GB831827A - Electrical detonator - Google Patents

Abstract

831,827. Ammunition fuzes. BECKMAN INSTRUMENTS Inc. April 30, 1957, No. 13789/57. Class 9(1) An electric detonator, which may be used in guided missiles, comprises a cylindrical housing 10 crimped into the groove 13 of a closure plug 12 through which a pin or screw 18 extends into a detonating charge 25 rendered electrically conducting by the incorporation of an amorphous carbon. The housing 10 may be an aluminium alloy and the plug 12 may be made from a similar alloy or of non-conducting materials such as glass, ceramics and certain plastics. The screw 18, which functions as an electrode, may be anodized to produce an aluminium oxide surface insulating the screw from the plug 12, the coating being subsequently removed from the tip of the screw and the joint between the plug and screw may be filled with a plastic sealing agent. The housing 10 which contains a main detonator charge 26, acts as the second electrode. The charge 26 may be in two portions, the upper portion being lead oxide and the lower portion being a booster charge such as tetryl, PETN or RDX. The charge 25 may be formed by mixing thermal acetylene black with a finely divided detonating composition such as lead azide, lead styphnate, or diazodinitrophenol. The lead azide may be treated with dextrin but a lead azide precipitated in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol is preferred. From 1% to 25% by weight of carbon black may be mixed with the detonating composition. The charge 25 may be pressed into the plug 12 under pressures of 18,000 to 20,000 p.s.i. and the plug forced against the main charge at a pressure of 25,000 p.s.i. The inner electrode may be integral with the plug, in which case the outer surface of the plug is anodized and the conductive charge is superposed on the main charge. Alternatively the conductive charge may be housed in an annulus beneath the plug.