46 



FYZABAD 



fishermen. The nests or egg-cases are curious, like 

 those of the Whelk (q. v.). F. colosseus is about a 

 foot long : F. turtoni, from Scarborough, is a 

 treasure of conchologists. 



Fllta Jalloil, a large area under French pro- 

 tection lying NE. of Sierra Leone, and forming the 

 ' hinterland ' to the French coast-colony of Rivieres 

 du Sud. The area is given at 30,000 sq. m., and 

 the pop. (who are Fulahs) at 600,000. It is a 

 hilly, healthy country, lying round a lofty moun- 

 tain mass, and contains some of the head-streams 

 of the Gambia, the Senegal, and the Niger. 

 Futchgunge, &c. See FATEHGANJ, &c. 

 Future State. See ESCHATOLOGY. 

 Fuze, a means of igniting an explosive at the 

 required instant, whether it is used in blasting 

 operations, military demolitions and mines, or as 

 the bursting- charge of a shell or Bomb (q.v. ). In 

 the former cases electricity would generally be 

 used, but for hasty military demolitions Bickford's 

 fuze is employed in the British army. It is of two 

 kinds 'instantaneous' and 'ordinary,' the lirst 

 burning at 30 feet a second, the other at 3 feet a 

 minute. The ' ordinary ' consists of a train of gun- 

 powder in layers of tape covered with gutta-percha; 

 111 the 'instantaneous,' which is distinguished by 

 crossed threads of orange worsted outside, quick- 

 match takes the place of the gunpowder. Powder 

 hose is sometimes used when no other fuze is avail- 

 able. It is made of strips of linen, forming, when 

 filled with powder, what is called a 'sausage,' ^ to 

 1 inch in diameter. 



The fuzes used for shells are of a totally different 

 character and of many patterns. They are of two 

 classes, those which depend for their action upon 

 the rate of burning of the composition in them, 

 called ' time '-fuzes, and those which burst the 

 shelfr on its striking the target, ground, or water, 

 called ' percussion '-fuzes. In the British army 

 time-fuzes are hollow truncated cones of beech- 

 wood, carrying a column of fuze- 

 composition which burns at a fixed 

 rate marks and figures on the 

 outside show twentieths of a 

 second or less, and indicate where 

 the hole must be made by a fuze- 

 borer in order that the name may 

 have access through it to the 

 bursting-charge, and so open the 

 shell at the desired instant during 

 its flight. They are chiefly used 

 with Shrapnels (see SHELL) and 

 mortars. Their length varies from 

 3 to 6 inches, and they are fixed 

 in to the head of the shell before 

 firing. The thickness of iron would 

 prevent the passage of the flame 

 through the hole made by the borer 

 in the shorter fuzes, and therefore 

 two or more powder channels are 

 made in them, parallel to the 

 fuze-composition, to communicate its flame to the 

 bursting-charge. In guns having windage the 

 fuze is ignited by the flame of the cartridge en- 

 veloping the shell, and quickmatch is placed on 

 the top of the fuze to facilitate this. A metal cover 



protects the quickmatch until the last moment, 

 and is then torn off by means of a tape provided 

 for that purpose. In guns having no windage a 

 percussion arrangement is placed in the head of the 

 fuze, so that the shock of discharge may ignite 

 the fuze-composition. Fig. 1 shows a section of 

 the common time-fuze, through one powder channel. 

 A section of the percussion-fuze designed in 

 the Royal Laboratory at Woolwich is shown 

 in fig. 2. It is a hollow gun-metal cylinder, a, 

 arranged so as to screw into the head of the 

 shell. Inside is a movable pellet or ring, b,- of 

 white metal driven with fuze-composition like a 

 tube, and carrying a percussion-cap. It has four 

 feathers or shoulders projecting from its sides, and 

 above these a gun-metal guard, c, fits round the 

 pellet loosely, so as to prevent the cap of the pellet 

 coming into contact with a steel pin which projects 

 downwards from the top of the fuze. A safety pin, 

 d, goes through the fuze with the same object, 

 but is removed before firing, and a lead pellet, e, 

 then closes the aperture left by its removal. On 

 discharge the shock 

 causes the guard to shear 

 off the feathers, and set 

 back with the pellet 

 against the bottom of 

 the fuze. The shock of 

 impact on the target or 

 ground causes the pellet 

 to set forward, bringing 

 the cap against the pin, 

 igniting the fuze-com- 

 position, and bursting 

 the shell. Percussion- 



Fig. 2. 



fuzes are chiefly used with 'common' Shell (q.v.). 

 Very many others are in use, chiefly modifica- 

 tions of these two types e.g. the 'delay' action 

 fuze has both a percussion and time arrangement, 

 so as to burst the shell an instant after impact. 

 All are delicate and apt to deteriorate hopelessly 

 with age or exposure to damp. In the American 

 pneumatic dynamite gun, the shell contains an 

 electric battery, and the circuit is completed 

 by the shell striking either water or the target. 



Fylfot. See CROSS. 



Fyne, LOCH, a sea-loch of Argyllshire, running 

 40 miles northward and north-eastward from the 

 Sound of Bute to beyond Inveraray. It is 1 to 5 

 miles broad, and 40 to 70 fathoms deep. On the 

 west side it sends oft' Loch Gilp (2 X If miles) 

 leading to the Crinan Canal. Loch Fyne is cele- 

 brated for its herrings. 



Fyrd, the old English Militia. See MILITIA. 



Fyzabad (better Faizabad), a city of Oudh, 

 on the Gogra, 78 miles E. of Lucknow by rail. 

 Built on part of the site of Ajodhya (q.v.), it was 

 the capital of Oudh from 1760 to 1780, but is now 

 greatly fallen from its old-time splendour, most of 

 its Mohammedan buildings being in decay. It 

 maintains, however, a trade in opium, wheat, and 

 rice. Pop. (1891) including cantonments, 78,921. 

 The area of Fyzabad district is 1728 sq. m., with" 

 1,216,959 inhabitants; of Fyzabad division, 12,177 

 sq. m., with a pop. of 6,794,272. For the capital of 

 Badakhshan, see FAIZABAD. 



