The attached images show a British, WWI-era, experimental percussion grenade, currently of unidentified origin. Given the lack of any documents, the design of fuze and form of casing hint at a 1917-18 experimentation timeframe.
The grenade is a percussion rifle grenade demonstrator using the principle of conical-faced needle and detonator pellets moving within a coned housing. A number of projectile and grenade percussion fuzes from various inventors used this approach; for example Frederick Vickery had several related patents granted, such as GB130091A and GB131374A - the latter effectively describing the No.147 Allways fuze for the Stokes mortar bomb. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this grenade is from the Vickery stable.
Based on the form of a Mills No.5 type body, the grenade has some very obvious differences. Other than the fuze housing, the safety pin lugs are far more prominent and protrude further out than on the No.5; there is no filler hole; and the base of the casting has a substantial protrusion to hold the very different pattern of lever.
To use, the grenade is fired from a discharger cup. Referring to the labelled image of components, on leaving the cup the compression spring (c) is released and extracts the safety fork (b) from the upper conical housing (a). This pushes away the lever (k) and frees the combined needle and detonator pellet. The two halves of the combined pellet are held apart by a creep spring (h), but on impact in any orientation the needle pellet (f) and percussion cap pellet (g) close, and the cap in the base of (g) fires. The flash is transferred via a single fire hole to the detonator held in a central sleeve within the body.
The base plug (j) that has accompanied this grenade is a standard brass Mills No.23 MkI plug. There is no centre piece and no obvious way of filling the body with explosive, but then the example seems to be more of a concept demonstrator for the type of fuze than a complete grenade design.
Tom.
The grenade is a percussion rifle grenade demonstrator using the principle of conical-faced needle and detonator pellets moving within a coned housing. A number of projectile and grenade percussion fuzes from various inventors used this approach; for example Frederick Vickery had several related patents granted, such as GB130091A and GB131374A - the latter effectively describing the No.147 Allways fuze for the Stokes mortar bomb. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this grenade is from the Vickery stable.
Based on the form of a Mills No.5 type body, the grenade has some very obvious differences. Other than the fuze housing, the safety pin lugs are far more prominent and protrude further out than on the No.5; there is no filler hole; and the base of the casting has a substantial protrusion to hold the very different pattern of lever.
To use, the grenade is fired from a discharger cup. Referring to the labelled image of components, on leaving the cup the compression spring (c) is released and extracts the safety fork (b) from the upper conical housing (a). This pushes away the lever (k) and frees the combined needle and detonator pellet. The two halves of the combined pellet are held apart by a creep spring (h), but on impact in any orientation the needle pellet (f) and percussion cap pellet (g) close, and the cap in the base of (g) fires. The flash is transferred via a single fire hole to the detonator held in a central sleeve within the body.
The base plug (j) that has accompanied this grenade is a standard brass Mills No.23 MkI plug. There is no centre piece and no obvious way of filling the body with explosive, but then the example seems to be more of a concept demonstrator for the type of fuze than a complete grenade design.
Tom.
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