ring a shell from a 24-pounder to burst
at 2,000 yards meant a time flight of 6 seconds, a red fuze would
serve without cutting, or a green fuze could be cut to 1-1/2 inches.
Sea-coast fuzes of similar type were used in the 15-inch Rodmans until
these big smoothbores were finally discarded sometime after 1900.

The Bormann fuze (fig. 42a), the quickest of the oldtimers to set, was
used for many years by the U. S. Field Artillery in spherical shell
and shrapnel. Its pewter case, which screwed into the shell, contained
a time ring of powder composition (A). Over this ring the top of the
fuze case was marked in seconds. To set the fuze, the gunner merely
had to cut the case at the proper mark--at four for 4 seconds, three
for 3 seconds, and so on--to expose the ring of powder to the powder
blast of the gun. The ring burned until it reached the zero end and
set off the fine powder in the center of the case; the powder flash
then blew out a tin plate in the bottom of the fuze and ignited the
shell charge. Its short burning time (about 6 seconds) made the
Bormann fuze obsolete as field gun ranges increased. The main trouble
with this fuze, however, was that it did not always ignite!

The percussion fuze was an extremely important development of the
nineteenth century, particularly for the long-range rifles. The shock
of impact caused this fuze to explode the shell at almost the instant
of striking. Percussion fuzes were made in two general types: the
front fuze, for the nose of an elongated projectile; and the base
fuze, at the center of the projectile base. The base fuze was used
with armor-piercing projectiles where it was desirable to have the
shell penetrate the target for some distance before bursting. Both
types were built on the same principles.

A Hotchkiss front percussion fuze (fig. 42e) had a brass case which
screwed into the shell. Inside the case was a plunger (A) containing a
priming charge of powder, topped with a cap of fulminate. A brass wire
at the base of the plunger was a safety device to keep the cap away
from a sharp point at the top of the fuze until the shell struck the
target. When the gun was fired, the shock of discharge dropped a lead
plug (B) from the base of the fuze into the projectile cavity,
permitting the plunger to drop to the bottom of the fuze and rest
there, held by the spread wire, while the shell was in flight. Upon
impact, the plunger was thrown forward, the cap struck the point and