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We have a busy upcoming show schedule with the Mansfield show May 4th & 5th and Gettysburg again in late June. 2 more shows on the calendar for July and another in August!

Hope to see many of you at one of these shows.

U00550 - McEvoy Fuse Ignitor Lead Weigth With Wire
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Item Number: U00550

Item Title: McEvoy Fuse Ignitor Lead Weigth With Wire

Price: $40

Shipping: Not included

Provenance: CS

Type: McEvoy

Shell Type: Rifle Shells

Thread Diameter: N/A

Thread Count: N/A

Book: Artillery Fuses of the Civil War by Charles Jones : Page 63

Location Recovered: Unknown

Description:A nice examples of the lead weight from the CS McEvoy Fuse Ignitor invented by C.A. McEvoy in Richmond. These were created to ensure ignition of the paper time fuses in rifled shells. Some shell sabots apon firing sealed the bore so quickly and completely that the paper fuse would not be ignited. This add-on fuse component sat on top of the paper fuse and used the energy from firing of the cannon to create a flame to light the fuse. The fuse igniter consisted of a round piece of wood with a hole bored down the center that fit over the protruding paper fuse in the shell. The paper time fuse only fit into this fuse ignitor about 1/3 of the way. The space above that had a hollow lead weight suspended from a cross wire that attached to a hollow center shaft with a hook that pulled loose on firing and ignited a fulminate compound. It was quite a simple invention that seemed to work quite well. A number were found in the cache at High Bridge, VA. The bottom two images below are an example with the cross wire going through the hook into the weight. The bottom view is a complete fuse assembly with a cut-away view of the paper fuse in a CS copper adapter. The wood contains the lead weight in the position shown by the example weight next to it. You can see the side hole in the wood where the cross wire was inserted.

This offering is only for the lead weight with part of the wire still present. The lead weight is missing the ignitor components of the wood block and some of the cross wire. It has part of the cross wire going through the hook which goes into the lead weight. The center hole is clearly seen on the bottom. Since the hook is present I presume this is from a dropped fuse. The lead is in very good condition with nice white patina.