Dan,
Below is a copy and paste excerpt from Bashley britten's patent 585 of 1861:
"For causing the explosion of the bursting charge of such shells, the ordinary time or concussion fuzes may be used, or the arrangement of which a longi¬tudinal section is shewn in Figure 3 can be employed. f is a cylindrical case 10 of suitable material (metal preferred) open at one end, and having a somewhat contracted aperture at the other. This outer case has a screw thread exter¬nally. g is a moveable piece or striker, one end of which is formed with a nipple to receive a percussion cap at h ; k is a metallic cap or cover screwed
on to the case f ; 1 is a ring of lead or other material tightly driven into the 15 space between the outer case and the striker so as to retain the latter in its place till released by the concussion at the discharge of the gun. This ring of lead may be sometimes dispensed with, and the striker left quite free. When the shell has been charged with powder, this outer case with the other parts described (Figure 3) is screwed into the aperture of the shell, and thus the 20 charged shell may be retained without danger of explosion. At any moment before being inserted in the gun, the outer cover f can be readily unscrewed with the hand, and an ordinary percussion cap placed on the nipple h. The outer cover being replaced, the shell may be rammed into the gun and fired."
Unfortunately it does not describe the striker tail arrangement of groove or groovesand the drawing is not that clear in that area. When I made the drawing of his patent the detail of the tail was so poor that I used an example of modern day and as you would guess it turned out to be a multi-groove C.S.
The Fuzes from Fort Branch, NC, I think should be used as the norm from U.K.
Regards,
John
