pullin the tail

[brian]

in the regular army I got to to pull the tail on
an 8" self propelled howetzer, almost better than sex. ::

my question is when did the army invent the match stick
thingy, you pull with a string?

and did this require a special touch hole, or did thay use the same hole, as the fire on a stick methoud?

more grape capn bragg
BB

 

[lanedh]

By "match stick thingy" I am guessing you mean the friction primer (??). Developed at/by Frankford Arsenal (near Phila) before the Civil War.

The friction primer was a tee-shaped device consisting of a small copper tube filled with quick match composition; at the upper end was a friction-sensitive material embedded in a piece of twisted wire with a loop on one end. When "pulled smartly", the twisted wire caused the sensitive stuff to flash, igniting the quickmatch which fired the load in the bore. The copper tube was sized to fit the vent; if you ran out of primers you could still prime "from the horn" and fire with a linstock.

In accordance with the gunnery drill of the day, No. 1's job was to lay the gun and prick the powder cartidge bag by inserting a long wire down the vent. The final step before firing was to insert a primer and connect the lanyard to the loop. A quick yank on the lanyard and the job was done.

All hail, Saint Barbara!!

 

[brian]

so during the mexican war thay were still using the fire on a stick methoud?
::
more grape capn bragg
BB

 

[lanedh]

I believe so, but I'm just an enthusiast, not an expert, so maybe someone who knows the timeline better will chime in here. Read Warren Ripley's "Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War" and/or Harold Peterson's "Roundshot and Rammers", you may find more info there.

When I excavated seacoast artillery tubes at Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West we found a few used friction primers in the abandoned gunrooms. The fort was manned continually during the Civil War by the Union garrison, but as far as is known no shots were fired in anger. They must have exercised the batteries between the Civil War and modernization (1890s, I think).