Electric Tubes
In the English service electric tubes (in the United States called "primers") are mostly used, but percussion or friction tubes are preferred on the continent and electric tubes are seldom or never used.
There are two types of electric tube, one with long wires for joining up with the electric circuit and the other without external wires. The first type has two insulated wires led into the interior and attached to two insulated brass cones which are connected by a wire "bridge" of platinum silver. This bridge is surrounded by a priming composition of guncotton dust and mealed powder and the remainder of the tube is filled with powder. When an electric current passes through, the bridge is heated to incandescence and ignites the priming composition.
In the wireless tube the lock of the gun makes the electric contact with an insulated disc in the head of the tube. This disc is connected by an insulated wire to a brass cone, also insulated, the bridge being formed from an edge of the cone to a brass wire which is soldered to the mouth of the tube. Priming composition surrounds the bridge and the tube is filled with powder. The electric circuit passes from the gun lock to the disc, then through the bridge to the body of the tube, returning through the metal of the gun and mounting.
Read more about this topic: Tubes And Primers For Ammunition
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