Flintlock
Llave de chispa de sílex (llave francesa)
- Date
- c. 1610 · confidence medium
- Place
- Lisieux, Normandy, France
- Credited to
- Marin le Bourgeoys
- People
- 👤 Marin Bourgeois1550–1634
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A mechanism in which a flint strikes a steel frizzen that simultaneously uncovers the priming pan, all in a single cheap, reliable unit. It was the standard ignition system for two centuries.
The snaphance (c. 1550, Netherlands) and the Spanish/Italian miquelet are direct precursors; the French synthesis is due to Le Bourgeoys, around 1610.
What it led to
- The universal infantry musket and standing armies of musketeers
- The abandonment of the pike thanks to the socket bayonet
- Cheap firearms for settlers and hunters in America
Built on
- Wheellockc. 1500-1510
- Matchlock musketc. 1521
- Miquelet lock (Spain)
- Dutch snaphance
Made possible
- Bayonetc. 1647 (de cubo, 1687)
- Pennsylvania (Kentucky) long riflec. 1740
- Ferguson breech-loading rifle1776
- Percussion cap and priming1807 (cápsula c. 1814-1822)
- Brown Bess and Charleville muskets
- Pennsylvania rifle