An Automatic Clamping Time Fuze.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 8th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 20th Jan., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Automatic Clamping Time Fuze.
I, HENRY TOLLEY, of Weaman Street, in the City of Birmingham, Ammunition
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in time fuzes and consists in making the
fuze with a ring of composition on the periphery of a conical ring of gunmetal,
which terminates in a dome or other form. The body of the fuze is screwed at
the lower end to fit the shell and the upper part of body is coned on the inside to
receive the conical ring, the taper being such that the ring can be turned by a
spanner or key being applied at the top.
The ring is prevented from becoming detached from the body, by two keep
screws, the points of which work in a groove above the composition ring.
The index or marking of fuze is engraved on the dome ring and the flashing hole
is indicated by an arrow on the body.
The ignition is similar to other fuzes, the needle being held in position by a
shearing wire and also during transit by a safety pin, which is removed at the
moment of loading. The hole being closed by a lead plug.
To set the fuze turn the top part round for the time required. When the gun is
fired, the conical ring takes a firm bearing on its seating due to the shock of
discharge. The needle firing detonator lights the composition ring, and this burns
round until it catches the powder in the flashing channel, and thus fires the
magazine.
The advantages claimed are :-The fuze requires no clamping and cannot work
loose after being set.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Automatic Clamping Time Fuze.
1, HENRY TOLLEY, of Weaman Street, in the City of Birmingham, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in time fuzes, or combined time and
percussion fuzes to be used primarily in connection with hollow projectiles, whereby
the fuze is hermetrically sealed until the moment of withdrawing the coned safety
pin and is also adapted to ignite the bursting charges of them, at a predetermined
time after firing.
My invention also relates to that class of fuzes having sectional casings fitted
with a composition ring and with scale of time markings upon one of the parts,
which is in communication with the magazine.
Now; the time settings of such fuzes are apt to become disarranged, owing to
the shock of discharge that is to say, the shock received upsets the time setting by
loosening and disarranging the position of the composition ring relative to the
flash-hole, so that there is no guarantee that the exploding charge of the shell will

page_text: be ignited at a predetermined period after discharge as, arranged by the setting.
My invention has for its object primarily, the rendering of the time setting
unchangeable whereby the shell is fired true to the setting.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents, partly in vertical section
and partly in elevation, a time or percussion fuze constructed according to, or
having improvements made according to, one form of my invention.
It will be seen that the fuze, which is attached to the fore part of a shell, is
composed of two primary parts, viz., a head or dome part and a body part, with
the base part of the former coned or made alike unto an annular wedge, which
takes a firm bearing and fits tightly within a like-shaped coned socket made within
the middle of the fore part of the body.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation of the said self clamping time fuze Figure 1,
and which view shows the time markings upon the head, and also the arrow upon
the body part which indicates the position of the flash hole in the said body, so
that when the head is turned more or less round relative to the base, the com-
position ring is also turned with the time markings and so a greater or less amount
of composition is allowed to burn before the powder in the magazine is ignited
from a flash hole.
Figure 3 represents in vertical section the primary parts of the said time fuze
separately, showing more clearly the taper or wedge-shaped outer walls at the base
of the head part, and also the like wedge-shaped inside walls of the socketed body
part. When the said parts are together as in Figures 1 and 2, the concussion due
to the shock of the discharge on firing tightens or further jams and hermetrically
seals the one component part within the other, hence no liability of derangement
of the said parts relative to each other after setting, although the said parts, when
put together are capable of being turned for setting by a key being applied to the
nut shaped crown of the head.
Figure 4 represents an elevation of the head or dome part separately, showing
the ring of composition lying within a nearly annular recess formed around the
periphery of the coned base of the head.
Figure 5 is a horizontal section of Figure 1 upon the dotted lines a, showing
the nearly annular groove wherein the composition lies, and also the position of the
flash hole relative to the detonating fulminate at the commencement of the ring of
composition.
Figure 6 is an inverted plan of Figure 4, showing the coned base.
Figure 7 represents a topside plan of the body part showing the chambered
interior with a coned seating or socket for the reception of a like-shaped base or
foot of the head part.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in Figures 1 to 7 of
the drawings.
The
A is the time fuze, fitted to or screwed into the fore part of a shell c.
said fuze consists of two primary parts, viz., a head a, and a body part ; the
head a, consists of a hollow dome a¹, having a solid and nut-shaped crown a², and a
coned or annular wedge-shaped base or foot a³, adapted to take and fit tightly
within a like cone-shaped annular socket or seating 61, formed or sunken within the
middle of the fore end part 62, of the said body part b, which has a screwed tail
end or shank 63, by which the same is connected to the fore part of the shell c.
Referring back to the head part, the same is fitted with a nearly annular
recess a¹, for the reception of the composition d, which starts from the detonating
fulminate e, located at the bottom of a detonating chamber e, having fitted and
working within it, a plunger e², having a needle e³, and kept in its back position,
when not in use, by a shearing pin e, whilst the said plunger is kept in a back
position during transit by a coned safety pin e, taking through the stem e, and
through the solid metal as, of the head. The latter e, is removed at the moment
of loading.
Lying at the back of the plunger is a lead plug e, which, besides
assisting the plunger in shearing the pin e, also closes the hole in the metal a³,
vacated by the safety pin on the said plunger being thrown forward when fired.

page_text: The head part a, is attachedly connected to the body part b, by keep screws f,
passing through screwed holes in the sides of the said body part, and with the inner
ends of the same taking into the annular groove or channel a, sunken around the
conical base part a³. This channel a, has a clearance sufficient to admit of the
coned base of the head going fully home into the cone shaped socket of the body
part.
Now this body has a flash hole g made through the walls of its inner side and
before which the arrow comes and which passes to a powder charged channel h,
leading to a powder charged magazine i, in communication with the interior of the
shell. It has also a vent 6, for escape of gas from the composition d, and by the
burning of a greater or less portion of which, the time for the bursting of the shell
is regulated, so that as the time markings a', are turned relatively to the position
of the arrow, so a greater or less amount of composition d, is allowed to burn
before the same reaches the flash hole g. The position of the composition is
represented by the markings.
Figure 8 represents a further form of my invention. In this arrangement, the
composition is embedded within a nearly all-round channel of a supplementary ring
coming upon the top side of the head, and with the boundary edges made taper in
common with the outside walls of the body, and kept clamped fully home by the
inside coning of the mouth of the head.
a is the head, consisting of a dome shaped fore part having a turning nut a², at
its crown, and with the base or mouth a³, inside coned at a', which takes in common
upon the coned sides or edges m², of a composition-carrying ring m, and upon the
coned sides 62, of the head ó, having a flash-hole g, and channel h, leading from it
to the magazine, which is in communication with the bursting charge of the shell.
The nearly all-round composition ring is marked d, and d² is an interposed washer
or wad.
The ring m is prevented from rotating by a keep screw f', whilst the
said head is attachedly connected to the body part by the upper end of the
stalk 63, of the latter taking into a recess a³, in the inside crown of the former, and
with pins or screws f, taking laterally through the walls of the said head and
through an annular recess 64, cut around the stalk 63, thus admitting of the inside
contact surface of the head being slightly removed from the body when required
for time setting.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I lay no claim to the composition ring, time burning scale, detonating adjuncts
and other parts found in fuzes now in use, but I declare that what I claim is :-
First. In a time or percussion fuze, uniting or locking the primary and
component sections of the fuze together by providing the said sections with coned
parts, or with annular wedge-shaped he and she parts, which fit socket-wise one
within the other, or one over or upon the other, and make the connection or union
self-locking on the discharge of the projectile to which the fuze is an attachment,
substantially as described and set forth.
Secondly. In a time or percussion fuze, making the casing of the same in
two primary parts, viz., a head part and a body part, one having a he-coned base,
and the other a like-coned socket to receive the he-cone of the other part, so that
on the discharge of the projectile to which the fuze is an attachment, the said cone-
fitted parts automatically lock one within the other, or one over the other and
thereby become hermetrically sealed and so prevent displacement of the time-
setting during flight, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 1 to 7.
Thirdly. In a time or percussion fuze, disposing the nearly all-round ring of
composition upon the coned or annular wedge-shaped base of the head part,
substantially as described and set forth in Figures 1, 3, 4 and 5.
Fourthly. In a time or percussion fuze. making the casing in two component
parts, viz., a head part and a body part, with the crown of the former fitted with a
nut-shaped terminal for the turning of the one part within the other part on the

page_text: time-setting of the fuze, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 1, 2, 3
and 4.
Fifthly. In time or percussion fuzes, the improvements in the construction,
arrangements and combination of the parts, substantially as described and set forth
in Figures 1 to 7.
Sixthly. In time or percussion fuzes, the improvements in the construction,
arrangement and combination of the parts, substantially as described and set forth
in Figure 8.
1
1
1900
HENRY TOLLEY,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.