Cannon fuse??

[marbles57]

Had such good luck with the wagon staple/hoof pick I drug some of my other things out.
This was found at an old Fort in the Tx panhandle. I was told that it was a cannon fuse. It's about 2 1/2" long, the side piece is 3/8". It is maybe 3/16" in dia.
If it is a cannon fuse how did it work? Thanks

 

[duggap]

It's a primer for the cannon. It's what shoots off that bad boy. And a pretty neat find.

 

[Kenosha Kid]

Had such good luck with the wagon staple/hoof pick I drug some of my other things out.
This was found at an old Fort in the Tx panhandle. I was told that it was a cannon fuse. It's about 2 1/2" long, the side piece is 3/8". It is maybe 3/16" in dia.
If it is a cannon fuse how did it work? Thanks

Not so much for the picture (although yours resembles part of this one) but more for how it worked :

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=212597552#PIC

 

[marbles57]

Thanks duggap & kenosha

pretty sure it's not navel. I found this where the flagpole stood. Other people who have hunted this Fort said they use to be laying everywhere.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Marbles57, the civil war cannoneers called your item a friction primer. It is not considered a fuze. Your specimen still has its pull-wire, so you found an un-used one. (The wire is gone after the primer gets used.) As you'd guess, unused (a.k.a. "unfired") friction primers are much scarcer than used ones. Congratulations!