A touch hole is a small hole through which the propellant charge of a cannon or muzzleloading gun is ignited. In small arms, the flash from a charge of priming held in the flash pan is enough to ignite the charge within. In artillery, priming powder, a fuse, squib, or friction igniter is inserted into the touch hole to ensure ignition of the charge.
The powder in the touch hole was lit either with a slow match, a linstock or a type of Flintlock mechanism that was known as a gunlock.
Read more about Touch Hole: Spiking The Guns
Famous quotes containing the words touch and/or hole:
“O world invisible, we view thee, O world intangible, we touch thee, O world unknowable, we know thee, Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!”
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907)
“But the surface of the Earth was meant for man. He wasn’t meant to live in a hole in the ground.”
—Edward L. Bernds (b. 1911)