Wheellock: Difference between revisions

A '''wheellock''', '''wheel-lock''' or '''wheel lock''' is a friction-wheel mechanism to which creates a spark that causes a [[firearm]] to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the [[matchlock]] and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is from its rotating steel wheel to provide ignition. Developed in Europe around 1500, it was used alongside the matchlock and was later superseded by the [[snaplock]] (1540s), the [[snaphance]] (1560s) and the [[flintlock]] (c. 1610s).