Wheel lock

Wheel lock:

The next generation of the match guns are the wheel lock guns.

May be the concept of the wheel lock is very simple , but the thought that it would replace the match lock guns is revolutionizing.

Working:

The working of the wheel lock fire arms can be compared to the butane lighters.

In the butane lighters we compress the butane into the liquid form and it is covered by the steel wheel, so that when the wheel rotates against a metal, it ignites a small spark and the butane which can easily evaporate catches fire from the spark. So as long as the butane evaporates, fire goes on.......

So similarly wheel lock has a flint placed on the top of the wheel , and when the fire arm is triggered the wheel strikes the flint and produces a spark which ignites the gun powder and blows the projectile.

The above picture shows the mechanism of the wheel lock.

The mechanism in detail:

The wheel energy is stored in a spring which is loaded before triggering. The dog with an iron piece is placed on the wheel directly/ manually. The cap over the flash pan would pave a way for the sparks when they are produced due to the wheel lock mechanism and eventually the the gun powder in the flash pan ignites and the regular projectile work is done.

This mechanism has a great disadvantage when it comes to the durability of the springs.

These were used until 17th century and are replaced by flintlock guns.

Comments

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