self-acting en · ADJ
Etymology
From self- + acting.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Acting of or by itself.
On this railway there were three inclined planes of the self-acting type, the full wagons pulling up the empty.
1947 May and June, “Notes and News: The Fordell Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 188:The door is fitted with a powerful spring and a feather-touch self-acting lock. It cannot be left unlocked unless you deliberately prop it open.
1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados: