Skipman Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 This was apparently ' borrowed ' by a munitions worker. What a beautiful bit of engineering, don't you agree?Possibly for an 18lb-er. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 That's it Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 I dare say that they had to be accurately engineered to work as well as they did under the extreme conditions a fuze operated in. What is the metal - copper ? and were they cast or turned. Dont know much about fuzes Cheers D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Looks like brass, and presume they were turned. I too know ' not a lot ' about fuzes Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishmen1916 Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Hi Mike, I have a section on one of these (the safe bit ) on my desk as a paper weight, found it last year across the road from Connaught Cemetery Thiepval, beside the Ulster Tower, found it just where the Irish lads crossed it back in 1916, well thats what I like to think when I look at it. Peter David, Its made of Brass, and looks turned. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 27 August , 2009 Share Posted 27 August , 2009 Further question, should have put in the first time. What are the markings on the base are they time or range in yards/feet indicators. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Marshall Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 David, The component parts are machined to really quite tight tolerances. I would doubt that even the best castings would have been consistent enough to work exactly as they should have. I think that because much of the range of a projectile was determined by the size of the propellant charge and the angle of elevation of the gun, the graticules around the nose would correspond to tables and charts which the gunnery officer would counsult and issue the setting along with the other variables in his fire control orders. Sorry I can't be more specific. Cheers, Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Ryckeboer Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 With turning the revolving discs, time was set. By this, the burning powder through the channels, made faster or slower contact. See also: http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/decou...lection_gb.html With setting time and elevation of the gun, different effects were reached. Direct-indirect fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Most of those fuzes would have been turned down, possibly from rough castings, in a capstan lathe by semiskilled women workers. They would have received a bare minimum of training and set production targets to reach if they wished to keep their jobs. Despite their description, the women would have acquired a high degree of skill in the few operations they were required to perform. The skilled workers involved were the setters who set up and maintained the lathes. These would have been time served men who could work to any required tolerance from an engineering drawing. The real genius was the engineer who designed such a highly specified piece of equipment in such a way that it could be mass produced by these means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 However they did it Tom, they did a marvellous job if Mike's fuze is a good example. Notwithstanding some inaccuracy in settings/wind/temp/angle of fire, I guess if you fire enough shells you will get your customer in the end. And thank you Joris for the link D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Mike I've got an unfired example as well. The hardest parts to find are the felt 'washers' that had the powder on them. I see yours are nearly all there, plus of course the explosive pellet and the small spring that went with the pellet. The central hole in the base would have had a long brass tube attached to it which led down to the powder charge in the base of the shell, igniting that, and expelling the shrapnel. Mine has been pictured in previous threads but I can put a photo of the stripped fuze here if you like. The fuzes were dual purpose in most cases with settings for time and percussion. The numbers are seconds. These fuzes were better at time than percussion which led to the greater use of pure percussion and graze fuses from 1917 onwards. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 28 August , 2009 Share Posted 28 August , 2009 Hi John. Thought might see you at some point. Yes plese do post your fuze, or post a link to thread. Am still searching for any grenades, no luck so far. Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Ryckeboer Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 The fuze was screwed into a shrapnel round. See sectioned round at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_18_pounder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Thanks for confirming that Joris. Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Here is my sectioned 18 pdr shrapnel shell and fuse. All parts are genuine and from the battlefield and all explosives are simulated. The fuse has the transport protective cover fitted. Part of this set on FLICKR: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/sets...57616167273771/ Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Excellent Norman. Great photos. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Can you see a number anywhere : it should be in the form No xx with the o in No actually raised to the top (not reproducible here) On the base of your fuze I can read No. 8? V No 8? Mk V ? Looks like 83 to me I don't think this is an 80 (it was aluminium I understand) or 85... could it be one of the longer-range shrapnel fuzes used for the 60-pounder and 6-inch guns ? 83 or 88 would fit that..,. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Thanks Mike, glad you enjoyed them. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 I'm no artist, but here is what I can see on bottom of fuze. The only other writing I can see is the numbering. Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 29 August , 2009 Share Posted 29 August , 2009 Thanks for that... so No 80 Mk VI it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadfield Posted 30 August , 2009 Share Posted 30 August , 2009 Hi all, I just thought it might be appropriate to add these two pictures of a sectioned type 80, mark VII fuse I have. It shows engineering excellence, engenuity and and a certain pleasing symmetry. And all this a long, long time before CAD/CAM etc. Regs Brimstone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 30 August , 2009 Share Posted 30 August , 2009 Hi all, I just thought it might be appropriate to add these two pictures of a sectioned type 80, mark VII fuse I have. It shows engineering excellence, engenuity and and a certain pleasing symmetry. And all this a long, long time before CAD/CAM etc. Regs Brimstone. Indeed - a credit to German engineering ! But seriously, I have often felt that the Victorian age and just afterwards, which is when the designers of devices like this got educated and learned their trade, was a golden age of science and engineering - by 1914 it appears to me that modern science and technology was well and truly here. A tragedy that it was followed by an age of political idiocy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Bailey Posted 30 August , 2009 Share Posted 30 August , 2009 Hi John. Thought might see you at some point. Yes plese do post your fuze, or post a link to thread. Am still searching for any grenades, no luck so far. Cheers Mike Hi Mike Here at last - have been busy at Detling this weekend. Here's a new photo showing all the components plus the felt pads. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 30 August , 2009 Share Posted 30 August , 2009 Great photos guys, how do you get them so sharp? Thanks for the cross section Brimstone. NEAT Cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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