French 37mm shell head fuze

[BMG50]

Any one have a sectioned picture/drawing of the fuze found on French 37mm shell heads usually found on other 37mm rounds (see picture, one to the left). Examining the one i have, seems to have two very small brass nails holding something in place, maybe a piece of wood or something.

 

[highlandotter]

Yes it is a piece of wood. The Demarest fuze is real simple. The plug has a pin which is driven into the cap and that sets off the black powder harge. It did not work well with grazing hits, so was repalced in some projectiles, but because of i'it's cheapness, was used widely. When HE loading became common, they needed a more complex fuze with a gain or booster to set off the HE, and that was the end of wide spread use of the Demarest fuze.

 

[BMG50]

I thought it may be of this type of design, thanks for the info. Would the colour in the picture showing the red end plug be the correct colour for these rounds or were there different colours for different type rounds or different colours between different country's that used etc.

 

[raymeketa]

I've been told that red means the cartridge was intended for export?? I have one with the red plug that I found in an antique store in California, so it must be true. ;-)

 

[highlandotter]

All the ones I have are a brownish color or the wood plug is missing probably from inerting. The color could have faded, I guess, as most are around or over 100 years old. Also, many projectiles may have been swapped around , and if it is a generic Hotchkiss, one can only guess???