Cleveland Museum of Art

Spanner for a Wheel Lock Gun

Date

1600s

Medium

steel

Culture

Germany

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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. This spanner operated a wheel-lock mechanism that enabled a gun to fire.

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