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Early firearms required many tools and accessories for their proper use and maintenance. This clever design fulfilled a dual purpose as a spanner and priming flask. Small containers like this one would hold fine-grain gunpowder used to set off (or prime) the main charge in the barrel. A spanner would be used to operate a wheel-lock mechanism that enabled a gun to fire. On the gun, the jaws of the lock clamped a piece of flint or pyrites designed to rub against the rough edge of the wheel projecting into the pan. The wheel was revolved by a tightly coiled spring wound by the spanner and released when the gun's trigger was pulled causing sparks to ignite the gunpowder in the breech.

Page data

Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
3aec05a9925490f5
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
96704
Core
obj
Type
object
DTO data
{
    "id": "96704",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Combined Priming Flask and Wheel-Lock Spanner",
    "description": "Early firearms required many tools and accessories for their proper use and maintenance.  This clever design fulfilled a dual purpose as a spanner and priming flask.  Small containers like this one would hold fine-grain gunpowder used to set off (or prime) the main charge in the barrel.  A spanner would be used to operate a wheel-lock mechanism that enabled a gun to fire. On the gun, the jaws of the lock clamped a piece of flint or pyrites designed to rub against the rough edge of the wheel projecting into the pan. The wheel was revolved by a tightly coiled spring wound by the spanner and released when the gun's trigger was pulled causing sparks to ignite the gunpowder in the breech.",
    "date": "c. 1600–1650",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.43",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60757486"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Arms and Armor"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 18.1 x 5.7 cm (7 1/8 x 2 1/4 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Germany or Austria, first half of 17th Century"
    ],
    "accession": "1916.43"
}

Context sent to Scholar

Document identity
{
    "localId": "96704",
    "label": "Combined Priming Flask and Wheel-Lock Spanner",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
    "id": "96704",
    "contentType": "object",
    "title": "Combined Priming Flask and Wheel-Lock Spanner",
    "description": "Early firearms required many tools and accessories for their proper use and maintenance.  This clever design fulfilled a dual purpose as a spanner and priming flask.  Small containers like this one would hold fine-grain gunpowder used to set off (or prime) the main charge in the barrel.  A spanner would be used to operate a wheel-lock mechanism that enabled a gun to fire. On the gun, the jaws of the lock clamped a piece of flint or pyrites designed to rub against the rough edge of the wheel projecting into the pan. The wheel was revolved by a tightly coiled spring wound by the spanner and released when the gun's trigger was pulled causing sparks to ignite the gunpowder in the breech.",
    "date": "c. 1600–1650",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.43",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q60757486"
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Arms and Armor"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Overall: 18.1 x 5.7 cm (7 1/8 x 2 1/4 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "Germany or Austria, first half of 17th Century"
    ],
    "accession": "1916.43"
}
Document source extras
{
    "tec": "horn with brass and steel mounts",
    "tombstone": "Combined Priming Flask and Wheel-Lock Spanner, c. 1600–1650. Germany or Austria, first half of 17th Century. Horn with brass and steel mounts; overall: 18.1 x 5.7 cm (7 1/8 x 2 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance, 1916.43",
    "supportMaterials": [
        {
            "description": "brass and steel mounts"
        }
    ],
    "collection": "MED - Arms & Armor",
    "didYouKnow": "Many accessories that were used in hunting were made of the very animals that were to be hunted, this one here was made of horn.",
    "citations": [
        {
            "citation": "<em>Catalogue of Arms and Armour</em>. Vol. 4, <em>17th to 19th century and a few pieces of iron work</em>. [Boston, Massachusetts]: [Frank Gair Macomber], [1900-1915].",
            "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: No. (247) 272",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/CatArmsArmour4/page/n463"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Gilchrist, Helen Ives. <em>A Catalogue of the Collection of Arms &amp; Armor Presented to the Cleveland Museum of Art by Mr. and Mrs. John Long Severance; 1916-1923.</em> Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.",
            "page_number": "Mention: p. 158, F46",
            "url": "https://archive.org/details/SeveranceCollection1924/page/n232"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. <em>Arms and Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Museum, 1998.",
            "page_number": "p. 175, cat. no. 243"
        },
        {
            "citation": "Fliegel, Stephen N. <em>Arms &amp; Armor: The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007.",
            "page_number": "p. 195, cat. no. 260"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1916.43",
    "creditline": "Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John L. Severance",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 05:12:34.628000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 96704,
    "dept": "Medieval Art",
    "coll": "MED - Arms & Armor",
    "med": "horn with brass and steel mounts",
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
{
    "seq": 1,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1916.43/1916.43_web.jpg",
    "mediaId": "3aec05a9925490f5"
}