No 18 series / NO 19A fuze

[jvollenberg]

Anyone have pictures of these fuzes? I am wondering where they marked them. They seem very small by the documentation I am looking at.

Joe

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1397&d=1215253507

Right here on BOCN.
Regards,
John

 

[jvollenberg]

Thanks ... was wondering if anyone has a real one by chance?

Joe

 

[glevum]

see ebay item 150490147578

 

[Mrfuze]

No. 18 fuze image & cutaway

Here are some images.........
Mrfuze, USA

 

[Mrfuze]

more images from No.18 nose fuze

Hello John,
here are some more images showing the top cap of it and another one with the center square cap.
Mrfuze, USA

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18, Mark II Fuze;

Mr. Fuze,
Excelent images and great positions for drawing them. The stamp at left, on the last image, appears to be RL II, however, I cannot make out the stamp at six o'clock.
Thank you for the additional images.
Do you have other British fuzes of the 1850-70 era you would share.
Best Regards,
John

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18 Sectioned;

Would you agree that the below sectioned fuze is a No. 18? I presume the No. 17, 18 and 19A were all nose fuzes? The RL drawing states that it is a delay action impact fuze. Is the C.E. pellet in the base a timed control burn being initiated at discharge of the gun? Does anyone know the composition of C.E.? I presume this is used in all the D.A. impact fuzes?

Regards,
John

 

[jvollenberg]

thanks ... these are perfect. Will help make a nice looking publication.

Joe

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18 Fuze Operation;

This one is a real puzzler;
If the No 18 is a nose fuze, then the C.E. pellet would have to provide a time delay in order to hit the target, otherwise an inbore explosion would result. As a base fuze it needs no explaination, mere impact inertia will cause detonation.
Does someone have documentation on how it functions.
Does C.E. stand for Composition Explosive.
Someone out there must have a reasonable explaination.
yours aye,
John

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18 Fuze Description;

Thanks to Spotter here is a excerpt from Treatise on Ammo, 1915:
Also a improved sectional drawing of the fuze.

"
279
FUZE, PERCUSSION, D.A. IMPACT, No. 18, MARK II I C I .
(Plate XLVII.)

This fuze was introduced for use with common lyddite shell, in the Land Service, for Coast Defence guns, Q.F., 12-pr. to 4.7-inch inclusive. In the Naval Service with the B.L., 4-inch, Q.F., 12- and 14-pr., 4-inch and 4-7-inch.
This fuze, as existing stock is used up, will be superseded by the D.A. Impact, No. 45, fuze.
Description.The fuze consists of the following parts :Body, bottom plug, percussion holder with detonator, screw collar, steel plug and shearing pin, safety cap and securing pin.
Body.The body is generally similar to the Fuze, percussion, D.A. Impact, No. 13, Mark IV, but longer, and the lower part of the body is not screw-threaded. It is bored out from the bottom to form a magazine and screw-threaded for the bottom plug. The fuze body is also bored out from the top to take the percussion holder, a central channel forming a communication between the percussion chamber and the magazine of the fuze ; this channel is filled with loose " com*position exploding," stemmed in, and retained in position by a disc of thin white paper secured with shellac.
A disc of tinfoil is shellaced into a recess in the bottom of the percussion chamber.
The magazine of the fuze contains a pellet of " composition explod*ing," compressed under a pressure of 2 tons per square inch ; the bottom is closed by a solid screw plug, covered on the inside with a disc of shalloon and coated on the underside with Pettman's cement.
Percussion holder.The percussion holder screws into the top of the fuze. Suspended in this holder by means of a steel shearing pin is a steel plug with a needle point ; this needle point is directly over a detonator.
The detonator contains four grains of fulminate of mercury ; it fits into a brass collar screwed into the underside of the percussion holder.
A brass disc placed on top of the holder, and spun into position, ,prevents the ingress of damp into the fuze.
Safety cap.The safety cap is of manganese bronze, and has two " T " shaped slots cut in the flange to engage with two brass pins in the head of the fuze.
Securing pin.The safety cap is retained in position by means of a securing pin passing through it and the side of the head of the fuze.
The later issues had a slot cut across the head of the cap and then painted red to show the direction in which the securing pin must be withdrawn.
Action.At the last moment of loading the securing pin and safety cap are removed. The fuze is quiescent in all its parts till direct impact takes place, when the steel plug is crushed in, shearing its steel pin, and carrying its needle point on to the detonator. The explosion of the detonator fires the loose " composition exploding "​

280
in the central channel, which in turn fires the magazine of the fuze and the bursting charge of the shell.
Mark I fuze.The Mark I differs from the above in the following particulars :‑
(1) The fuze is not fitted with a percussion holder.
(2) The steel plug is suspended by its shearing wire in the fuze body.
(3) The brass collar for the detonator screws into the fuze body instead of the bottom of the percussion holder.
FUZE, PERCUSSION, D.A. IMPACT, No. 19A, MARK I INI.
This fuze is used with Q.F., 3-pr., lyddite shell (except Mark I).
It is similar in design to the Fuze, percussion, D.A. Impact, No. 18, Mark II, but is smaller.
FUZE, PERCUSSION, D.A. IMPACT, No. 19, MARKS I AND II N .
Fuze, percussion, D.A. Impact, No. 19, Marks I and II, is used with the Mark I, Q.F., 3-pr. lyddite shell. It is similar to the Mark I, No. 18, D.A. Impact fuze, but smaller, and the screwed portion is parallel instead of being tapered.
The Mark II differs from the Mark I in having a smaller shearing pin and a solid securing pin.

 

[Dronic69]

Thanks to Spotter here is a excerpt from Treatise on Ammo, 1915:
Also a improved sectional drawing of the fuze.

FUZE, PERCUSSION, D.A. IMPACT, No. 18, MARK II I C I .
(Plate XLVII.)

This fuze was introduced for use with common lyddite shell, in the Land Service, for Coast Defence guns, Q.F., 12-pr. to 4.7-inch inclusive. In the Naval Service with the B.L., 4-inch, Q.F., 12- and 14-pr., 4-inch and 4-7-inch.
This fuze, as existing stock is used up, will be superseded by the D.A. Impact, No. 45, fuze.​

Hi John,
Great Stuff!
I was wondering where the No 45 "fitted in", as it had almost identical shape to the No 17, 18, 19a.

Here's a couple of photos of my No45 - unfortunately missing the cap and the "pinkish" tinge resulting from being recover underwater (Port Philip Bay in Melbourne).

{Obvious that the existing stock was all "used up" as this is dated "4/16", and the Treatise was produced in 1915}

Cheers
Drew
​

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Many thanks Drew, this just about closes the file on this fuze series. Still have my drawings to make. Did you notice the drawing on Bomb pistol No. 30?
Regards,
John

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18 Mark II D.A. Fuze;

To all interested;
Attached ismy rendering of Mr. Fuze's images:
Regards,
John

 

[shelldude]

Beautiful work as usual John, VERY WELL DONE!

Best regards,

Randall

 

[AMMOTECHXT]

To sum up, `DA' does not mean `delayed action' but `direct action' or in other words it functions instantly on impact of the shell. CE is a secondary detonating high explosive, initiated by the detonator and boosting the detonating wave to the main filling of the shell.

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

No. 18 Fuze Operation;

Very Good,
You must have read Spotter's fuze functioning above.
Thanks for your input, we know it is Direct Action on impact.
C.E. (composition exploding) is actually a form of Tetryl.
Best Regards,
John