I’ve been trying to identify the manufacturer of the ‘CR’ marked grenade, but have nothing positive. I have a manuscript entry for ‘CR’ (as shown, not imposed on one another) as being Chas. Ruwolt , Richmond, Adelaide, Australia. Ruwolts were a heavy engineering company that tended to serve the mining industry and like – what they manufactured was generally very big. However, during the war Chas. Ruwolt (the founder) became one of an eight-member central control board (Victorian board of area management) of the Department of Munitions. The factory was turned over to the war effort and became No 1 annex of munitions supply, manufacturing artillery pieces, trench mortars, mortar bombs and armour-piercing shot. The company was responsible for the highly successful 25pr. short-gun howitzer (lightweight version of the 25pr) developed in conjunction with the Department of Munitions. With Mr Ruwolt’s connections the Department of Munitions, it is quite possible that he diversified into the field of thermosetting plastics.
Ring Pull - were one of Australia’s largest manufacturers of electrical accessories at the time.
Airzone – or more accurately “Airzone 1931 Ltd” (Parramatta Road, Camperdown, Sydney) were one of Australia’s largest manufacturers of radios. Radios of this period were invariably housed in enormous Bakelite cabinets.
(I’ve made enquiries of collectors of both categories and no one recognises the trade mark)
Then, just to complicate matters, whilst trawling
www.powerhousemuseum.com (It’s an Australian website dedicated to design and manufacture) I found the following entry on a No. 69 Grenade (there’s no photo.)
“Old museum label on blue file says "Made and Presented by Nally's Ltd., Sydney, 1944”“
( Nally Ltd were one of Australia’s first and biggest plastics users – they specialised in Bakelite crockery, now known as Nallyware – which is apparently very collectable.)
“Marks - Registration mark, on side, moulded, "No.69 I / N - AIR.42 / N.", on base, moulded "3"
My initial reaction was this was a mislabelling by the museum, but the significance of the ‘N’ beneath the ‘AIR’ which had intrigued me, had now an apparent explanation. It would thus seem, that manufacture of these bodies was subcontracted to Nally – for whatever reason.
I’ll be contacting the radio collectors again to see if they know whether Airzone made their Bakelite cabinets in house, or bought them in – which might shed a bit more light on the matter.
TimG
P.S.
Miguel - can we have a close up of the base of your grenade please.
