Find a bunch of these but have no clue...

[staydetuned]

And one more These things...

I've found quite a few, particularly at a homestead established in the 1850's and at a slightly later military site. Both in California... Always broken on one end, like in the picture. I have no idea what they were/are. Any idea?

Thanks for looking!

 

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[DirtDigler]

Mr. Cannonball Guy, I may be totally wrong in my post. I am only going by what I was told. I do, however, fire a Coehorn mortar, a 3" Parrot Rifle and a Mountain Rifle on occasion. I've found that when the lanyard is yanked, the wire is pulled free from the primer tube and the end is flared by the resulting ignition. This explains why it is no longer crimped after firing. I have a number of these spent primers in my collection, collected in the field and can't figure out why you have none. I am not trying to prove you wrong at all. I have an interest in the topic, obviously and would like to solve the mystery of these items. Please take no offense to my post, as none was intended. I look forward to seeing your photos. As you are in VA, and possibly not far from me, I can put this friction primer in your hand, if that helps. I don't think the Post Office would take kindly to me dropping one in an envelope to you.

 

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[DirtDigler]

Here's a possible solution to this puzzle. Perhaps the Curator was describing the primer you mentioned and the ones I have were from reenacted battles. The sites I have been hunting had reenacted battles a number of years ago, which might explain their presence. So maybe these primers are fairly current and not Civil War era. A patina could've formed in a few years giving them an authenic look. Just a thought.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

DirtDigler, I appreciate your comments. I did not take any offense from them. I want you to know that in my view, you and I are on a "scientific-minded" quest to discover the actual facts about the object's identity. That's all. I do not view these ID-quests as a contest with an ego-boost prize for the "winner."

By the way... like you, I was a civil war Artillery re-enactor for many years. That's why I am very familiar with the "crimped-top" modernday friction-primers manufactured for Artillery re-enactments. I still own one of those kind, kept as a souvenir of my years in that hobby. Unlike the aluminum ones you mention in your post, mine is made of brass tubing. Here's an extreme-closeup photo showing brass ones, whose top is very firmly crimped completely flat.

I agree that re-enactments at the civil war sites you're hunting are the source of the straight-tube primers you've found. Re-enactments which inclide cannon-firing have been happening ever since the 1960s Civil War Centennial, so that's plenty of time for the brass repro primers used at them to develop a significant amount of patina.

For everybody's education, I'll include a scan of an 1870s diagram from the Frankford (PA) Arsenal which shows how friction-primers and electrically-ignited primers of that era were assembled.

When my friend emails me a photo of the Confederate "90-degree bent tube" friction-primer that I think is what the museum curator verbally described to you, I'll post it here in this discussion-thread.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Wow, I am learning more here on this topic, than I ever learned in school, no sarcasm meant there. DirtDigler and TheCannonballGuy y'alls knowledge astounds me, I always read your posts with great interest, and your diplomacy in getting the information out there, and sharing different opinions and ideas is something a lot of people can learn from. Keep up the good work.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

DirtDigler wrote:
> I spoke with Randy Klemm, Curator of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond and several others and
> here is what I found. [Deleted only for brevity.] The design manuafactured in the North [deleted only for brevity].
> The designers in the South took the main tube and cut a short slit down one side of the tube and after applying
> the priming paste inside the tube, ran the friction wire down inside the tube and wedged it into the slit, bending it
> at a 90-degree angle.

In reply #19 of this discussion, written back in May, I told DirtDigler that I would post photos a battlefleld-excavated Confederate-made cannon friction-primer which seems to match the museum curator's description. I apologize for the long delay. I do not have a digital camera. My wife recently got us a new scanner, so I'm now able to make a scan of the Confederate-made primers I was talking about. Here they are. These are un-used. (Used ones are missing their twisted-wire loop, which was pulled out by the gunner's lanyard, to fire the cannon.)

This specific form/shape of civil war friction primer was manufactured only by the Confederates. A slit or notch was cut into the tube, about 3/4" from its top, and that part was folded down at a 90-degree angle (or a bit less), to close the opening in the tube's side. Then a small hole was drilled into the tube's side, just below the fold, and then a serrated wire (whose end was twisted to form a loop) was insted into the hole, penetrating all the way to the short end of the tube. The entire tube was then filled with "friction-compound," a chemical compound which is similar to a match's head.

For any readers here who do not know how a civil war era cannon friction-primer "worked":
To fire a cannon, the gunner would insert the long end of the friction-primer into the cannon's vent-hole (also called a touch-hole), located at the cannon's breech end (the fat end of the cannon). The vent-hole goes down through the cannon's thick metal walls to where the powder-charge is located. When the gunner's lanyard quickly jerked the serrated wire out of the tube's friction-compound, the compound ignited like a flaring match-head, creating a jet of flame which ignited the cannon's powder-charge.

 

[Michaelangelo]

TheCannonballGuy-As I was reading this I was wishing someone would explain exactly how these friction primers worked and lo and behold I came to your post. Great explanation and many thanks.
I was also impressed with the civility of the back and forth "conversations". You folks carried on like true gentlemen and I applaud you all. Have seen some posts where the conversations have gotten right nasty and it just ruined the entire post.