Greetings,

I've been reading a bit about the brandistock, which was essentially a spear which functioned like modern gravity knives or police expandable/collapsible batons.

Does anyone know if there was such a thing as a "mechanical spear"? I'm thinking of something which appeared to be a simple staff, but at the push of a button a (narrow) spear head would have emerged straight from the interior of the shaft, much like the tip of a ball-point pen.

I can well imagine something like this having come out of the age of gears and springs in the late Renaissance.

Thanks in advance.

Never heard of such, but I freakin' want one! :D .........McM

If you read the myArmoury combination weapons article there are a couple of spears that have retracting blades, including the type of brandistock you mentioned.

In the Higgins Armory collection here in New England there is a "switchblade spear" which folds closed rather than retracts into the haft like the brandistock. It's very ornate and was probably some rich guy's collectable rather than an actual field weapon but it is still very dangerous looking.

Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Dan. I had all but forgotten about that fascinating article. I love the shield/sword/gauntlet/etc.-combo....That must have set someone back a few pennies way back in the day! :eek: :lol: ....McM

I have pics of what if I can recall correctly, is a folding sword spear, Italian. its on another computer.

the spear head is rather long which may be why I'm remembering it being referred to as a sword spear, it had a set of what looked like quillons in a upward 'U' that were also slender and bladed. the spear head was hinged and folds down, probably just to make it easier to carry.

I suspect that the developent of the type of spear you envisage was held back by the lack of the coil spring. A compact cylindrical power source would be required to drive the spear point out.
Brandistock and other such weapons used leaf tpye springs and catchesto lock the blade while relying on momentum to make the blade extend. This was an almost fault free system that continued through WW2 there many OSS/SOE concealed blades used the same principle.

Not really what you're talking about, but this is a pretty cool mechanical spear:

http://www.mezhov.info/en/huntingknives/557

This one is from the American Civil War, but is one, very cool retractable spear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAkKMhvTOe0

Here's a video of the Higgins Armory folding spetum/ranseur, which is sometimes listed as a "folding spear" in museums.

http://users.wpi.edu/~virtualarmory/spetum.html#.UsQ0UPYQQpB

On a personal note: It was my seeking more information about the brandistock from the London Tower museum which first brought me to the myArmoury website several years ago. If I could be indebted to an inanimate object, I would owe this one a good beer or scotch. Your initial post brought back memories of my discovery.

I once came across a musket rest with a hidden blade, I think it is in the Wallace collection. Will try to find a picture.

Here it is!
Found it in the book Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection by Tobias Capwell.
The book says it is from Italy, around 1600. The blade is hidden in the hollow shaft and can be slid out in a swift movement, after that it is held in place by a spring-catch. Looks quite impressive to me, and very elegant!
Hope it helps.

Happy New Year!
Miha

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Miha, that one is very famous (in this limited field).

I had a chance to inspect at least two walking sticks with retractable blades, one was fitted with a top blade, popping out of its handle knob (with a small hinged lid) while the other one had its blade coming out of a hole in its foot. Both were 19th century, west Europeans.