14th century bronze and plastic(?) gonne.

[Darto]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_cannonI was reading the article 'hand cannon' on Wikipedia, at the bottom the second European exhibit (i.e. the second earliest historical artifact) was the Morko Handgonne. Behind the touch hole was a man's head (I'm guessing it represented Joseph from the Bible).

Well and good, but wikipedia said "Decorated with a fully plastic bearded mans head above the touch hole and a religious inscription in gothic minuscule MARIA several times."

My question is what does 'fully plastic' mean?

 

[Darto]

I'm also guessing the ramp shaped neck was to guide the match on the linstock to the touchole. Instead of raking the match all around in search of the hole, you just touched the end of the match to the neck and slid it downward.

 

[DuncNZ]

I googled Fully Plastic and this is what I found : Fully Plastic Condition - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

 

[deerstalkert]

Old Wiki of wikipedia isn't the sharpest tool in the box. looks brass to me but then again plastic never degrades so........?

 

[necchi]

My question is what does 'fully plastic' mean?

"Pliable or Easily shaped" was the original term for plas-tic,
C-4 explosive,, was/is "plastic" explosive in it's early terms.
Metals that we consider normally hard can be made to a plastic form with additives. Bronze, aka; brass and zinc, can become more "plastic" with a higher content of zinc.
It's a matter of the word being used in different context. With the object described in your link,, plastic is used to define the artistic aspect of the single attachment, basically it was shaped after cast,,

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

I suspect that the barrel was cast bronze and the head shape was cast of lower temperature and strength or more 'malleable' alloy (hence use of the engineering term 'plastic' when used with metals) that was then affixed to the barrel.

My best guess would be that a male plug or button ('T'-shaped at the top) projects up off the cast barrel behind the touch hole that the figurine was then cast around, which would hold the 2 pieces together.

It is doubtful that the beard served as a ramp for the lit punk or tinder fungus to ignite the touch hole per se, but rather the head would give the shooter a visual spot at which to place their ignition source to. Recall way back then, firing such hand gonnes was often a two person affair - one aiming, one igniting ...

The Mörkö handgonne from Sweden, a medieval hand cannon of cast bronze in 21mm caliber. It was allegedly found before 1828 in the Baltic Sea at the coast of Södermansland, near Nynäs, by a fisherman..