To All Interested and for new collectors;
If you have any of the well known projetile and fuze books or have seen images of the Hotchkiss percussion fuze you may have wondered why do some of them have TWO different date stamps.
B.B. Hotchkiss was awarded the June 17, 1862 patent for his initial fuze design followed 8 months later by the final design dated Feb. 24, 1863 which places the design into forms that we see today.
The final design also placed a brass sleeve around the striker to reduce hangups.
If anyone has a specimen of the first design I would love to have images of it.
Enjoy,
Best Regards,
John
