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:
“Listening to learn isn’t about giving advice—at least not until asked—but about trying to understand exactly what someone means, how it is that someone looks at and feels about her particular situation.... Listening to learn from a daughter in adolescence, conspiring with her thoughts and feelings, keeps a mother in touch with a daughter’s growing and changing self.”
—Elizabeth Debold (20th century)
“never dare entrust them to a safe
For fear they burn a hole through two-foot steel.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)