page_title: Flintlock mechanism
section_title: Other uses
hierarchical_section_title: Flintlock mechanism / Other uses
caption_attribution_description: English: German National Museum ( Nuremberg / Germany ). Table clock with flint lock( 1550s ), from southern Germany. Deutsch: Germanisches Nationalmuseum ( Nürnberg / Deutschland ). Tischuhr mit Steinschnappschloss ( ca. 1550 ), aus Süddeutschland.
context_page_description: The flintlock mechanism is a type of lock used on muskets, rifles, and pistols from the early 17th to the mid-19th century. It is commonly referred to as a "flintlock", though that term is also commonly used for the weapons themselves as a whole, and not just the lock mechanism.
  The flintlock mechanism, also known as the true flintlock, was developed in France in the early 17th century. It quickly replaced earlier technologies, such as the matchlock and wheellock and the earlier flintlocks. It continued to be in common use for over two centuries, until it was finally replaced by the percussion lock.
context_section_description: Some early land mines, or fougasses, were detonated by flintlocks. Flintlocks were also used to launch Congreve rockets.
  A flintlock tinder lighter, or tinder pistol, was a device that saw use in wealthy households from the 18th Century until the invention of reliable matches. It somewhat resembled a small flintlock pistol, but without a barrel and with a candle holder and with legs so it could be stood upright. When the trigger was pulled, the sparks from the frizzen lit dry tinder in the pan, from which the candle would be quickly lit. The device provided a quick and reliable source of light, and flame for the lighting of fires.
  Alarm clocks exist that, as well as sounding a bell, used a flintlock mechanism to light a candle. German and Austrian-made examples of these, dating from the 18th century, are preserved in the collections of the British Museum and the Hermitage Museum in Russia. An example dating from 1550 is in the 
  Germanisches Nationalmuseum (German National Museum) in Nuremberg.
caption: A clock, fitted with a flintlock to light a candle, c.1550. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
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