Extra button on wheellocks

johnhb · 25th December 2011, 07:52 PM

For my first post I would like to raise a question about the functioning of early wheellock mechanism.

Reference, the excellent paper, "What Can be Learned from the Landeszeughaus Wheellock Collection in Graz, Austria", Robert E. Brooker. < http://asoac.org/bulletins/95_brooker_graz.pdf>

Brooker shows a number of early locks, RG2, 3, 4, 5, and 285 where there is a button on the face of the lockplate, passing through the "V" of the mainspring and threaded into the sear. It appears as though pushing on the button will engage the sear with the hole in the wheel. It seems that winding would be a little clumsy since as the spanner was cranked the button would need to be pressed to lock the wheel in the wound position. In the top view of RG3 locks a leaf spring seems to be placed to apply a force to the sear but it is not clear from the illustrations as to which way the spring operates - to latch or unlatch the sear.

Why did the early (roughly pre 1560) have this arrangement?

Starting with RG9 the "new" design locks with safety catch no longer have the button.

Does anyone know the history of the design of these locks in more detail?

Best Regards,

Johnhb

25th December 2011, 07:52 PM	#1
johnhb Member Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 3	Extra button on wheellocks For my first post I would like to raise a question about the functioning of early wheellock mechanism. Reference, the excellent paper, "What Can be Learned from the Landeszeughaus Wheellock Collection in Graz, Austria", Robert E. Brooker. < http://asoac.org/bulletins/95_brooker_graz.pdf> Brooker shows a number of early locks, RG2, 3, 4, 5, and 285 where there is a button on the face of the lockplate, passing through the "V" of the mainspring and threaded into the sear. It appears as though pushing on the button will engage the sear with the hole in the wheel. It seems that winding would be a little clumsy since as the spanner was cranked the button would need to be pressed to lock the wheel in the wound position. In the top view of RG3 locks a leaf spring seems to be placed to apply a force to the sear but it is not clear from the illustrations as to which way the spring operates - to latch or unlatch the sear. Why did the early (roughly pre 1560) have this arrangement? Starting with RG9 the "new" design locks with safety catch no longer have the button. Does anyone know the history of the design of these locks in more detail? Best Regards, Johnhb