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Originally Posted by Raf
The combined spring and primary sear is a feature of some of the earliest surviving Wheelock’s including of course Leonardo’s famous drawing. .
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This combo function is also seen on the Spanish
patilla lock (aka miquelet). Of course that type of lock has a half-cock safety so a notched stud that performs that function is attached to a secondary sear arm which is also engaged by the trigger to withdraw the primary sear from full cock.
Another interesting parallel to the
patilla is the activation of the cock itself -- via upward pressure of the mainspring against a projection (likened to the heel of a foot,
patilla meaning "little foot"). In turn, this same arrangement was used to power the serpentine of the Bohemian
Schnapp-Lunte which was the basis for the so-called Indo-Portuguese snap matchlock introduced throughout East Asia in the 16th cent.