Author Topic: Mystery object turkey contest  (Read 664 times)

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Offline cannonmn

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Mystery object turkey contest
« on: November 26, 2009, 02:12:48 AM »
A friend found this object encased in cosmoline and mud, in a tunnel leading to a very thick-walled structure near the water on Narragansett Bay, R.I. in 1950.  It is black-powder-related, but was used after what we normally think of as the black-powder era.

See if you can identify its function; exact name isn't required.

http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b62/cannonmn/miscforumsetc/forums49/?action=view&current=b084f522.pbw

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2009, 02:54:06 AM »
Nothing here ? ???

I say fuse setter of some kind .
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline subdjoe

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2009, 03:12:49 AM »
Some sort of trigger. 
Your ob't & etc,
Joseph Lovell

Justice Robert H. Jackson - It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

Offline Soot

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2009, 04:04:38 AM »
I'd have to say it's a firing lock with incorporated rear sight.

Offline Ex 49'er

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2009, 05:49:21 AM »
Looks like a widget to me.    ;D
When you're walking on eggs; don't hop!!

Offline RocklockI

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2009, 05:55:49 AM »
Of course it's a widget ,But which widget idgit ? ;D
"I've seen too much not to stay in touch , With a world full of love and luck, I got a big suspicion 'bout ammunition I never forget to duck" J.B.

Offline Ex 49'er

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2009, 06:02:17 AM »
You seen one widget; you seen 'em all.    ;D
When you're walking on eggs; don't hop!!

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2009, 06:12:22 AM »
Quote
I'd have to say it's a firing lock with incorporated rear sight.

Soot is really close, there's no rear sight on it though, it is all firing lock.  I'm still researching it but I've found some pictures of 12-inch rifles and mortars ca. 1900 that use what they call a "sliding leaf firing lock" and I think this is a version of that.  The black powder is in the combination primer it fires.  A combination primer at that time worked by either electricity or friction.  I think the normal method of firing would be electrical, with friction as the backup.  So the lock had a means to pull the friction wire about 3/4  inch, and also to supply the primer with firing voltage.  You can see the brass, insulated electrical contact on it.  This particular primer was called a button primer.  I haven't found a very good picture nor drawing of the firing lock yet.

http://books.google.com/books?id=hp9DAAAAIAAJ&dq=hines%20and%20ward&pg=PA285#v=onepage&q=button%20primer&f=false

Offline seacoastartillery

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2009, 06:51:23 AM »
     We have a couple pics which might help.

Tracy and Mike



Tunnels and thick walled structure.




Breech Mechanism




Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin'-cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

From the poem  Screw-Guns  by Rudyard Kipling

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2009, 07:36:08 AM »
Quote
thick walled structure.

When I was in a Navy school in Newport in 1979 I explored the "redoubt" for Ft. Adams, which was surrounded by old officer's quarters.  No one had attempted to restore it at that time, and the muddy tunnels were either filled with water or the open places were still littered with fragments of clay pipes.  One thing I really wanted was a fortress-like wooden door with iron reinforcements all over it, it was about 4"thick and way to heavy for me to manage (old days before I learned how to move heavy stuff.)  So I left it there, fortunately for later restorers.  The CINC wasn't very tolerant of such things back then and I probably would have wound up taking it back there anyway.  Now however she's just numb to it all (well-trained!)

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Mystery object turkey contest
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2009, 09:00:46 PM »
Did y'all know there's a dedicated group of Coast Artillery forums under the "Coast Defense Study Group" here:

http://cdsg.org/forums/index.php

They are involved with the antique forts and seacoast guns as well as the 20th C stuff. 

I'm sure M & T will be interested if they aren't members already.