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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
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- 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 & 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 & 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"
}