The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-28

in the cocks beak was brought into con-
tact with the serrated edge of the whrl-
ing wheel A succession of sparks fol-
lowed, as long as the wheel revolved, and
some of them were tolerably sure to reach
the powder.
The pistols manufactured in the seven
tenth century were far handsomer than
any that are made to-day. Soon after the
discovery of gunpowder, the medieval ar
morers set at the task of perfecting a wea-
pom in which to explode it. AS a result
of their efforts, the wheel-lock pistol was
evolved. There are now In private collec-
tons in this country and Europe several
fine specimens of these ancient wheel-locks
which are the despair of the artifcers of
to-day.
Inlaid with ivory gold and silver in lock,
stock and barrel the wheel-locks of that
day well deserved the name of precious
weapons" They were jeweled often at
enormous outlay Such gunsmiths as
Nicholas Bis, goldsmith to Philip V. of
SPAIN" charged forty pounds sterling for
a single pistol barrel and sometimes
worked at one for year. The wheel-lock,
from the very completely of its firing
mechanism, never came into general use
1t was always a rich mans weapon.
As the wheel-lock cost too much for the
ordinary man, the file-lock was evolved,
as a poor mans pistol. It's inadequacy
was so evident that the prize gunsmiths
of Italy and Spain, the two countries
where the finest medieval firearms were
made, put their wits TO work on an inn
proVement The fint-lock pistol was the
result, and the greatest wars and most
famous dueas, down to 1850, were all fought
with hintlocks. 1t is claimed that the
honor of inventing the fint-lock belongs
to a Spaniard named Miquelet but there
is no convincing evidence of 1t. Certain
it is that the fiint-lock was so serviceabe
c,o., o,,a1xr hlt in
officers of the United States army opposed
substituting for the tlint-lock the new
tangled percussion lock"
The improvements on the fiint-lock
which led to the percussion lock were COW
cred by English patents in the early part
of this century. A Illuminating compost
ton was first used, to be exploded by the
fall of the cock (Which had now become
identical with the hen, or hammer) and
this in turn led to the patenting, in Eng
land of a tube and cap of illuminate 10
fit on the tube While some pistols were
made under these patents as early as
1S20-30, percussion cap pistols did not come
into general knowledge until Samuel Colt
patented his revolver in London and Paris
in 1885 Colt had hard work to make the
percussion cap revolver go, and in 1917
his company became insolvent. Gen. Zach
airy Taylor insisted on having his soldiers
armed with these reVolvers in the MeXI-
can war and the government orders then
given laid the foundation of Colts for
tunes. So discouraged had he became that
when this order reached him Mr.. Colt
had to make new model; his old one had
actually been lost.
The great difference between the print
tive and modern revolver seems TO be IN
the fact that the barrels of The former,
each fitted with its own individual firing
mechanism, printing pan and trigger,
were revolved directly by the hand, While
the firing mechanism of the latter Is con-
nected with and revolves the cylinder car
rying the cartridges, the barrel or barreiS
being stationary. A noticeable improve
ment on the modern revolving cylinder was
believed to have been found in the mi
tralleuse pistol, which, as attested by the
small arms board of The United States
navy at Newport, fired twenty-four rim
less cartridges, charged with smokeless
powder, in forty-four seconds, with an et-
fective range of $50 metres. This test was
maue nearly three years ago, but the mi
railleus pistol has not yet been adopted
in any arm Of the service.