puolautomaattinen

Puolautomaattinen is a Finnish word that translates to "semi-automatic" in English. It describes a mechanism or device that performs a portion of its operation automatically but requires some form of human intervention to complete the cycle or initiate the next step. This contrasts with fully automatic systems, which operate independently once activated, and manual systems, which require continuous human input for every action.

In the context of firearms, a semi-automatic weapon is designed to load and fire a new cartridge after each shot, but it requires the trigger to be pulled again for each subsequent shot. The energy from the fired round is used to eject the spent casing and chamber a new round. This is a common feature in many modern rifles and handguns.

The term "semi-automatic" can also be applied to other mechanical devices. For example, a semi-automatic washing machine might automatically fill with water and agitate but require manual transfer of clothes to the spin cycle. Similarly, some industrial machinery might have semi-automatic operations where a worker loads a component, the machine performs a process, and then the worker unloads the finished product. The core principle remains the combination of automated steps with human interaction for essential control or transition points.