primer
A primer is a chemical that is ignited by an impact. A gun that ignites a gunpowder by striking this primer is called a primer gun. The basic primer was developed by Alexander John Forsyth, a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, to prevent birds from escaping because of gunpowder burning when they were hunting for a bird sitting there. Forsyth patented his invention in 1807, but the conventional primer did not work well until Forsyth's patent was abolished. A primer gun has several advantages over a senior gun. The primer was easy to load, well tolerated in bad weather, and more reliable than the chief in many ways. When the primer guns were compared to the senior guns and the relative strengths of the primers were taken into consideration, the weapons were replaced with primer weapons.