Also known as: paper fuze.
In the Half Shell Book: This subject is treated in Civil War Artillery Projectiles: The Half Shell Book, pp. 25-32.
| Class | Time fuze |
|---|---|
| Construction | Powder composition wrapped in paper, cut to length |
| Seating | Driven into a metal or wooden fuze plug |
| Supply | Made up in graded burning times |
The cut-to-time fuze
The paper time fuze was a tightly wrapped paper case filled with a powder composition that burned at a known rate. Cut to length at the factory or in the field for a chosen number of seconds, it was driven into a fuze plug set in the projectile's fuze hole so the flash of the discharge lit it.
Paper time fuzes were issued in graded burning times and were among the most widely used means of bursting spherical and rifled shell in the air over a target.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Benton, James G. A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery. 2nd ed. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.