Artillery tools

[joevann]

I've often seen these two items identified as a Bormann fuze punch and an artillery gimlet or 'prick'.   I can see where they would work as such, but what makes them different from a hand gravers (used for engraving metal) and a carpenters gimlet used for starting screws?  I have both in my collection of antique tools.  The same question applies to what is identified as a fuze saw, but is identical to the antique back saw I use for joinery.

[emike123]

I agree with you.  The Plumber has views on this I hope he will share.

[scottfromgeorgia]

From what I have seen in the artillery manuals of the period, carpenter's gimlets were issued for artillery use. They did not issue special or military gimlets. None of the manuals that I have read mention anything other than ordinary gimlets.

[Dave the plumber]

          Joe, I do not have an answer for you. As Scott pointed out, the tools you mentioned could have been pressed into service, and served the gunner well.
   One thing on gimlets is the shaft size needs to be under 2\10th's of an inch to fit the vent of the gun. And it has to be long enough to penetrate through the thick casting of the breech and be able to clear out an obstruction, so length matters.
     The engravers tool \ Bormann fuze punch has supposedly been dug in artillery positions before - supposedly.  I bought one dug at Dalton the other day, and have seen actually quite a few dug ones around. All supposedly came out of artillery emplacements- supposedly. But with that said,I wouldn't think that this tool was used around the 1800's home, can't think what for, so I think it would be rare to dig one at a home site. So maybe they were readily pressed into service.  The flat edge would keep them from rolling off the limber chest lid. [ or the drafting table of an engraver ]
         The Mordecai drawings do show a US issue Bormann fuze punch, which looks way different than the brass ones. It also has a gimlet in there too

[joevann]

I will check out the Mordecai drawings.  Most of the dug punches I've seen don't look like this graver.  A graver would certainly not be around a homestead, but would certainly be around any burg big enough to have had a newspaper.

[joevann]

These, I believe, are real artillery gimlets.  Most I've see labeled as such are too short and of too great a diameter to ever have been used for anything but starting a screw.

[Dave the plumber]

that's one heck of a friction primer !!!   I recogonize that photo from the Adamson auction back a few years ago.              Those are some larger caliper gun gimlet and punch there, the real deal.     If you know who won this auction - I'll pay a good amount for the portfire cutter pictured in that case !!

[scottfromgeorgia]

Just to clarify in case someone doesn't know the difference: Wire or gunner's gimlets as pictured above were used to clear the vents of cannons.

Carpenters gimlets - often sold on eBay as used to clear vents, but which are far too short for that purpose -- were called fuze gimlets. The Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery, US Military Academy, 1862, says this: "The fuze-gimlet is a common gimlet, which may be employed in place of a saw to open a communication with the fuze composition." I show a picture of a faked military gimlet sold on gunbroker.com as a Civil War artillery gimlet, which is utter nonsense.

The wire gimlets were military instruments. The fuze gimlets were just carpenters tools, and unless you have direct provenance, there is no way to know if an 1860s gimlet was used to start screws or open fuzes.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

With regard to the carpenter's gimlet, will someone tell me which fuse requires the use of this screw pilot drill, what shell it is used in and what cannon requires it.  As far as I know only the large mortar wooden fuses  were sawn to desired length and were so inscribed for the person preparing the fuse.
Regards,
John

[scottfromgeorgia]

More period writing on the topic: From Artillery for the US Land Service, Mordecai, 1849

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Thanks Scott for the definitions.  Neith the fuse gimlet nor the fuse auger apply to wooden fuses as shown on all the Forum's posts.
The fuse auger sounds like the British Fuse borer that I posted in a previous thread.
The fuse shown below having a specific time mark bored through to the central column of mealed powder was used for the British wooden fuzes having fuse labels marked in graduated time.  If not bored the fuse would burn for the entire time.
Do we have recovered British wooden time fuses used in the ACW.  Was the fuse being bored used in the ACW?
The fuse shown in the borer below was used in RML cannons using shells permitting little or no windage.  The percussion primer at top of powder column ignited the meanled powder at setback.
Regards,
John

[joevann]

John, I think the Fuze Auger being described was used for the hole in a wooden fuze plug, which often became warped so the paper fuze wouldn't fit.  It's more of a tapered reamer.  Boxer's improved fuze wasn't introduced until 1849 (the year of this publication) and Mordecai first examined it on his military mission to Europe in 1855-56.  I'm sure Boxer's weren't used by the Union during the ACW and I've seen no evidence that they were used by the Confederacy.  One of these problem with Boxer fuzes until the 1870s was they didn't store well.  The lubricant used on the machines at Woolwich to form the wooden bodies would soak into the wood and contaminate the time composition after a few months.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Joe, so you think the 1849 reference is a quote on what Mordecai saw in the UK, not what was actually in use during the ACW?
Regards,
John

[6lbgun]

The fuze auger had a bit of .2in (13/64)diameter with a sliding brass socket graduated to 10th of an inch, held by a thumb screw in the slide, with a wooden handle.  It was used to reduce the burning time on paper time fuse that had been placed in the projectile.  This is shown in Moredcai's drawings.  There was also a tool with a tapered reamer and wooden handle, the taper being correct for the paper time fuse, that would ream out warped fuse plugs to correct size.
Dan

[Dave the plumber]

          John,    real nice drawing there, thank you.

           The tool seems overkill to use, especially in the heat of battle