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Unknown El. Fuze

B

Bellifortis

Well-Known Member
Hallo,
during a recent research in the archives I came across the attached picture without caption or any attached documentation. Judging by the other documents in the file I assume this to be a US Navy laboratory development, post WW2, around 1950. It may be an experimental development that never was introduced.
My questions to you are:
1. Does anybody of you know this fuze and its designation ?
2. Has anyone seen it in any collection or even know where one can be found ?
Thanking you in advance for your helpful consideration, I remain with kind regards,
Bellifortis.El. Fuze around 1950.jpg
 
By the threads to fuze ratio and the radius of ogive, the fuze would be designated for the 3 inch 50 Cal or 5 inch 54 Cal. By the internals shown, it would appear to be a proximity fuze. As far as proximity fuzes for U.S. rounds go, I've never seen one that had a segmented ogive. All of the service fuzes have a continuous ogive made of plastic to allow the radio signals to penetrate it. Therefore it appears to be a prototype that was never adopted.

I believe Mr. Fuze has one of the best collections of U.S. Proximity fuzes. You might PM him directly.
 
Get rid of some of the yellow and you can pick detail out a little better.

El_%20Fuze%20around%201950.jpg
 
Thank you for your input up till now. This fuze, probably experimental, may not necessarily be a proximity fuze, but could also be an electric time fuze. I'm not able to judge this by the internals seen. Is there anybody in the US that has a special interest in experimental developments and who may collect such items ? Most probably this fuze was a development of the Fuze Division at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in White Oak, Silver Spring, Maryland between 1950 and 1955. Where would such an experimental development, that never was adopted, like the display shown, end up ? Any hints would be most welcome.
Bellifortis.
 
Last edited:
Hallo,
my research in the archives in the last few days answered some of my own questions. The above pictured fuze is the result of work that started in 1926 in Germany. It's an electric time fuze made with material available by the 1950's in the US. Apparently this type of fuze never made it to being introduced by any army in the world. If anybody here should ever see something like this being offered, I would be very grateful if he would inform me. For my research I'm looking for a small NOL report AD 0058085 "A self stabilizing timing circuit using cold cathode tubes and its application to electric time fuze circuits" 1950 . In the US it can be bought for a few $, but I could not find a source here in Europe on the net. If anybody could supply me with photos of these 9 pages I would be glad to reimburse his costs. Thanking you in advance for your kind consideration, I remain kindly yours,
Bellifortis.
 
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