and economy classes (tap|plus, tap|classic, tap|basic and tap|discount). TAP Air Portugal does not offer first-class services. On the medium-haul fleet of Airbus A319, Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft, both cabins have been retrofitted with new leather seats. The executive class offers better privacy than economy class, and more meal options. On the long-haul fleet of Airbus A330, A330neo and A321LR aircraft, the cabin is divided into a two-class layout. The economy class of the new Airbus A330s, A330neos and A321LRs are equipped with modern individual LCDs with a touchscreen and a complete IFE. The entire fleet of Airbus A340 economy class was refurbished during 2013, adding a new seat design and a new in-flight entertainment system. In business class, seats are capable of turning into lie-flat beds. New Airbus A330 aircraft are also fitted with extra functions.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP's in-flight magazine is named "UP" and is available on board, as a fully responsive website (compatible with desktops, smart phones and tablets), and as a freely downloadable application for Apple's iPad.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The Portuguese airline will also be the first to take a new cabin layout called "Airspace". The design allows airlines to add more seats.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: TAP Air Portugal current loyalty program is Miles & Go which replaced an earlier program called Victoria. These are programs which awards members miles based on the distance travelled, ticket fare and class of service.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: As part of Star Alliance, miles can be earned as well from Star Alliance and other eligible partners. Membership in the frequent-flier programme is free. The Miles&Go Programme is divided into three tiers:


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: The programme does have a feature whereby some of the miles can be converted from regular award miles.


title: TAP Air Portugal

text: According to the JACDEC Airliner Safety Report released in January 2021 TAP ranks 22nd on the list of 100 largest airlines measured by their revenue passenger performance in RPK’s.


title: Handgun

text: A handgun is a short-barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced against the shoulder to be used properly. The two most common types of handguns in modern times are revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, although other types such as derringers and machine pistols also see infrequent usage.


title: Handgun

text: Before commercial mass production, handguns were often considered a badge of office, comparable to a ceremonial sword. As they had limited utility and were more expensive than the long guns of the era, the few who could only afford to purchase them carried these handguns. However, in 1836, Samuel Colt patented the Colt Paterson, the first practical mass-produced revolver, which was capable of firing five shots in rapid succession and very quickly became a popular defensive weapon, giving rise to the saying, "God created men, but Colt made them equal." Today, in most of the world, handguns are primarily used by police and military officers as sidearms. However, in the United States and some other countries around the world, handguns are also widely available to civilians and commonly carried for self-defense.


title: Handgun

text: Although the exact definition of a handgun is sometimes disputed, the general perception of what is a handgun does not vary far from a concealable, close-range firearm that can be fired one-handed, usually with an effective range of no greater than . The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines a handgun as "any firearm small enough to be held in one hand when fired"; while the American Webster's Dictionary defines it as "a firearm (such as a revolver or pistol) designed to be held and fired with one hand".


title: Handgun

text: Among the Anglophone countries, neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) nor the Government of the United Kingdom, who are in charge of American and British firearms licensing respectively, offer any specific legal definitions of a handgun. The ATF, however, do separately define "handgun - pistol" and "handgun - resolver" under its "Terminology & Nomenclature" section, both with the "pistol-type" description of "a weapon originally designed, made, and intended to fire a projectile (bullet) from one or more barrels when held in one hand".


title: Handgun

text: The Canadian Criminal Code defines a handgun as "a firearm that is designed, altered or intended to be aimed and fired by the action of one hand, whether or not it has been redesigned or subsequently altered to be aimed and fired by the action of both hands".


title: Handgun

text: The Australian gun laws, which are based on the National Firearms Agreement (1996) and interpreted and enforced independently by each state or territory, considers a "handgun" a firearm that:


title: Handgun

text: Firearms started in China where gunpowder was first developed. The oldest known bronze barrel handgun is the Heilongjiang hand cannon, in 1288. It is 34 cm (13.4 inches) long without a handle and weighs 3.55 kg (7.83 pounds). The diameter of the powder chamber is 6.6 cm (2.6 inches) while the diameter of the interior at the end of the barrel is 2.5 cm (1.0 inch). The barrel is the lengthiest part of the hand cannon at 6.9 inches long.


title: Handgun

text: The hand cannon has a bulbous base at the breech called the "yaoshi" () or gunpowder chamber, where the explosion, that propels the projectile, occurs. The walls of the powder chamber are noticeably thicker to better withstand the explosive pressure of the gunpowder. The powder chamber also has a touch hole, a small hole for the fuse that ignites the gunpowder. Behind the gunpowder chamber is a socket shaped like a trumpet where the handle of the hand cannon is inserted. The bulbous shape of the base gave the earliest Chinese and Western cannons a vase-like or pear-like appearance, which gradually disappeared when advancements in metallurgical technology made the bulbous base obsolete.


title: Handgun

text: In 1432, Joseon dynasty under the reign of Sejong the Great introduced world's first handgun named se-chongtong (세총통). Se-chongtong has a total length of 13.8 cm, inner diameter of 0.9 cm, and outer diameter of 1.4 cm. Se-chongtong is held by cheolheumja (철흠자, iron tong-handle), which allows quick change barrel for the next shot, and fires chase-jeon (차세전, a type of standardized arrow of Joseon) with an maximum fatal range of 200 footsteps (≈250 meters). Initially, Joseon considered the gun as a failed project due to its short effective range, but se-chongtong quickly saw usage after fielding to the frontier provinces starting in June 1437. Se-chongtong was used by both soldiers of different units and civilians, including women and children, as a personal defense weapon. The gun was notably used by chetamja (체탐자, special reconnaissance), whose mission was to infiltrate enemy territory, and by carabinier carrying multiple guns benefited by its compact size.


title: Handgun

text: The matchlock was the first mechanism invented to facilitate the firing of a hand-held firearm. The classic European matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a small curved lever known as the serpentine. Upon the pulling of a lever (or in later models a trigger) protruding from the bottom of the gun and connected to the serpentine, the clamp dropped down, lowering the smoldering match into the flash pan and igniting the priming powder. The flash from the primer traveled through the touch hole igniting the main charge of propellant in the gun barrel.


title: Handgun

text: On release of the lever or trigger, the spring-loaded serpentine would move in reverse to clear the pan. For obvious safety reasons, the match would be removed before reloading of the gun. Both ends of the match were usually kept alight in case one end should be accidentally extinguished.


title: Handgun

text: The wheellock was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name comes from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. Developed in Europe around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock.


title: Handgun

text: The wheellock works by spinning a spring-loaded steel wheel against a piece of pyrite to generate intense sparks, which ignited gunpowder in a pan, which flashes through a small touchhole to ignite the main charge in the firearm's barrel. The pyrite is clamped in vise jaws on a spring-loaded arm (or "dog"), which rests on the pan cover. When the trigger is pulled, the pan cover is opened, and the wheel is rotated, with the pyrite pressed into contact.


title: Handgun

text: A close modern analogy of the wheellock mechanism is the operation of a cigarette lighter, where a toothed steel wheel is spun in contact with a piece of sparking material to ignite the liquid or gaseous fuel.


title: Handgun

text: A wheellock firearm had the advantage that it can be instantly readied and fired even with one hand, in contrast to the then-common matchlock firearms, which must have a burning cord of slow match ready if the gun might be needed and demanded the operator's full attention and two hands to operate. On the other hand, wheellock mechanisms were complex to make, making them relatively expensive.


title: Handgun

text: A flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, which was introduced in the early 17th century, and rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies.


title: Handgun

text: Flintlock pistols were used as self-defense weapons and as a military arm. Their effective range was short, and they were frequently used as an adjunct to a sword or cutlass. These pistols were usually smoothbore although some rifled pistols were produced.


title: Handgun

text: Flintlock pistols came in a variety of sizes and styles which often overlap and are not well defined, many of the names we use having been applied by collectors and dealers long after the pistols were obsolete. The smallest were less than 15 cm (5.9 inches) long and the largest were over 51 cm (20 inches). From around the beginning of the 1700s the larger pistols got shorter, so that by the late 1700s the largest were closer to 41 cm (16 inches) long. The smallest would fit into a typical pocket or a hand-warming muff and could easily be carried.


title: Handgun

text: The largest sizes would be carried in holsters across a horse's back just ahead of the saddle. In-between sizes included the coat pocket pistol, or coat pistol, which would fit into a large pocket, coach pistols, meant to be carried on or under the seat of a coach in a bag or box, and belt pistols, sometimes equipped with a hook designed to slip over a belt or waistband. Larger pistols were called horse pistols.


title: Handgun

text: Probably the peak of the mechanical development of the flintlock pistol was the English duelling pistol; it was highly reliable, water resistant and accurate. External decoration was minimal but craftsmanship was evident, and the internal works were often finished to a higher degree of craftsmanship than the exterior. Duelling pistols were the size of the horse pistols of the late 1700s, around 41 cm (16 inches) long and were usually sold in pairs along with accessories in a wooden case with compartments for each piece.


title: Handgun

text: The caplock mechanism or percussion lock was developed in the early 19th century and used a percussion cap struck by the hammer to set off the main charge, rather than using a piece of flint to strike a steel frizzen. They succeeded the flintlock mechanism in firearm technology.


title: Handgun

text: The rudimentary percussion system was developed by Reverend Alexander John Forsyth as a solution to the problem that birds would startle when smoke puffed from the powder pan of his flintlock shotgun, giving them sufficient warning to escape the shot.


title: Handgun

text: His invention of a fulminate-primed firing mechanism deprived the birds of their early warning system, both by avoiding the initial puff of smoke from the flintlock powder pan, as well as shortening the interval between the trigger pull and the shot leaving the muzzle. Forsyth patented his ignition system in 1807. However, it was not until after Forsyth's patents expired that the conventional percussion cap system was developed.


title: Handgun

text: The caplock offered many improvements over the flintlock. The caplock was easier to load, more resistant to weather, and was much more reliable than the flintlock. Many older flintlock weapons were later converted into caplocks so that they could take advantage of this increased reliability.


title: Handgun

text: The caplock mechanism consists of a hammer, similar to the hammer used in a flintlock, and a nipple (sometimes referred to as a "cone"), which holds a small percussion cap. The nipple contains a tube that goes into the barrel. The percussion cap contains a chemical compound called mercury fulminate or fulminate of mercury, the chemical formula of which is Hg(ONC). It is made from mercury, nitric acid and alcohol. When the trigger releases the hammer, it strikes the cap, causing the mercuric fulminate to explode. The flames from this explosion travel down the tube in the nipple and enter the barrel, where they ignite the main powder charge.


title: Handgun

text: In 1836, Samuel Colt patented the Colt Paterson, the first practical mass-produced revolver. It uses a revolving cylinder with multiple chambers aligned with a single, stationary barrel. Initially, this 5-shot revolver was produced in .28 caliber, with a .36 caliber model following a year later. As originally designed and produced, no loading lever was included with the revolver; a user had to partially disassemble the revolver to re-load it. Starting in 1839, a reloading lever and a capping window were incorporated into the design, allowing reloading without requiring partial disassembly of the revolver. This loading lever and capping window design change was also been incorporated into most Colt Paterson revolvers that had been produced from 1836 until 1839. Unlike later revolvers, a folding trigger was incorporated into the Colt Paterson. The trigger only became visible upon cocking the hammer.


title: Handgun

text: Colt would go on to make a series of improved revolvers. The Colt Walker, was a single-action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six charges of black powder behind six bullets (typically .44 caliber lead balls). It was designed in 1846 as a collaboration between Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker and American firearms inventor Samuel Colt. The 1847 Colt Walker was the largest and most powerful black powder repeating handgun that was ever made.


title: Handgun

text: The Colt 1851 Navy Revolver is a cap and ball revolver that was designed by Samuel Colt between 1847 and 1850. The six-round .36 caliber Navy revolver was much lighter than the contemporary Colt Dragoon Revolvers developed from the .44 Walker Colt revolvers of 1847, which, given their size and weight, were generally carried in saddle holsters. It is an enlarged version of the .31 caliber Colt Pocket Percussion Revolvers, that evolved from the earlier Baby Dragoon and, like them, is a mechanically improved and simplified descendant of the 1836 Paterson revolver. As the factory designation implied, the Navy revolver was suitably sized for carrying in a belt holster. It became very popular in North America at the time of Western expansion. Colt's aggressive promotions distributed the Navy and his other revolvers across Europe, Asia, and Africa. The .36 caliber (.375–.380 inch) round lead ball weighs 80 grains and, at a velocity of 1,000 feet per second, is comparable to the modern .380 pistol cartridge in power. Loads consist of loose powder and ball or bullet, metallic foil cartridges (early), and combustible paper cartridges (Civil War era), all combinations being ignited by a fulminate percussion cap applied to the nipples at the rear of the chamber.


title: Handgun

text: The Colt Army Model 1860 is a 6-shot muzzle-loaded cap & ball .44-caliber single-action revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces. More than 200,000 were manufactured from 1860 through 1873. Colt's biggest customer was the US Government with more than 129,730 units being purchased and issued to the troops. The weapon was a single-action, six-shot weapon, accurate up to 75 to 100 yards, where the fixed sights were typically set when manufactured. The rear sight was a notch in the hammer, only usable when the revolver was fully cocked. The Colt .44-caliber "Army" Model was the most widely used revolver of the Civil War. It had a six-shot, rotating cylinder, and fired a round spherical lead ball, or a conical-tipped bullet, typically propelled by a 30-grain charge of black powder, which was ignited by a small copper percussion cap that contained a volatile charge of fulminate of mercury (a substance that explodes upon being subjected to a sharp impact). The percussion cap, when struck by the hammer, ignited the powder charge. When fired, the balls had a muzzle velocity of about 900 feet per second (274 meters/second), although this depended on how much powder it was loaded with.


title: Handgun

text: The Smith & Wesson Model 1 was the first firearm manufactured by Smith & Wesson, with production spanning the years 1857 through 1882. It was the first commercially successful revolver to use metallic rimfire cartridges instead of loose powder, musket ball, and percussion caps. It is a single-action, tip-up revolver holding seven .22 Short black powder cartridges.


title: Handgun

text: The Smith & Wesson Model No. 2 Army is a 6-shot, .32 caliber revolver, intended to combine the small size and convenience of the Smith & Wesson Model 1 .22 rimfire with a larger more effective cartridge. It was manufactured 1861–1874, with a total production of 77,020 units.


title: Handgun

text: The Smith & Wesson Model 3 was a 6-shot, single-action, cartridge-firing, top-break revolver produced by Smith & Wesson from circa 1870 to 1915, and was recently offered again as a reproduction by Smith & Wesson and Uberti. The S&W Model 3 was originally chambered for the .44 S&W American and .44 Russian cartridges, and typically did not have the cartridge information stamped on the gun (as is standard practice for most commercial firearms). Model 3 revolvers were later produced in an assortment of calibers, including .44 Henry Rimfire, .44-40, .32–44, .38–44, and .45 Schofield. The design would influence the smaller S&W .38 Single Action that is retroactively referred to as the Model 2. All of these revolvers would automatically eject the spent shell cases when opened.


title: Handgun

text: The Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Single Action Army, SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, M1873, and Colt .45 is a single-action revolver with a revolving cylinder holding six metallic cartridges. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company — today's Colt's Manufacturing Company — and was adopted as the standard military service revolver until 1892. The Colt SAA has been offered in over 30 different calibers and various barrel lengths. Its overall appearance has remained consistent since 1873. Colt has discontinued its production twice, but brought it back due to popular demand. The revolver was popular with ranchers, lawmen, and outlaws alike, but as of the early 21st century, models are mostly bought by collectors and Cowboy Action Shooters. Its design has influenced the production of numerous other models from other companies. The Colt SAA "Peacemaker" revolver is a famous piece of Americana known as "The Gun That Won the West".


title: Handgun

text: In 1889, Colt introduced the Model 1889, the first truly modern double action revolver, which differed from earlier double action revolvers by having a "swing-out" cylinder, as opposed to a "top-break" or "side-loading" cylinder. Swing out cylinders quickly caught on, because they combined the best features of earlier designs. Top-break actions gave the ability to eject all empty shells simultaneously and exposed all chambers for easy reloading, but having the frame hinged into two halves weakened the gun and negatively affected accuracy due to lack of rigidity. "Side-loaders", like the earlier Colt Model 1871 and 1873 gave a rigid frame, but required the user to eject and load one cylinder at a time, as they rotated the cylinder to line each chamber up with the side-mounted loading gate.


title: Handgun

text: Smith & Wesson followed 7 years later with the <nowiki>"Hand Ejector, Model 1896"</nowiki> in .32 S&W Long caliber, followed by the very similar, yet improved, Model 1899 (later known as the Model 10), which introduced the new .38 Special cartridge. The Model 10 went on to become the best selling handgun of the 20th century, at 6,000,000 units, and the .38 Special is still the most popular chambering for revolvers in the world. These new guns were an improvement over the Colt 1889 design since they incorporated a combined center-pin and ejector rod to lock the cylinder in position. The 1889 did not use a center pin and the cylinder was prone to move out of alignment.


title: Handgun

text: The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is a 5 shot, revolver chambered for .38 Special. It is one of several models of "J-frame" Smith & Wesson revolvers. It was introduced in 1950, and is still in production. The Model 36 was designed in the era just after World War II, when Smith & Wesson stopped producing war materials and resumed normal production. For the Model 36, they sought to design a revolver that could fire the more powerful .38 Special round in a small, concealable package. Since the older I-frame was not able to handle this load, a new frame was designed, which became the Smith & Wesson J-frame.