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Detail Info

Object ID

2018.153.003

Access Number

2018.153

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Object Name

Fuse, Detonating

Other Name

18 Pounder Artillery Fuse (WW I)

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Material

Brass

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FEATURE INFO

Artifact Type

Object

Objet

Category

History

Histoire

Collection

FIREARMS & ORDNANCE

ARMES À FEU ET MUNITIONS

18 Pounder Artillery fuse from Crest Farm

World War I 18 Pounder Artillery fuse (fuze) which came from the Crest Farm, Passchendaele battlefield. This inert time and percussion fuze No. 80 was usually used with the British shrapnel shells of the famous 18-pounder field guns of WW1. This fuze is made entirely of brass. It is corroded and rusted. N°80, 80B, 80/44, 80/44B, 180 and 180B fuze The time and percussion fuze N°80 was the fuze usually used with the British shrapnel shells of the famous 18 pounders field guns in WW I. Designed by the German company Krupp in 1905 and manufactured under license in England before the war and during it, its peculiar story will feed the arguments of the believers of a war wanted by the weapons international industry since once the war was over, the British company Vickers Armament Industries, who manufactured these fuzes between 1914 and 1918, kindly accepted to pay to Krupp 40 000 £ in royalties. Although the initial models were made in aluminium, this fuse was entirely made in brass. The time system is a classical rotating disk system, with a ring graduated from de 0 to 22 seconds, a departure ignition caused by an axial time pellet caused by the discharge shock momentum. The percussion system, selectable by choosing the rotating disk graduation marked with a roman cross was a very classical one as well, of graze type, with a staple safety device actioned by the shell departure shock. A gunpowder load was placed at the base of the fuze to ignite the shell (with an additional detonator if needed). Living through 16 different marks, it will remain in service until the middle of WW2. Known variants are: The time and percussion fuzes N°80B only differed by a small difference in shape, one lip having been suppressed so that the fuze could be adapted to certain shell types. the time fuzes N°80/44 et N°80B/44, with no percussion mechanism, were dedicated to the explosive shells that had to detonate in flight (for instance for anti-aircraft), and needed the serial mounting with a direct action percussion fuze N°44/85 acting as a detonator. The 0 to 2 graduations of these fuzes were masked, and a blue 'T' mark was painted on the fuze body, The time fuzes N°180 and N°180B, with no percussion mechanism, were used with incendiary and shrapnel shells in anti-aircraft action. A blue 'T' was painted on their body. In addition to these conversions, the N°80 fuze is at the basis of the design of N°83 and N°88 fuzes described individually later in this section. Initially dedicated to the shrapnel shells of the famous: QF 13 pdr field guns (3 inches - 76 mm), QF 18 pdr field guns (3.3 inches - 84 mm), It was afterwards adapted for other weapons of similar power, that is shrapnel shells of the: 10 pdr and 2.7-in mountain guns (2.75 inches - 70 mm), QF 2.95-in mountain pack howitzer (75mm) and the BL 15 pdr field guns (3 inches - 76 mm).
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