Mechanical Spear

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by Queequeg

Greetings,

I've been reading a bit about the brandistock, which was essentially a spear which functioned like modern gravity knives or police expandable/collapsible batons.

Does anyone know if there was such a thing as a "mechanical spear"? I'm thinking of something which appeared to be a simple staff, but at the push of a button a (narrow) spear head would have emerged straight from the interior of the shaft, much like the tip of a ball-point pen.

I can well imagine something like this having come out of the age of gears and springs in the late Renaissance.

Thanks in advance.

There were walking canes commonly referred to as flick sticks that operate in this manner, being gravity activated, also swagger sticks and very short sticks 12" in length.
These are mostly Victorian period but they may be older and based on an older idea as the mechanism is simple...Catherine Dike's book is in storage so I can not refer to it at this point in time.

Gavin