wheellock
Sign in to saveAlso known as wheel-lock, wheel lock
right|thumb|A wheellock pistol or puffer, Augsburg, c. 1580 A wheellock, wheel-lock, or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock, and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. Developed in Europe around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock (), the snaplock (), the snaphance (), and the flintlock ().
~14 min read
Encyclopedic overview
12 sectionsContents
- Design
- The "dog"
- The wheel
- The pan
- The sear or trigger mechanism
- Preparing to fire
- Operation
- History
- Features
- See also
- References
- External links
right|thumb|A wheellock pistol or puffer, Augsburg, c. 1580 A wheellock, wheel-lock, or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock, and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. Developed in Europe around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock (), the snaplock (), the snaphance (), and the flintlock ().
==Design== The wheellock works by spinning a spring-loaded steel wheel against a piece of pyrite to generate intense sparks, which ignite gunpowder in a pan, which flashes through a small touchhole to ignite the main charge in the firearm's barrel. The pyrite is clamped in vise jaws on a spring-loaded arm (or 'dog'), which rests on the pan cover. When the trigger is pulled, the pan cover is opened, and the wheel is rotated, with the pyrite pressed into contact.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “wheellock” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.