British Improved Shrapnel Shell;

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

To All Interested;
     Did the war end? It has been very quiet here for a few days so will boot it up again.
     After British proofs of the Boxer Diaphragm Shrapnel Shell (case shot) later use found it to be unsatisfctory. Boxer and Pettman put their heads together at Woolwich and devised the Improved Shrapnel Shell.  As seen below it resembles the U.S. case shotconstruction, but the now they had a spherical case shot with an impact feature. You say that is a bad combination? Could be, but they did it. Enjoyh.
Kind Regards,
John

[CarlS]

War didn't end.  Many were at the Richmond Civil War Show.  Very good show as always.  Nice diagram John.  Your images just get better and better.

[scottfromgeorgia]

Dumb question: How can the plug and fuze be threaded differently?

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Thank you Carl.
Scott, the threads, in real life, are not different. It is just difficult for me to craw matched threads along with their pitch.  I do not draw to scale,rather enlarge for clarity.
Kind regards,
John

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Hello Scott, whereever you are?
    I really owe you an expaination of why the threads look different.
The above color plate would have taken more than a day to complete so it is a composit of three different drawings and pasted into what you see.
It was really just a time saver to do it this way and you have a sharp eye.
1. The shell is from a Treatise on Ammunition by Majendie.
2. The Pettman Percussion fuze was drawn from one of the Boxer color plates.
3. The fuze plug and adapter was drawn from a digital image.
Kind Regards,
John

[mccaul]

I wonder how well it worked in reality - was it an improvement?

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Dear Ed,
According to Major Majendie's 1867 Treatise on Ammunition both the Diaphragm Shrapnel shell and its Improved version  were obsolete at the writing of his treatise.
   Numerous defects appeared in the field dueto little or no inspections and time to fully test the designs.
   Majendie reports a most significant problem was the selections of the many types of matrix being used to try and retain the shrapnel balls in their position during flight and at detonation of the shell. Problems in ball material selection, balls resulting in a single mass instead of individual trajectories and distortion of the socket (fuze adapter) at firing. Some sockets were actually pushed inward into the exlosive cavity.
   So I would answer your question by drawing the conclusion that the shells, themselves were failures.
    The Land Service (LS) Pettman Percussion fuze use appeared to be favored and continued to be used past the 60s and into the 70s.
       Sorry if I waffled too much.
Kind Regards,
John
P.S. I wonder if we coppied their design or they copied us?

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Scottfromgeorgia,
    I just checked the thread pich of the fuze hole plug, the inside of the socket (fuze adater) and the Pettman ercussion fuze and all are 14 tpi.
Regards,
John

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

To All Interested,
    The below Boxer Wooden Time Fuses were used in the shell when a time element was reqired.
     No threads the wooden was taped gently down casing the socket inside threads to grip the wood tightly.
Regards,
John