The pneumatic gun, referred to as a “wind gun” in old writings, is one of the applications of compressed air. The gun is equipped with a barrel that is screwed to the body of the gun and ends with a brass point which constitutes the bullet. The sturdy metal stock is the air reservoir; the air is compressed by a pump that is screwed onto it. The trigger activates the opening mechanism of the compressed air tank; when it leaves the barrel, the air transmits its force to the bullet.

The air gun was used a little at the end of the 18th century as a combat weapon, but to obtain sufficient firing power it was necessary to use tanks (sometimes separate from the gun itself) to compress air to about two hundred atmospheres, a very high pressure for a manually operated pump such as the model on display, which has seals made of leather.
Device on display.