Nose Fuze No. 848 Mks I - V (Service)

Description: The Fuze No. 848 Mk V consists of a vane assembly, throat and upper fuze body, and lower fuze body and base piece. There are the small vanes of sheet steel attached to the vane hub, to which is also attached the arming spindle. A ring soldered to three clips is located around the vanes to prevent damage to the vanes and to hold the vane cap on. The spindle threads down into the throat and holds down a brass retai-ning cap or ball-release cap. The retaining cap holds two retaining balls in grooves in the upper part of the striker, which is spring-loaded doan. A safety pin passes through the throat and the striker. In the lower part of the throat is the primer, which flashes down to a delay train housed in the lower fuze body. The bas plug, which houses the maga-zine, is attached to the lower fuze body.

Operation: When the bomb or flare is put in the plane, the safety pin is removed from the fuze. Upon release, the vane cap is pulled off and the vanes are free to rotate and thread the spindle out of the throat. When the spindle has moved out, the retaining cap falls forward under pressure from the retaining balls, releasing the two retaining balls, and allowing the striker to hit the primer. The primer fires the delay train, which burns out and flashes down to the magazine, firing the fuze.

Remarks: The delays, housed in capsules, vary from 4.0 to 32.5 seconds, depending on the capsule used.

The Fuze No. 848 Mk IV differs from the Mk V in that instead of the arming spindle holding down the ball retaining cap, it has an arming cone which moves down inside a ball cage and holds the retaining ball out, preventing the ball cage and spring-loaded striker from moving down.

Figure 159 - Nose Fuze No. 848 Mk V