Friction primer

A friction primer is a device to initiate the firing of muzzle-loading cannon.

The tube fits into the cannon touch hole burying its lower end in the gunpowder chamber.

This slider wire is twisted into a loop on the opposite side of the gunpowder tube.

A sharp tug on the lanyard pulls the roughened slider wire through the priming mixture which responds like a match, igniting the gunpowder in the tube through the touch hole into the main powder charge within the chamber of the cannon.

[2] Friction primers were packed in sawdust in tinned metal boxes for storage and transport.