Strange Fuse?

[Old Tom]

 Noticed on a repeat of BBC's 'Flog It' show. A pair of items which were described as fuses but with a suggestion of trench art. If they were fuses they were of a type I have not seen before. Conical shape about 50mm diameter at base and about 90mm high. The brass outer case was removable and was perforated with a series of numbered holes following a spiral path. The inner was a white metal with a spiral grove matching the holes in the cover. The numbers ran from zero to 45. The pointed end closed with a cap with a screwdriver slot and the base closed with a screwed cover.

 

Not, I regret, a good description, but with luck enough for someone to confirm it was a fuse and perhaps give its nationality.  

[Black Maria]

Had a look on google and they were ww1 French percussion fuses.

[Andy Wade]

This one?
http://www.westernfrontmilitaria.co.uk/ourshop/prod_3754611-Mounted-WW1-French-Brass-Artillery-Time-Percussion-Fuse-Somme.html

Edited 29 July , 2016 by Andy Wade
Added a link

[mancpal]

I also saw the programme and the image above is very similar. The presenter said the increments of 1-49 represented seconds and the internal spiral would have contained (possibly) a wire. Could any member explain how they were set? 

 

Thanks

Simon

 

 

[Gunner Bailey]

They are normally known as 'beehive fuzes'.

 

The timing was set by the shell being placed fuze downwards in a fuze setting machine, which was a black box with an elaborate brass disk on the top. The box took two shells at a time. The master time was set on the dial, the shells inserted and the lever on the left pushed downwards. Both shells being set at the same time. A fast and efficient method.

 

John

[Old Tom]

Many thanks. I assume the spiral contained a pyrotechnic o some sort, rather than a wire as suggested on the TV programme.

[mancpal]

Please excuse my complete ignorance of munitions. At what point would the fuse be set?

 

Simon

[sheldrake]

The train with the holes is a time fuze used for shrapnel - or less frequently for HE rounds. The nose may have had a percussion fuse too.  Something had to cover all of the holes except the one to be set, this is missing from the image of the fired fuze shown in post 3  I am not an expert on French fuses but some form of resin may have done the trick and the fuse setter pricked the right hole. The flash from the propellant on firing would initiate the fuse on the hole corresponding to the time of flight less a fraction of a second.    

[Mike_H]

The powder train in the internal spiral was contained in a thin lead tube. The fuze setting machine punched a hole in it to allow ignition by the flash of the discharge as Sheldrake has said. The fuze in the photo has been set at 21 seconds, you can see the square edge of the hole that the setter has punched at that point, just to right of centre in the picture as you follow the spiral. of the outer casing.  It is a Model 1889 fuze.

 

M