Agustin de Betancourt's plunger lock: Analysis of its construction through computer-aided engineering

The objective of this research is to analyze the construction of the plunger lock designed by Agustin de Betancourt in 1807. For this, a computer-aided engineering (CAE) study has been conducted, namely a static analysis by finite-elements method from the three-dimensional model built with computer-aided design (CAD) techniques using Autodesk Inventor Professional parametric software. The results show that the most unfavorable position occurs when the plunger is lifted, as in this position the elastic limits of the materials are exceeded. Therefore, the main conclusion is that the plunger lock is poorly dimensioned, although this is because the specifications sheets had only a functional or descriptive value, since the plunger lock was never put into practice. In any case, the Spanish engineer designed a novel diver-plunger lock-balance system.