Bormann Fuse Compilation (2011 -2016)
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I. General Discussion
The Bormann fuse was invented by a Belgium army officer and gave it his name. (John D. Bartelson, Jr. 7-30-12). It is uncertain when the Bormann fuse was officially adopted by the U.S. Army. It was tested in summer of 1854 and probably adopted a year or two later. (Mccaul. 9-24-12). Being able to prepare a complete projectile in an arsenal was one of the major advantages of the Bormann fuse over the older paper or wooden fuses, one that both the Army and Navy would have taken advantage of. (Mccaul. 9-24-12). In the first 12 months of the war, the yankees used only a very-very few Field-caliber roundshells with a wooden fuzeplug. (Those very-very few are believed to be "leftovers" from manufacturing in the early-1850s, before the US Ordnance Department officially adopted the Bormann fuze.) Afterward the first 12 months of the war, 100% of yankee Field-caliber roundshells were Bormann-fuzed, except for a few Experimentals like the Tice and Wright fuzes. That statement of course excludes mortar shells. (Pete George. 7-28-12). As far as is known, all American-made Bormann fuses had right-twist threading. (Pete George. 9-12-12). Many southern states ordered ammunition, including cannonballs with Bormann fuses, before the war from northern sources. (Woodenhead. 2-3-15). Virginia purchased the press, forms, dies, etc., for producing the Bormann from the Washington Arsenal in late 1860. (6lbgun. 2-8-15).
So it is highly likely the Confederacy did use Yankee-made Bormann fuses in addition to their own.
Update: 9-8-17 (by Woodenhead)
Many shops, North and South, made Bormann fuzes which explains some of the confusing variations. Southern craftsmen produced molds and dies based upon ordnance drawings and samples sent out by the Richmond Arsenal. It appears they prescribed a single wrench slot and 5 1/2 seconds maximum range. Otherwise, they took liberties with the smaller details such as the size and shape of the numbers, thickness of the lips, and shape of the "pie slice." Similar variations are seen in the artillery projectiles made at different locations while working from a single set of drawings.
There were few Southern sources during the first 6 months of 1861. A March 1861 Richmond newspaper claimed that Bormann fuzes were being made locally by the Virginia Arsenal. At that time Tredegar, a private company, was widely recognized as the 'king' of Southern ordnance. They received numerous large orders for cannon balls of all calibers from states like Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina and others. Just about everyone requested the modern Bormann fuzes. Those white metal igniters were not all that difficult to make, but with its workforce stretched to the limit, Tredegar found it easier to purchase quantities from a New York military supplier, Cooper & Pond. This firm had partnered with the Richmond ironworks in 1860 to sell about 10,000 of Virginia's obsolete muskets to the northern market. Cooper & Pond did not actually make the fuzes, but subcontracted the work to a local manufactory. Field reports of their performance were very unsatisfactory. About two weeks after Fort Sumter was attacked, Tredegar began making and marketing their own version of the Bormann fuze. You can find examples of these, as well as some of the earlier Cooper & Pond Bormann fuzes, in many of the 10 pounder Read-Parrott shells dug from the 1862 Peninsula and 2nd Manassas campaigns. Only the Confederates made these. Parrott never put a Bormann fuze with a maximum range of about one mile in any of his rifle shells capable of travelling more than two miles. (Woodenhead-9-9-17)
For further information by Woodenhead and Pete George on this topic, see below thread:
http://bulletandshell.com/forum/index.php?topic=2183.0Excerpt from the U. S. Army Ordnance Manual of 1862.
as a follow on to my [John D. Bartelson] last post on this thread I have located how the Bormann fuse is charged with powders after being cast from lead and tin as follows:
MATERIALs —Mealed powder, musket powder; rifle powder, disks of tin. UTENSILS — A strong screw-press, annular charger the size of the ring, annular drift, flat drift round drift.
Take the Mould in which the fuze was cast; place the fuze in the parts of the Mould containing the screw and the upper or graduated side, and secure the Mould by a ring driven on it.
Draw up the piston, and fill the charger by pressing it into the mealed powder contained in a shallow pan. Place the charger over the groove, and force down the piston, transferring the powder into the fuze. Insert the button in the magazine and the pin in the priming-hole, to preserve their shapes: place the ring on the powder, and with the annular drift force it down by means of a strong screw-press, bringing the ring flush with the surface of the fuze: rivet the ring in its place with another drift. With-draw the button and pin ; charge the priming-hole with rifle-powder and fill the magazine with musket-powder ; cover the magazine with a disk of tin, and rivet it in place by means of first a flat drift and then a round one which turn down a part of the metal of the fuze over the disk.
Remove the fuze from the Mould, place it in a screw-chuck made to fit it, and turn off in a lathe the lower surface smooth and to the proper thickness. The powder of the fuze is now perfectly sealed up from the air. The fuze may be varnished..”
This is the sequesnts of events in charging the fuse and sealing it so it may be passed on to the shell filling and final assembly as covered in my previous posts. So the tin disk is crimped into place, not solderd as stated in Gibbons. (Quoted by John D. Bartelson, Jr. 9-11-12).
Bormann Fuse Powders.
Mealed powder is used in the timing mixture and is pressed into the horse shoe cavity to provide an accurate timing.of the fuse. Since the Bormann burns counter-clockwise it will reach the end of its selected burning at zero (o). At this point is needed the quick action of rifle powder to transfer the burn to the more powerful musket powder in the magazine. The magazine explodes and shoots flame down through the rifle powder placed into the leather washer central hole, trough the support plug into the shell explosive chamber and it provides enough to break the case into an undetermined number of pieces with drives on in the direction of trajectory.
Too much info.
Regards,
John (John D. Bartelson, Jr. 4-11-16)
The upper surface of this fuse is graduated into seconds and fourths of seconds; and it’s only necessary to lay bare the composition contained in the fuse (by cutting tool) to prepare the projectile for instant use – a clear advantage over the ordinary fuses. (Mccaul. 9-24-12)
If the gunner perforates the outer ring at 4 seconds and fires the cannon, the propellant flame ignites the mealed powder train at the 4 second mark. It then burns in both directions traveling 1 second to the 5 second mark and stops, traveling 4 seconds and ignites the rifle powder which burns rapidly over and down to the musket powder magazine which explodes, blowing away the tin disk and igniting the rifle powder in the suport disk and on to the black powder main charge. (John D. Bartelson, Jr. 9-13-12).
See below a detailed diagram by John Bartelson of the Bormann fuse:
http://s1168.photobucket.com/user/jbart252/media/USBormannTimeFuseViews.jpg.html?sort=3&o=20