15' ball

[divedigger]

all fuzes are 1863, I read somewhere that they came with different burn times to allow the gunner a choice. I would guess the short fuze was the shortest burn time. All of the fuzes have a small amount of the paper protruding from the bottom. I only got 1 safety plug out of it, the other 2 either washed out during the powder flushing or are still inside. Garret, it is easy enough to move, it rolls real easy, but it likes to keep rolling. Picking it up is not possible except by mechanical means, at least for an old fat man like me.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

David,
    Even the shortest fuse adapter clears the shell thickness.
You bring about a good question, do they use a Frankfort fuse or are they specially driven for this 15 inch shell.
John

[emike123]

I have seen the remnants of a few and enough was preserved to show them to be the run of the mill Frankford Arsenal type paper time fuse.

[CarlS]

I've seen the same as Mike.  I also know of at least one other 15-inch 3-fused ball that had a long adapter and two short adapters found in the shell.  But I've never seen a long version of the paper fuse to go into the longer adapters but perhaps there is and I never noticed.  But I don't see anything in Chuck's book either.   They made so few of the longer bodied watercaps and they are only dated 1863 so it sounds like an experiment that didn't provide any value worth the extra brass.

[emike123]

A very few of the long ones are also dated 1862, but no matter as your point is the same and well taken.

[pipedreamer65]

Concur, I have a 9" Dahlgren with a NWC fuze that was submerged.  It has a paper tube inside it.


Yes, not hard to move a 15" shell.  It moves itself a lot of the times and the trick is getting it to stop before it destroys your wall, a piece of furniture, or your foot.

[CarlS]

Especially if you want one downstairs in a basement with only stair access.     They do have a lot of inertia!

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

So we have another one to place in the box of mysteries.
John

[Dave the plumber]

John,   what's your thoughts on the reason for the longer fuze body only found [ basically ] in the 15 inch balls if it isn't wall thickness ??  Is it to 'direct' the 'road flare' burning flame of the paper time fuze ??
           I have a 1862 long fuze that came out of an 11 inch ball. I haven't heard of another long nwc fuze coming from an 11 inch ball, this might be an exception.

        diver\dave,    sorry we hijacked your thread here. It is an astounding shell you found. Your home ain't going nowhere now in a hurricane or tornado !!

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

David,
   As far as the length of the adapter body, even the two shorter adapters are long enough pass completely through the shell wall so that can't be the reason.  If the one adapter was longer to get the flame into the powder then the other two would also have to be as long as the one is.
  My burning question is this:  is the longer adapter contain a standard length Frankfort Arsenal fuse or is it a driven fuse composition?
Regards,
John

[emike123]

I have a long pattern one packed solid top to bottom.  Protruding from the bottom is a standard paper time fuse end however at the top end it appears to be just packed powder.

[divedigger]

yep, thats how mine looks.

[Selma Brooke Gunner]

just a thought here,
     with that appearing to be milled powder packed into the top of the wcf I would think that it would act as a time fuse as well. Given the burn rate of the powder on top of the paper fuse it is possible that they were made for a fixed time using both the powder and the paper fuse.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Beautiful specimen Mike.  You may have answered our questions.  Is there a chance that the end at the water cap could be a second Frankfort Arsenal paper fuse?
  If not and it is just loosely packed powder, then no accurate time could be predicted.
    It is evidently made this way to provide a longer flight time.  But how long.
Thank you for posting such clear images.
John

[Dave the plumber]

      Diverdudedave,           On your 3 fuzes, did any still have the lead seal tab ??  did any  one of them have the fuze 'burned out' inside the body ?? I wonder if they shot it as a solid shot and did not 'arm' the fuzes.......
     Here is a thought;  I bet if the gunner wanted say a 10 second delay before bursting, I wonder if he pulled the tab on the 15 second fuze just as a backup ..........
  and another thought;    if the increments were in 5 seconds on the fuzes, what if you wanted it to burst at 12 sec.,not 10 or 15 ??   
    Mike, you fell into a pile of lead safety seals lately, what were the increments ??