US38699A - Improvement in igniting time-fuses of shells - Google Patents

Description

'A- M. SAWYER. IGNITING'TIME FUSE FOR SHELLS.

No. 38,699. Patented Mag 26, 1863.

UNITED STATES P TE T ()FFICE.

ADDISON M. SAWYER, OF FITCHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS.

lMPROVEIVIENI" 1N 'IGNITING TIME-FUSES OF SHELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No 38.699, dated May 26, 1863.

- State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fuses for Igniting Ordnance Shells; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation thereof,

taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in whichv Figure 1 represents in elevation the fuse applied to a cylindro-conical Sawyers shell. Fig. 2 represents the same in section. Fig. 3 represents the fuse-stock in plan. Fig. 4 represents the fulminating-primer in plan, and Fig. 5 a .vertical section of the same.

The subject-matter of my invention relates to the manner of constructing and applying a detonating-primer for igniting a time-fuse in an ordnance shell, so that the fuse shall be ignited at the instant of the explosion of the gun by the shock of the discharge. and is desi ned more particularly to be used in rifled guns where, from the absence of windage, the fuse cannot well be lighted by the flame that escapes past the shell in the gun.

My invention consists, in the first place, in constructing upon' the exterior part of the fuse-stock, and immediately adjacent to the ti me-fuse, an open socket, or its equivalent, for holding a detohating-primer to ignite the timefuse, which is actuated by the joint action of its own inertia and the first impulse of the discharge of the projectile, the construction of the socket and primer, respectively, being such that the primer may be placed in the socket at the time of placing the shell in the gun, and

My invention also consists in the manner ofconstructing the primer and of holding it in its socket, so that it shall not be either accidentally displaced or ignited, and, also, so that it shall not obstruct the free burning of the time-fuse, nor fire the shell in the'gun by the direct action of the fulminating-powder of the primer, as will be hereinafter explained.

A is the fuse-stock. It is of the form known as the combination-fuse, or a fuse-stock containing both a time-fuse and a percussionfuse.

B is the cast-iron body of a Sawyer shell,

so called, and C is its soft-metal covering.

D is the plug, which acts as a striker for ex ploding the fulminating-powder E, placed in the cap of the fuse-stock, as shown, and operates in the same manner as is described in the patent of Sylvanus Sawyer, dated November 13, 1855. K is the time-fuse case, inserted in the fusestock in the usual manner, and L the fusepowder.

' M is a small cylindrical socket upon the exterior of the fuse-stock, to receive the fulminating-primer H, for igniting the time-fuse. The outer or forward part of the socket is slightly beveled upon the inside, at F, to receive the corresponding beveled part of the primer, as is shown more clearlv'at F in Fig.

5. The socket M, just within the beveled part,

, is made of a larger diameter, so that when the enable the projecting beveled part F to be compressed and pass through the stricture of the socket M, as before stated. The slight inclination of the beveled surfaces of the socket and primer, whereth'ey come in contact, enables the primer to become fixed in the socket by merely pressing the primer into it. The shells are intended to be carried into the field loaded andwithlheir fuses in place; but the primers are to be carried by the gunners, and placed in the socket after the shell is placed in the muzzle of the gun, before ramming it home, so that all possible accident from the explosion of the shell by the premature ignition of the primer is prevented. When the gun is fired, the fuse-stock, being driven for-. ward with the shell by a sudden impulse, is,

by the "inertia of the primer, driven past it,

and brings the fulminating-powder in the recess T in contact with the annular projection G on the fuse-stock and around the exposed end of the time-fuse, which 'ignites'it with certainty. The central opening through the primer permits the flame from the fuse to es-- cape freely, and also permits theescape of the explosive gases from the fulminating-powder of the primer, which otherwise might drive the form, as it may be variously modified and still embrace't-he'same principles-as,'for instance, the primer may be placed upon the outside of thesocket inamannersimilar tothe-pereussioncap of a musket and other modifications of a like nature may be made,and still retain the es sential characteristics of my invention-which are, first, that the socket or receptacle for the primer shall be open or exposed, so that the primer may be placed and confined in or upon it without any mechanical adjustment; second, that the striki'ngsurfaces which explode the fulminating-powder of the primer shall be kept asunder until the discharge of the gun;

- a I r 39,099

and, third, that the gases from the burning of both the fuse audjthe primer shall ha e ree escape .v

I am aware thatithas been. proposed to Jgnite a time-fuse by a fulminating-primer which was fired by the shock of the explosion of the gun, as is seen in the English patent to Wm. G. Armstrong, dated October 1, 1858, No. 779, and therefore do not claim the principle,

broadly; but in that case the primer was.

placed within the fuse-stockand permanently connected therewith, rendering 'i'tliabl'e to ae cidental explosion. 4 What I claim is The employment, in combination with a time-. fuse, of an open socket and a detachable fulminating-primer. or their equivalents, co-opera-ting, as described. for the purpose of igniting the time-fuse by the discharge of the gun, su bsfautia-ll y as described.

A. M. SA\VYER.'

\Vitnesscs: \VM. 0. HIBBARD,

\V. ST; 0. REDMAN.

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