Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/348

314 FIG. 7

tive detonator. Its ignition arrangement was somewhat similar to the familiar friction tube of artillery, viz. a roughened bar which was inserted in a tube coated with match composition. A cord

FIG. 8

attached to the bomber's wrist, tightening when the bomb reached the end of its tether, jerked out this roughene'd bar and so effected ignition.

-

The German H.E. cylindrical grenade (fig. 9) had also a friction- tube igniter, but the bomber fired this by a pull on the attached wire before throwing. This was essentially a concussion or " offen- sive " grenade and remained in use throughout the war. It was provided with a handle and with a hook whereby to attach it to the waistbelt. In another type of cylindrical handled grenade, part of the H.E. charge was replaced by langridge ' and the ignition was by a spring striker as in the " hairbrush " described below.

Another form of handled time grenade used by the Germans and then copied by the British was the " hairbrush." The German

Section Safety fin

'-I-

Elevation

Tin Case..

Safety Pin

c

e Lighter Wax'

o

1

FIG. 10

pattern (figs. 10 and loa) had a spring igniter of a simple character. In a tube (fig. loa) inserted in the rear end of the detonator and time-fuze tube was a striker, striker spring and cap. A collar on the striker rod kept the spring in compression so long as the tail end of the rod was held by the safety-pin. As soon as this was withdrawn the spring reasserted itself and the striker flew forward, firing the cap and igniting the time fuze.

Grenade with a 3J" rod screwed into base plug.

FIG.

Neater in design, more trustworthy in action, and far more pop- ular with the troops than other British types, the Mills grenade requires a more extended description (fig. n). If the number sup- plied, and the steadiness with which the type maintained its hold on opinion be a test, this grenade was the most important of all those used in the World War.

As its name implies, it was patented by Mr. William Mills, of Birmingham, but the idea was of Belgian origin; although it is fair to add that the original Belgian design differed very considerably from that which is now so familiar as the "Mills" grenade.

The No. 5 grenade, which was the first of several British service patterns of the Mills type, consisted of a barrel-shaped iron casting, fitted ^ internally with an aluminium tube known as the "centre piece." Adjoining the centre tube, and communicating with it at the bottom end of the grenade was a cylindrical chamber for the reception of the detonator to which was attached a 5-second fuze, terminating in a rim-fire percussion cap, which was inserted in the end of the central tube. The lower end of the grenade was closed with a screwed plug, known as the " base plug," made in aluminium,

1 Some of the grenades improvised in the field by the British army were also partly filled with langridge or so-called " shrapnel."