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oa An Early Industrial Application for Malleable Platinum
Its Use in Flintlock Firearms
- Source: Platinum Metals Review, Volume 25, Issue 2, Apr 1981, p. 74 - 81
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- 01 Jan 1981
Abstract
For a period in the early nineteenth century, when malleable platinum was first available commercially, the high temperature and corrosion resistant properties of the metal were utilised for the manufacture of the touch-holes and pans of flintlock pistols, guns and rifles by English gunmakers, who also used it for some simple decorative purposes. Advances in firearms technology resulted in the effective disappearance of this application round about 1820, although by then platinum was used in various forms of percussion gun. This article considers some aspects of the flintlock use, including the claim made by Joseph Manton that he was the inventor of platinum touch-holes.
© Johnson Matthey