The wars that took place in the twentieth century, forced the manufacturers of weapons and metal to re-evaluate the capabilities of these industries. After all, progress does not stand still, and the consumer needs more and more new models of goods. For people who often come across industrial terms, the word "blank" is not new. So what is a blank?
Kings of metallurgy
Any pan, pan, skeleton of a car is a metal part, which is processed in a special way, giving it the desired shape. To make the delivery of the base more “comfortable”, the iron is formed in a special way in dense monolithic ingots of different sizes. Such an ingot is a blank.
Metal rolling is familiar to most ordinary people only in films. Few people know that this is a continuous process that requires maximum attention and skill from the steelworkers. In order to protect the workers of the hot shop while fulfilling the assigned tasks, they try to reduce the time of interaction with the hot mass. Hot alloy is poured into special forms, forming blanks for sale.
Ancient roots
Of course, "blank" is a strange word. Do you know that it was created from an older version of “idiot” and “idol”? It comes from the Pre-Slavic language. The word "blockhead" most often referred to as stone idols mounted on shrines, or huge boulders and boulders falling off a cliff.
In craftwork, blanks are called templates or blanks used for further work. Not for nothing in the old days were apprentices or apprentices making stuff in their chosen case. Wooden spoons, clay pots are a prime example. With the advent of computer technology, it has become the norm to call drives or discs discs. This does not apply to everyone, but only clean, ready to record.
Warfare
Many useful inventions appeared only due to the fact that the military was looking for a way to speed up the conquests or make life easier for soldiers at the front. The artillery shells exchanged between the opponents had the form of an elongated, pointed cylinder on one side. The second edge was flat, which allowed powder gases accumulating in the cannon to push it out of the barrel.
Such cylinders could have different sizes, weights, and even be hollow inside. They were used to transfer anti-personnel mines, leaflets, shrapnel or other deadly filler.
Over time, gunsmiths figured out how to remotely not only detonate, but also program for certain actions (time of an explosion, search for a target) these elements. For them, a blank is a way to achieve a given goal.