In September 1812 Schilling demonstrated his first remote-controlled naval fuse to Alexander I on the Neva River in Saint Petersburg. The invention was intended for coastal defense and sieges, and was deemed unsuitable for the fast-paced maneuver warfare of the 1812 campaign. The Schilling fuse, patented in 1813, contained two pointed carbon electrodes that produced an electric arc. The electrode assembly was placed in a sealed box filled with fine-grained gunpowder, which was ignited by the arc.