Hallo,
I'm also very interested to hear more about this. I have never heard about the No. 20 Mc Alpine pistol. The No.20 pistol is something different. In the case mentioned above, was the No.5 pistol used to crush the acetone ampule and start the delay ? I have only once seen mentioning of the McAlpine fuze in the book by Ian Jones "Malice Aforethought". I attach the picture from there. For many years I try to trace the development of the AC delay and the H2SO4 / ironwire delay. I was not able to find anything before 1917. Also the above bomb dates to 1917. Thank you Norman for naming the 2 Mc Alpine patents which I did not know. Any further info would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Bellifortis.
Hi Norman,
thanks for the additional info. So, considering all this info, McAlpine seems to be the inventor of the AC delay and the timeframe lies between 1915 and 1917. What about the corrosion of an ironwire by Sulphuric Acid delay (the US / GB time pencil being a development of this system). I asked about this before, but have not found an answer. By 1917 Germany, France and Finland were using this system, but where did it originate ?
Regards,
Bellifortis.