Linstock

A linstock (also called a lintstock) is a staff with a fork at one end to hold a lighted slow match.

Not only could the charge flash back, but the recoil of the cannon might send the carriage toward the gunner.

Linstocks had curving arms called a serpentine that ended with a pinching metal jaw to grip the slow match, and a sharp point at the base to stick in the ground.

[4] Like much early modern military equipment, the linstock could have an additional function; 16th century examples had measurements in inches and a protractor engraved on the blade to allow the gun captain to check the angle.

[citation needed] By the mid-18th century, artillery pieces were being fitted with flintlock firing devices (known as gunlocks), rendering the linstock obsolete[5] though the linstock remained in service in many places where the older form of ignition was used, including the United States during the War of Independence and parts of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.