ray projector n.

a large ray gun n.

Weaponry

  • 1916 Moving Picture World 4 Mar. 1491/2 page image

    Much of the excitement in these two reels is produced by Legar’s use of an electric ray projector, which enables him to set buildings on fire.

  • [1922 R. Cummings Fire People in Argosy All-Story Weekly 28 Oct. 700/1 page image Ray Cummings bibliography

    Mercer had been killed by a tiny light-ray projector, with a short, effective radius, aimed probably like a revolver.]

  • 1928 E. Hamilton Crashing Suns in Weird Tales Sept. 382/1 page image Edmond Hamilton bibliography

    My own flagship and the designated few agreed on were dipping swiftly toward the great tower-platform, where stood the ray-projector which we had fought our way from universe to universe to reach.

  • 1930 J. W. Campbell Black Star Passes in Amazing Stories Quarterly Fall 519/2 page image John W. Campbell, Jr. bibliography

    Earth and Venus were each equipped with gigantic ray projectors, mighty ray guns that could destroy anything, even a body as large as the moon, at a distance of ten thousand miles.

  • 1934 E. E. Smith Triplanetary in Amazing Stories Jan. 24/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    Costigan had seen that there was a third enemy…a pirate who was even then training a ray projector upon him.

  • 1956 ‘R. Greer’ Calling Captain Flint in Amazing Stories Aug. 87/1 page image Richard Greer bibliography

    And was immediately caught in the chest by the hot, powerful beam of a semi-portable ray projector.

  • 1978 P. Anderson Avatar 15 page image Poul Anderson bibliography

    She knew what the watchcraft looked like: a tapered gray cylinder so as to be capable of planetfall, missile launcher and ray projector recessed into the sleekness—wholly foreign to the huge, equipment-bristling, fragile sphere which was Emissary.

  • 1989 H. Harrison Bill the Galactic Hero: Planet of the Robot Slaves 129 page image Harry Harrison bibliography

    Fighting Devil hummed to itself as the sky lightened in the west—the planet of Usa rotated backward—as it reloaded all its weapons and charged up the ray projectors.

  • 2003 D. Simmons Ilium 530 page image Dan Simmons bibliography

    The machines had bulbous, black-glassed cockpits and were festooned with whip comm antennae and what looked to be weapons—missiles, guns, bombs, ray projectors.

  • 2015 G. Lovisi Invisible Men 48 Gary Lovisi bibliography

    Shamar also told me about a strange weapon they had—which seemed to be some kind of a beam gun or ray projector. It was mounted on their ship and it shot a beam of light that they had used to burn the Winged-men out of the sky.


Research requirements

antedating 1916

Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1930 cite from John W. Campbell, Jr.'s "The Black Star Passes".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1953 cite from Eric Frank Russell's "Somewhere a Voice".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1940 cite from D. D. Sharp's "The Lodestone Core".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1956 cite from Richard Greer's "Calling Captain Flint".
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1960s reprint of Edmond Hamilton's "Crashing Suns"; Jesse Sheidlower verified this in its original publication in Weird Tales.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1922 cite from "The Fire People" by Ray Cummings, in the form "light-ray projector".
Bill Mullins submitted a 1916 cite from a movie-review column.
Jacek Dobrzyniecki submitted a 1978 cite from Poul Anderson's "Avatar"; this cite is not found in the short story the novel is based on (in Asimov's, Fall 1977).
Jacek Dobrzyniecki submitted a 1989 cite from Harry Harrison's "Bill the Galactic Hero Volume 1".
Jacek Dobrzyniecki submitted a 2003 cite from Dan Simmons' "Ilium".
Jacek Dobrzyniecki submitted a 2015 cite from Gary Lovisi's "Invisible Men".

Last modified 2021-08-19 18:06:47
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.