SCIMITAR, a short crooked sword, more or less incurvated.
To SCOUR, (Battre à toute volée, Fr.) This term is frequently used to express the act of firing a quick and heavy discharge of ordnance or musquetry, for the purpose of dislodging an enemy.—Hence to scour the rampart or the covert way. It likewise signifies to clear, to drive away, viz. To scour the seas: Ecumer les mers, Fr.—To scour the streets: Ecumer les rues; also to run about in a loose desultory manner, as to scour the country.
To SCOUR a line, is to flank it, so as to see directly along it, that a musquet ball, entering at one end, may fly to the other, leaving no place of security.
SCOUTS, are generally horsemen sent out before, and on the wings of an army, at the distance of a mile or two, to discover the enemy, and give the general an account of what they see. See [Videttes].
SCREW, (Escrou, Fr.) One of the mechanical powers, which is defined a right cylinder cut into a furrowed spiral. Wilkins calls it a kind of wedge, that is multiplied or continued by a helical revolution about a cylinder, receiving its motion not from any stroke, but from a vectis at one end of it.
Screws, in gunnery, are fastened to the cascable of light guns and howitzers, by means of an iron bolt, which goes through a socket fixed upon the centre transom, to elevate or depress the piece with, instead of wedges.
Screw of direction, (Vis de Pointage, Fr.) The screw of direction, used in the artillery, is formed of a brass horizontal roller, placed between the two cheeks of the carriage. The trunnions of the roller move upon two vertical iron pivots, which are fixed against the interior sides of the cheeks. By means of this screw the direction of pieces is either raised or lowered with a regular movement, and in the smallest space.
The screw of direction, or Vis de Pointage, is equally used for howitzers as well as for heavy pieces of ordnance. It has been invented by the French, and serves in lieu of the Coins à Cremaillère, or indented coins. So little progress has military science made in the United States, that there are many old officers in the U. States’ service who know nothing even of this little but important particular.
Lock Screws. Small screws which are attached to the lock of a musquet.
SCULLCAP. See [Helmet].