Early round wooden powder flask

adrian · 1st May 2018, 09:49 PM

Can you please give us the dimensions? also, I presume a measure was used to gauge the correct amount of powder, and that the flask has the spring-loaded cap only.
We do not often see items of this age. thank you for showing it!

Hi Richard, thank you for your input & comments. The body is 130mm diameter & the spout is 57mm long.
It has a spring loaded cap & also it has a spring loaded shut off below the base of the spout. In reading Riling's "Powder Flask" book he describes this arrangement & attributes flasks with this double shut off system as being, logically, transitional between early flasks with a spout cap (one step up from a removable spout plug) & flasks with a shut off, a system so successful it is still used today. Both functions on my example have completely seized up, though I am sure that this could be remedied with a penetrating lubricant & TLC.

Michael showed quite a few examples of trapezoid flasks with this double system.

It is undeniable that the spring loaded cap is unnecessary when there is a base shut off - & it would have been an added expense. I speculate that it survived in use as a safety cap, to prevent a spark falling into the open & vertical spout, & as a measure of wet weather protection. Once powder horns, which hang horizontally, superseded powder flasks that hang vertically, any need for a safety/weather cap was greatly diminished.

1st May 2018, 09:49 PM	#6
adrian Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 132	Can you please give us the dimensions? also, I presume a measure was used to gauge the correct amount of powder, and that the flask has the spring-loaded cap only. We do not often see items of this age. thank you for showing it! Hi Richard, thank you for your input & comments. The body is 130mm diameter & the spout is 57mm long. It has a spring loaded cap & also it has a spring loaded shut off below the base of the spout. In reading Riling's "Powder Flask" book he describes this arrangement & attributes flasks with this double shut off system as being, logically, transitional between early flasks with a spout cap (one step up from a removable spout plug) & flasks with a shut off, a system so successful it is still used today. Both functions on my example have completely seized up, though I am sure that this could be remedied with a penetrating lubricant & TLC. Michael showed quite a few examples of trapezoid flasks with this double system. It is undeniable that the spring loaded cap is unnecessary when there is a base shut off - & it would have been an added expense. I speculate that it survived in use as a safety cap, to prevent a spark falling into the open & vertical spout, & as a measure of wet weather protection. Once powder horns, which hang horizontally, superseded powder flasks that hang vertically, any need for a safety/weather cap was greatly diminished.