Fuses, in military explosives, initiate the function of a made up charge or device. They are made up of some kind of burning material. Depending on their chemical design some will even work under water.
Early British explosive cord was a thin lead tube filled with pourable TNT (trinitro toluene). It was a lead gray colour. Later it was a white plastic tube filled with the more rapidly burning, white, PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate), one of the fastest burning explosives of the day.
Detonating cord differs from the above safety fuse because it is a very high speed which actually explodes rather than burns, and is used to detonate certain types of explosive without a separate detonator. Also known as Cordtex and Primacord, these are manufacturer trade names that have lapsed into common use. Its extremely high speed means it causes an almost instant detonation of the explosive once activated, over even quite long distances. For example one type is rated at 7,000 metres per second.
The tin measures 5 and a half inches/141mm in diameter by 2 and a quarter/ 58mm depth.
Gavin Scovell
John K. Neuenburg