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Grenade photos

Next group. The rifle grenades are clearly related to each other, the fins look French to me. The hand grenade I am certain I have seen in a collection in Europe, but cannot remember where (Frei?) or who made it. Any ideas?

RG1a.jpgRG1b.jpg RG2a.jpgRG2b.jpg HG1a.jpgHG1b.jpg
 
The grenades are designs of the well known Frenchman Edgar William Brandt. The second one with no visible fuze is also a life variant with internal or base fuze. They also should be BT types.
See US Pat. 1,900,790 from 7 Mar. 1933
 
Nobody has any info on the hand grenade? Sure I've seen it before, but cannot find the photo. Anything more on the rifle grenades?

In the meantime, here is a US WWII experimental chemical grenade. Not that pretty, but I put here specially for the Brits - as I recall it was used by Churchill himself!


Exp CW.jpg
 
ordnance said:
Jeff,

The grenade pictured in the last 6 images of your latest post is a No.1 percussion type Lancaster hand grenade. It was one of many privately developed types submitted during WWI to the War Dept. for testing. The cord was was wrapped around the wrist of the throwing arm and the time fuse ignited as the grenade left the thrower. There was also a No.2 type with a pipe handle that fired on impact. Both used the same body with extra internal lobes for additional fragmentation visible in your last image.

I don't think I've ever seen one in person but have seen photographic evidence of both types surviving in various private and museum collections. The one you pictured is easily the best one I've seen and is probably one of the official examples submitted for testing. Lancaster Engineering Corp. was a New York City company and the drawings I have of these grenades are dated June and July of 1917. Will try to get them scanned and posted in the next day or two.
Click to expand...

I have the second type that is impact fired. I'm pretty sure I posted the photos on here once before.
 
This is not one of the museum photos, but a piece that I picked up at a show yesterday. It has the appearance of a US MKI / MKII frag body, with a smooth neck and a base cast as part of the body. The neck does not come quite as high as it might, and is a larger diameter. It is otherwise fairly normal, with no markings or threaded portions. It is open all the way through, the only "flaw" to the body that I can see off-hand is at the top, where there the lip is much thicker on one side than the other (second picture). I've placed it next to a normal MKIIA1 for comparison purposes. Anyone seen this before?

DSCN2430.jpg DSCN2431.jpg DSCN2432.jpg DSCN2433.jpg
 
Beanos.JPG Here is grenade photo I found today to make up for it. A brace of Beanos by the look of it.
 
millsbomber said:
Do you know what was in the mission pack Norman at the bottom of the picture ????? Dave
Click to expand...

No idea Dave. Presumably it is American and one of our US friends can suggest its contents. I have only seen British wartime Mission Packs containing AC Delays, so maybe that was what was in the box in the photo.
 
US-Subs said:
This is not one of the museum photos, but a piece that I picked up at a show yesterday. It has the appearance of a US MKI / MKII frag body, with a smooth neck and a base cast as part of the body. The neck does not come quite as high as it might, and is a larger diameter. It is otherwise fairly normal, with no markings or threaded portions. It is open all the way through, the only "flaw" to the body that I can see off-hand is at the top, where there the lip is much thicker on one side than the other (second picture). I've placed it next to a normal MKIIA1 for comparison purposes. Anyone seen this before?

View attachment 59638 View attachment 59639 View attachment 59640 View attachment 59641
Click to expand...

Hey Jeff

Can't say as I've seen that exact type specimen, but it could very well be a piece of ornamentation. Part of a finial, perhaps. Seems a bit fancy for a practice dummy.

Rick
 
That was my first thought also. But once you get looking at the amount of work that it took to make it and the timeframe of the design - lot of work for a one-off paperweight. I was hoping that someone had seen a similar item or bit of documentation, even if it were a paperweight.
 
A couple of variations on the M67(?). I have no idea what "ball float" means - anyone?

6.jpg 5.jpg5a.jpg 3.jpg3a.jpg
 
Doesn't look like it, the fuze threads in additional photos look normal. Data is sketchy and mentions nothing about unusual construction materials.
 
The second grenade in the first posting? Which group?
 
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