US35897A - Improvement in - Google Patents

Description

Patented July 15. 1862.

J. P. SCHEN KL.

Shell-Fuse.

Unire@ Sterns Parana Ormea..

JOHN P. SOHENKL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN .THVIE AND CONCUSSION .FUSES FOR SHELILS.

Specification forming part of Letters 'Patent No. 35,@97, dated July 15, 1862.

.To a-ZZ whom it may concern:

ABe it known that I, JOHN l?. ScHnNxL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Percussion and Time Fuse for Ordnance-Projectiles;4 and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specication and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l is a top view, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a vertical andlongitudinal section, of it. Fig. is a top view of the head of the fuse-holder. Fig. 5 is a side view of the rotary fuse. Such other figures as may be necessary to more fully illustrate my invention or its details will be hereinafter referred to and described.

My invention not only combines a percussion apparatus ywith a time-fuse, but 'with a mechanism or means by which the period of burning of the fuse may be regulated or adjusted as circumstances may require.

In the drawings, A denotes a time-fuse, of which a represents the charge, and bthe paper case. This fuse should be made cylindrical or slightly tapering in form, its smaller diameter being at itslower end. This fus-e is placed within an auxiliary case or holder, B, made of bronze or lother suitable metal, and having an internal chamber, c, to correspond in size and shape with the fuse. Fig. 6 exhibits a longitudinal section of the fuse-holder as separated from the fuse and other parts, to be hereinafter described. This fuse-chamber c leads downward out of a larger or percussioncap chamber, d, formed in the fuse-holder and furnished with a female screw, c, for reception of a male screw,f, eut on the outside cylindric surface of a percussion-striker carrier or fuserotator, C, which is screwed into the part B, as shown in Fig. 8. There is also amale screw, g, cut on the head of the part B, as shown in the drawings, such screw serving to afiix the percussion and time fuse within a shell or shrapnel.

The carrier or fuse-rotator C is provided with a chamber, h, to contain 'a cylindrical striker, D, which is fastened within the upper part of the chamber by asingle screw, Z, whose head extends into a countersunk space made for itsV reception in the carrier. There is a passage, t', formed through the' striker and made to'open into a transverse passage, in, which passes entirely through the head 7c of the rotator O, and for the reception of a wrenchpin, E, which goes through the striker.

The fuse A'is attached to a percussion nipple or anvil, F, which is placed within the chamber d, and rests on` a leaden ring, n, which encompasses the fuse, rests on the bottom oi' the chamber d, and so as t o cover two holes, o o, leading out of the same, as shown in Figs. 8 and 6. Furthermore, directly over the said ring there are two h0les, p p, made through the anvil F, such holes being intended to receive two studs or pins, p 1f, projected fromthe rotator C. The said pins so connect the fuse and the rotator as to cause the fuse to revolve with the said rotator O when the latter is turned around and the pins are in the holes p p of the anvil.

The fuse-case I), as well as the fuse-holder B, I forni with a series of holes arranged in a semi-helix, as shown at i' in the one and at s in the other. Vhile Fig. 2 exhibits the range of holes marked i', Fig. 7 shows that marked s, the last-named figure being a view of the lfuse and the anvil. There are the same number ot holes in each range, those of each range being at equal distances The pitch of one semi-helix is in a direction opposite to that of the other. Each range of holes only makes a half-turn, or thereabout, about the casein which it may be made.

' The upper surface of the fuse-holclerB is to be provided with a scale of divisions, there being one more indicator than the number of holes in the fuse-case, and also a range, t, of countersunk recesses, there being as many recesses as divisions of the scale, the whole being arranged and numbered as shown in Fig. et. A spring catch or latch, fu, is afiixed to the part C, and operates in connection with the recess t, the said spring-catch serving also as a means of maintaining the wrench-pin E in place within the passage 7i'. For this purpose the wrench-pin is bent upward, as seen at u', and extends through a hole formed through the spring of the latch fu. By raising the spring the wrench-pin may be detached, so as to enable it to be pulled forward in the hole 7c and serve as a lever to effect the turning or revolving of the rotator C. The head .of the rotator C, I furnish with an index or mark, e, made in its periphery. (See Fig. 8, which is a side View of the part C.)

If we suppose the fuse to be calculated or so made as to burn out in exactly ten seconds of time, we can so adjust it as to cause the ex'- plosion of the projectile in which it may be situated to take place at any desired number of half-seconds from one-half a second up to ten seconds, or thereabout. This we can do by turning the carrier C around until its indicating-mark u may be against the desired number of half-seconds indicated by the scale ou the head of the fuse-holder B, the latch a serving to maintain the rotator C in its correct position. rlhe holes ol' the two semi-helical ranges 1" s should be so arranged with' respect to each other and the scale that when the indicator is against any division of the scale, except the zero or commencement thereof, a hole in the one range shall be in line with one of the other range, all the other holes of both ranges being covered. The open hole of the fuse should be at such a distance from J[he upper end of the fuse as will be equal to the length the fuse will burn in the period indicated by the division of the scale against which the indicator o may be placed. As soon as the fuse may burn down to such open hole, the flame will pass through such hole and into the charge of the bomb or shell. Thus one can set the apparatus to have the fuse burn any number of half-seconds less than the time during which the whole fuse will burn, which may be supposedpto be ten seconds. Vhen the index-mark is at zero or commencement of the divisions, all'communication between the fuse and the charge in the bomb or projectile will or should. be cut olf.

The operation of my invention, when inserted or fixed in the front end of a projectile or bomb', may be thus described: On explosion of the charge of the gun or piece of ordnance in which the projectile may be placed, the striker D will be caused, by its inertia and the sudden forward movement of the projectile, to break away from its holding-screw, and be met by the percussion-cap or wafer on the anvil or its nipple with force suflicient to explode the cap or wafer, in which case the flame generated by the explosion of the percussionpowder will pass through the anvil, (it being supposed to be provided with one or more holes, 10,) and inilame the fuse-charge a. As the fuse may burn, its flame will rush through the holes w, and from thence through the passages i and m, and escape into the atmosphere. Should, however, the projectile reach the termination of its flight before the expiration of the period for which the fuse may have been adjusted to explode the shell, the whole fuse and anvil, with the ring n, at the period of impact of the projectile will be driven forward, so as to allow the llame of the fuse to rush through one or both of the holes o o and into the charge of the projectile and so as to explode the same. Thus it will be seen that my invention has the merit of effecting the eX- plosion of the bomb or projectile either at any desired period during llight of the projectile or at the termination of the same, as should the fuse fail to lire the charge of the projectile previous to the time of its impact, it will b'e very certain to do so on the shell reaching its destination.

The pin E answers three purposes-that is to say, it serves not only as a lever to enable a person to revolve the rotator C, but as a' means of holding the striker D in place during transportation of a bomb having my i11- vention applied to it. Vhile within the passagem the pin closes it, so as to prevent water or dampness from getting into the percussionchamber. J ust before the bomb is to beintroduced into a gun, the pin ,E should be drawn entirely out of the hole m.

` What I claim and disclaim as my invention is as follows: y

I do not claim a percussion apparatus, a stationary fuse, and a rotary adjustable head or vent-block, as combined and arranged in the well-known Armstrong fuse, described in the British Patent No. 7 7 9 for the year 1858; nor do I claim the combination of a time-fuse and an igniting apparatus operating by percussion or concussion either at the period of departure of a projectile from a gun or of impact of it against au object toward which it may be projected, and whether such combination be in the same fuse-plug or in separate fuse-plugs, but

I claim- 1. A rotary fuse having its covering or case, whether made of paper or other suitable material, provided with a series of holes so arranged that each, by a suitable movement of the fuse-case, may be brought into conjunction with some one of another series of holes made percussion apparatus, substantially as described. v

4. rlhe arrangement of the perforations in the rotary fuse and its holder-viz., in two semi-helices or parts of helices pitched in opposite directions in the fuse and its holder-L substantially as explained.

5. A rotary fuse and its holder, made with perforations r s, arranged as described, and scale of the holder B, when said holder is eomalso with :L scale and index so applied as to bined with a rotary fuse and both are provided enable the fuse to be adjusted so as to bring with ranges of holes, -as specified.

any one of its holes of its range sto open into J OH. P. SCHENKL. a hole 'of the range 1' of the fuse-holde1. Witnesses:

6. The combination of the late'hing appznf R. H. EDDY,

ra-tus 'u :md the series of recesses t t with the F. I. HALE, Jr.

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