content_output-092_3 (Q6892)

Many years elapsed before the lock assumed even the shape and arrangement generally known, but it consisted of a mainspring upon the outside of the lockplate that answered also for the hammer-spring, and had no swivel; the scear and the piece of metal answering to what afterwards became the tumblers were fixed upon the inside of the lock-plate. The illustration represents an early Spanish flint-lock taken from a gun in the royal collection at Dresden, and which, from the ornamentation upon it, appears to be intended for a sporting weapon.