Collection record · Objects & craft
Spanner for a Wheel Lock Gun
The collection record classifies this work as arms and armor. It is dated 1600s. Recorded culture or place: Germany.
Explore the object recordOBJECT RECORD
A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Spanner for a Wheel Lock Gun
- Date
- 1600s
- Culture / origin
- Germany
- Materials and technique
- steel
- Dimensions
- Overall: 16.5 x 2.5 cm (6 1/2 x 1 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 2008.171
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Early firearms required many different tools to operate. These tools did not have to remain purely practical but could be decorated and embellished. A spanner was integral to a wheel lock gun. The wheel lock 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 spanner was needed to turn the wheel and spring, readying the gun to be fired.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of Dr. Marvin Shie · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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