The real story about spanners:
>In the old days when the method of operation on a "Firelock" musket
>required the operator to compress a heavy duty spring to "cock' the hammer
>before firing the weapon, [called spanning the lock, an operation requiring
>strong hands] a tool was invented which allowed the 'spanning of the lock'
to
>be completed easily, the tool became known as a "spanner" and this is how
>the spanner got it's name.
This is close but not quite correct.
In the latter part of the 16th century a new firearm ignition system
came into use by the rich or elite in Europe. It was called a
wheel-lock.
Earliest firearms were set off by a match (a linen, hemp, or cotton
rope nitrated so that it would burn hot but slow). It was hard to aim
and set off the charge at the same time because the gunner's attention
was diverted, so a mechanism was devised to hold the match in the jaw
of a "cock". A lever was pulled that lowered the cock and burning
match into a pan of priming powder that was exposed, through a small
hole, to the charge of powder in the barrel.
The "cock" was so named because it resembled the neck and beak of a
chicken with the match extending from the mouth of the chicken. Often
the cock was made to look more like a chicken neck and head by
ornamentation of the metal.
This system worked fine except that the gunner always had to have a
lit match or he couldn't fire his musket. Think about that.
The wheel lock did not totally replace this system because the wheel
lock was so expensive to produce. There was also a problem with the
spanner. The wheel lock works as follows:
The wheel lock still had a pan with priming powder and the pan was
still vented to the barrel. A sliding cover was provided to keep the
prime in place. Protruding through the bottom of the pan was a
serrated wheel. The wheel had to fit very precisely into the pan or
the powder, which was a fine powder at that time, like talc, would
work out of the pan and into the mechanism. Very bad.
There was still a cock, but now the cock held a piece of iron pyrite
in its jaw. Now, when ready to fire, the cock was held against the
pan cover by a spring. The spring was strong but most anyone could
pull it back into the "safe" position without trouble.
The wheel of the wheel lock was supported on both sides. On the
outside of the lock, below the pan, a bridge crossed the wheel with a
bearing for the wheel shaft. The shaft extended beyond the bridge and
was made square on the end. The other end extended through the lock
plate to the interior of the lock. The inside of the shaft was made
in a spiral shape, kind of like old Bible pictures of the Tower of
Babel. Fixed to the shaft spiral at the fat end was a tiny bicycle
chain of only a few links. The other end of the chain was fixed to a
heavy spring. As the wheel was wound, the chain would wrap around the
spiral to the small end and the spring would be compressed. When
fully wound a dog (another story on this name) would fit into a slot
in the wheel, holding it in place.
When the trigger was pulled, the dog came out of its slot and the
wheel would spin fast. Because of the spiral the greatest speed would
come to play when the spring was tightest and, as the spring was
relaxed, greater leverage was achieved. At the same time the wheel
was released the cover of the pan would slide away allowing the cock
and its pyrite to come in contact with the spinning wheel. This would
make sparks just like a BIC lighter. The rest is obvious.
The spanner? This was just like the key you use to wind the mantle
clock. The end fit over the square end of the wheel shaft and the
other end of the spanner was shaped like a butterfly or ended in one
long lever. The problem was that the spanner was separate. If you
were in battle and you dropped your spanner, from horseback for
example, your wheel lock was useless.
We know the expression "cock your pistol", but this came about later,
in the days of the flintlock and its predecessors, the snaphaunse
(snapping hen, Dutch), dog lock (English), and miguelette (little
Miguel?- Spanish) I have no idea what expression they used in the
days of the wheel lock. It could have been "span your firelock", but
probably not.
Finally, I have no idea why they called it a spanner. Think about the
complexity of this mechanism though. You can see why only the rich
had it. Also, it was very reliable and was in use for about 200 years.
I am just doing this from memory and I hope I didn't screw it up too
bad. Hmmm... Screw your lock????
________________________________________________________
From: (Glenn Mapes) on Wed, Oct 30, 1996 7:47 AM
Subject: FW: Spanner?
To: Burgoon, Augie
Augie
Here's another story for you.
Glenn
----------
From: Scotty
To: mgs
Cc: British-cars-pre-war
Subject: Spanner?
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 10:40PM
Hi All,
I asked "Why is a spanner called a spanner?" and was told this,
The story sounds plausable enough to me, can any one out there
confirm this little bit of trivia? Oh! LBC content - I use spanners on
my
MG`s ;^)
Regards.
John[Scotty]Scott.
Adelaide.Australia.
'79 MGB-LE Auto
'33 J2 #4330 [Restoration project]
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