Japanese Toxic Smoke Candle - What Type?

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Hi all!
I was just wondering if anyone could help me out here.

I have this Japanese Toxic Smoke Candle (don,t worry, it's empty) but can't just put my finger on the exact type.

It has the same dimensions as the Type 99 (167K) Self Projecting Toxic Smoke Generator with a diameter of 51.5mm and an overall length of 206mm. It has the same red band but differs in that the body colour is brown and not a greenish grey colour. It also has a purple band on the lid instead of a black band. the letter K only is present without any filling date. The red K stands for the 2nd Arsenal Tokyo.

The internals are the same as the Type 99 Self Projecting Smoke Candle with the fuze hole being centre instead of off set as in the Type 99 Toxic Smoke Candle, but the dimensions and markings are different.

Surely with all the expertise that we have that someone out there will be able to give me a few answers.

Oh yea this one was a real rust bucket but with evaporust and a bit of care I was lucky enough to get it this far. I have now smothered it in lanolin to keep the rust away. It looks like the bottom cap must be mismatched colour wise and not original to this specific candle.

Has anyone else got any Chemical Munitions! If so how about showing them?

Cheers,
BOUGAINVILLE

 

[peteblight]

Which chemical munitions are you interested in seeing?

Pete

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Hi peteblight,

Japanese of course!

Cheers,
BOUGAINVILLE

Which chemical munitions are you interested in seeing?

Pete

 

[US-Subs]

The toxic candles are the most difficult of all of the Japanese CW items to identify - and that's saying something. The data, even the original Japanese data, frequently conflicts with the actual items. The info gathered by allied troops during and after the war is even worse, with the same items having 3-4 different designations, and then not matching the physical specimens.

The differences between the smoke models and the CW (green or red) is often very slight, sometimes non-existent. Frequently only chemical testing at a qualified lab can distinguish the difference.

Large quantities of these items have been recovered in the last ten years, mostly in China and Japan, remnants of wartime activities. The largest recovery to date contains nearly 40,000 toxic candles. Many of these items remain unidentified by model number. Some have even been found with labels intact, but which utilize terms no longer recognized, further adding to the confusion.

I wouldn't worry too much about the background color, it frequently varied, for unknown reasons. Your red band (if original) is the primary indicator for a DA/DC fill.

 

[BOUGAINVILLE]

Thanks for that US-Subs,

I know that the data available leaves a lot to be desired. In my research I find different designations for the same item etc. Likewise I also find that it is a pretty messy situation with the bombs as well. Though the data on the bomb fuzes seem to match up fairly well.

It is interesting about the recent recoveries in China. I can quite well believe the fact that some of the terms were no longer recognised. In fact have you ever asked any young Japanese to translate any WWII text. They can't do it. They only learn the common usage Kanji and certainly not the amount that the older generation learnt. Likewise it would be easy to understand the loss of military terms. I once had a young Japanese lad translate some WWII text for me and he did extremely well except that he couldn't recognise the characters for the military ranks.

Cheers,
BOUGAINVILLE