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Good Morning Everyone......

All I can add is a piece of shrapnel that was picked up on the summit of Spion Kop by a friend who visited the area in the late 1950's..... I have a pair of book ends made from Pom-Pom shells but they are in storage right now.....

Mike

British field guns fired cordite, which was ignited by a T-friction tube. This was placed in the T-vent, a hole in the breech of the gun. The body of the T-friction tube was turned to secure it under a locking device (circled in 1st photo).
A lanyard was attached to a loop in the head of the T-friction tube. On the order to fire, the lanyard was pulled, drawing the friction wire sharply out of its socket. (In the 2nd photo you can see the lanyard in the hand of the No. 2 of the gun crew). The effect was like pulling a Christmas cracker, the resulting flash passed downwards, igniting a column of gunpowder, which in turn made a bigger flash into the chamber.
Finding T friction tubes on a battlefield indicates a field gun position.

A remarkable survivor - a tin containing 5 (of 10) Mk III friction tubes, picked up at Modder River by Lieut. Hugh S. Gladstone, K.O.S.B.

Label reads: “DIRECTIONS FOR OPENING & RE-CLOSING. OPENING – Take hold of the overlapping un-soldered end of the tin band, and [illegible] off the whole of the band by a sharp pull or jerk”.

“T friction tubes are packed 10 in a square tin box, painted black, and having both top and bottom removable; secured by tin bands soldered over the joint. Inside the box at each end there is a partition, with a corrugated strip for holding five tubes. Movement of the tubes is prevented by a cork packing piece and a felt wad on top. There is a felt band under the fifth tube to facilitate removal” (Treatise on Ammunition 1902, p. 119)







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Friction tubes used by the Boer forces were much simpler affairs ....
Krupp guns took the two examples in the centre, and Creusot the two on the left.

Time fuzes, as used with Creusot 75 mm QF guns.



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And as used with 155 mm Creusot "Long Tom" guns ...














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