William Wheeler Hubbell

[joevann]

Does anyone have in their collections a fuze which corresponds precisely with the specifications claimed in William Wheeler Hubbell's patents 34.058 dated Jan. 7, 1862 or 36,466 dated Sept. 30, 1862?

[Dave the plumber]

   Joe,        can you post a copy of the patent so we can see what you are searching for please ??

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Joe I did a patent search under those two numbers and could not find them.
John

[joevann]

I emailed John copies of the patents in  question.  I don't think I can post them here do to size.  Trust me.  They exist.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Joe,
I don't believe they reached service use.  The spherical shell did.
In the rifled shell it would appear he stole Burton's stud system.
John

[joevann]

I don't believe they did, either.  All of them appear to me to be combinations of the earlier inventions of others rather than new inventions (which can be patented).  I just want to be sure.  There might be some patent models out there somewhere, and he did cite these patents in claims he made on Congress.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Joe,
   I made a drawing of the spherical shell but don't remember where I obtained the original but not from the patent.  It has the flat bottom opposite the fuze hole. It was termed a "culotte'.
Regards,
John

[Dave the plumber]

            the first fuze I have never seen before.        The concussion fuze looks like the typical naval watercap fuze. I wonder what the long "rod" or plunger piece operated.  John, can you do one of your drawings on these with the information provided from the patent ??

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

David,
   The patent drawing does not have sharp, well defined lines and is fuzzy to my low vision.
The only think typical about his fuze is the head on view  and it only has one hole vs. three. Hubbell even stole Splinegard's idea of the plaster of paris column.
Cyrus Alger's water cap fuze was invented and provided to the Federal government in the 1840s, Hubbell's patent was issued in 1862.  Who copied who?
Sorry I can't help you with a decent drawing.  Even Hubbell's description of operation is confusing to me in order to wing it.  Notice Hubbell's eighth patent claim was for his water cap.
   Joe and I have a rather large petition by Francis Alger, Cyrus's brother, which includes 1840s drawings and letters by numerous authorities, of that era, which documents Cyrus Alger's sale and approval by the Ordnance Department for his water cap fuse adapter as we know it.
Best Regards,
John