AN IMPROVED TIME FUSE FOR SHELL, FOR BREECH, AND MUZZLE Loading OrdnaNCE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of the Firm of L. de
Fontainemoreau & Co., Patent Agents, 4, South Street, Finsbury,.
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of “AN IMPROVED
TIME FUSE FOR SHELL, FOR BREECH, AND MUZZLE Loading OrdnaNCE.”—A
communication from abroad by Robert Bazzichelli, of Turin, Italy,
Captain of Artillery in the Italian Army.
Sealed the 18th March 1878, and dated the 28th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th September 1872.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of the Firm of L. de Fontainemoreau &
Co., Patent Agents, 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "As
IMPROVED TIME FUSE FOR SHELL, FOR BREECH, AND MUZZLE LOADING ORDNANCE,"
to be as follows, that is to say :—
This Invention consists in the construction of an improved time fuse
for shell, for breech, and muzzle loading ordnance.

page_text: The improved fuso consists of two principal parts, its body and head.
From the bottom of the body extends a screw, by which it is fixed to
the projectile. The head of the fuse is moveable, and may be moved
round the upper part of the body of the fuse.
The construction of this improved time fuse will be easily understood
by reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 is an
elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of the fuse; Figure 3 is a vertical section
on line A, B, of Figure 2; Figure 4 plan of the body of the fuse,
shewing the metallic tube e for containing compressed powder adapted
thereto; Figure 5 vertical section of the head, and Figure 6 plan of the 1
under side of the fuse; Figure 7 vertical section of the body of the fuse,
the metallic tube e being removed, and Figure 8 plan of same; Figure 9
developed view of the tube e,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of the Firm of L. de Fontainemoreau and Co., Patent
Agents, 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Hor most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Armand Gilbee, Her special
licence that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Armand
Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Ar
IMPROVED TIME FUSE FOR SHELL, FOR BREECH, AND MUZZLE LOADING ORDNANCE,"
a communication to me from abroad by Robert Bazzichelli, of Turin,

page_text: Italy, Captain of Artillery in the Italian Army, upon the condition'
(amongst others) that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Armand Gilbee, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to
say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the construction of an
improved time fuse for shell, for breech, and muzzle loading ordnance.
To carry out this Invention I employ a metallic tube containing com-
pressed powder, in lieu of the open galleries employed until now in the
greater part of time fuses. This improved construction of fuse presents
the advantage of preserving the combustible material intact, and of
effecting a greater regularity in its combustion. It also permits of
carrying the projectiles with the complete fuse and detonating cap
applied, inasmuch as if the detonating composition were to take fire,
the gases would not communicate fire to the powder in the metallic
tube.
The peculiar construction of this fuse obviates the risk of any pre-
mature explosion, which is an inevitable concomitant of other kinds of
time fuses with an uncovered gallery, and which is so dangerous in
campaigning.
The arrangement of detonating cap in the striker, and its peculiar
construction, have the advantage of completely isolating the detonating
material from the external air, and removes the possibility of the cap or
the detonating material itself becoming detached, and so producing an
accidental explosion.
This construction of -fuse allows of using but a small quantity of deto-
nating composition, effecting at the same time the ignition of the fuse,

page_text: so that an accidental explosion of the cap in a fuse will not set fire to
the charge.
To make the Invention communicated to me better understood, I will
proceed to describe the same by reference to the accompanying Drawing,
in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved time fuse com- t
plete; Figure 2, plan of same; Figure 3, a vertical section on line A, B,
Figure 2; Figure 4, plan of the body of the fuse, shewing the metallic
tube in its place; Figure 5, a vertical section of the head of the fuse,
and Figure 6, plan of the same seen from underneath; Figure 7, a
vertical section of the body of the fuse without the tube, and Figure 8, 1
plan of the same. Similar letters in all the Figures represent similar
parts.
The fuse consists of two principal parts, the body and head. The body
is fixed to the projectile by means of its screwed part, and its head is
moveable and can be turned round the upper part of the body.
]
In the top of the body is a circular groove or channel a, seen in
Figures 7 and 8, which communicates with the interior cavity c through
the passage b. In the groove a is adapted the metallic tube (shewn in
elevation and section at Figure 9, before being curved into a circular
form). This tube is elliptical in section, and contains compressed 2
powder. It is shewn at Figure 4 applied in the groove a. One end e of this
tube is closed, and the other end fis open, and extends a certain distanco
into the small passage b, as shewn in Figure 3. The cylindrical cavity c
is filled with powder, which, except the part of the small passago which
is left empty, comes in contact with the open end f of the tube. The 2
powder is kept in its place by the tin diaphragm of the tube fixed in a
groove made for that purpose. The part of the tube entering the groove
is soldered thereto, so as to avoid communication with the interior of the
fuse. In the centre of the top of the body of the fuse is fixed a brass
pina having a square bottom.
3
In the head of the fuse, seen at Figure 5, is a cylindrical hole r
extending through its axis, which serves to receive the striker t,
Figure 3, the feathers of which enter the space 8. The screw m is for
screwing the knob or plug d to the head, and the small hole serves to
receive the safety rod h, which, passing through the striker, keeps it in 3
its place during transit. This rod is withdrawn only when charging the
piece. In the under side of the head is a circular groove p, which, when

page_text: is a
the head is adapted to the body of the fuse, corresponds with the
groove a in the body. At the bottom of the cylindrical hole
transverse passage q filled with compressed powder, and communicating
with the exterior by the hole u.
The head of the fuse is connected to the body by two small screws u, v,
which are inserted in the open ring, made of brass, and which is fixed
so as to allow of its turning in the circular groove 2, Figure 7, made
round the body of the fuse. On the lower end of the head between the
edge of the cylindrical holer and the inner edge of the groove p, an
annular disc of cloth is attached, which keeps up a slight friction between
the two superposed faces of the head and body.
The detonating cap k, Figure 3, is made of a small tinned copper cup,
in which is placed in an inverse direction a small tinned counter-cup
filled with detonating material. The cup thus prepared is forced into
the cylindrical chamber of the lower face of the striker, so as to press
against a projecting flange formed in the said cylindrical chamber.
The mode of using the fuse is as follows:-The body of the fuse is
provided with a graduated scale on its circumference, as seen in Figure 1,
and the head has an index or pointer under the opening u. The head
can only be moved round the body and cannot become detached therc-
from, being held by the two screws v, v, fixed in the rings, as
hercin-before described. The metallic tube has about one-third of its
thickness sunk in the circular groove a in the top of the body of the
fuse; the remainder is contained in the corresponding groove p in
the head. When the latter is turned the tube, being fixed to the body,
does not move, so that to set the fuse for a given distance it is merely
necessary to turn the head until the index points to the figure corre-
sponding to the distance at which it is required to explode the projectile.
The fuse thus being set a hole is made by means of a suitable piercer
through the part of the tube crossing the opening of communication u.
In perforating the tube the powder which it contains is put in contact
with the compressed powder in the passage q. At the time of firing, the
striker breaking its feathers by the force of inertia falls on the point n,
thus producing the explosion of the detonating cap, the whole of the
gases from which will have a direct action on the powder contained in
the passage q, the ignition of which will cause the ignition of the powdor
in the tube open at the part where it has been perforated, and when the

page_text: combustion of the powder has reached the open end ƒ of the tube which
extends, as herein-before described, into the passage b, it will ignite the
powder with which it is in contact in the cylindrical cavity c, and will
produce the explosion of the shell.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbeo, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.