Leonardo's snap lock. The missing link ?

[Raf]

Brilliant! Thanks for that Fernando. I hoped somewhere their would be an internal detail of the Turin double lock . I am re posting it here because I think it makes sense in the thread. The long locking bar for the wheelock wheel with no secondary prop looks like an interim stage in the evolution of the idea . It does have some other interesting features. The pancover appears to be pushed open not , as one would expect by a cam on the wheelshaft but by a spring which is released by the cam on the end of the wheelshaft. Which again suggests an early stage in the development of an idea . However I cant immediately see how the trigger mechanism for the snaplock is supposed to work . Any ideas ?

I am also re posting a second Wheelock from the same museum because technically and stylistically it is very similar . Also note again the distinctive style of the cock screw and the matching square headed bolt on cock pivot. The suggested date for this is 1550. If the Turin double lock is of a similar date then this ought to make this earliest known example of a snaplock with a combined steel and pancover .