content_output-090_2 (Q6850)

The wheel-lock proper was invented in 1515 at Nuremberg, and its mechanism was entirely different to anything constructed up to that date. Its parts were a grooved steel wheel with serrated edge, which worked partly in the flash-pan, and was connected to the lock-plate by means of chain and strong spring, after the fashion of a watch-drum. The spring power was stored by winding the wheel up with a key or “spanner.” In front of the pan a catch was placed, moved by a strong spring, and holding a pyrite with its jaws. When ready for firing, the wheel was wound up, the flash-pan lid pushed back, and the pyrites held in the cock allowed to come in contact with the wheel. By pressure on the trigger a stop-pin was drawn back out of the wheel, and the latter, turning round, its pivot at a considerable speed, produced sparks by the friction against the pyrites, and thus ignited the priming.