Fuses in ww1 grenades

[Jacob Kell]

For some time now I am trying to find information about fuse mixtures in old grenades from ww1 like kugels and egg grenades, and so far I haven't found anything, I searched this forum also and decided to ask here. Does anyone know what fuses were used?

[Jacks Complete]

The only fuze I know was used is aniseed balls, used for the time delay fuses for hull limpet mines and the like, as aniseed is the only thing they could find that would disolve at the same rate in both salt and fresh water.

As for hand grenades, I don't know.

[Dimortal]

Quite a few of the earlier (allied) WW1 grenades had impact fuses,

This website mentions a fulminate detonator being used in the head of one type: http://www.worldwar1.com/sfusdg.htm

[Bert]

AFAIK, the delay element of the firing train would be of basic black powder type. No reason for gassless mixture or anything fancy here-

[j_dmillar]

Aniseed balls? Sniffer dogs would have an interesting time! Imagining trying to infiltrate somewhere with anise-containing mines in your backpack, with some canines around.

[festergrump]

Maybe he was asking about the mixtures within the entire "fuze" and not just the delay "fuse". I'm with Bert on this one as it most likely was a BP train for delay, and the det was more than likely mercury fulminate. no? Just a guess on my part, though.

Vagueness leads to speculation... If you'd told us where you looked and what you searched for we'd know more about how to give the answers you seek...

[Jacob Kell]

Thank you for your replies. Actually early hand grenades (eggs and kugels) had a low explosive (blackpowder) for their main charge, so detonators were not used. I was asking specifically about "fuse" mixtures, what ratios they used and how were manufactured.

[festergrump]

Apologies, Jacob. I know very little about the explosives used in WWI, however, if BP was the main charge and seeing the picture below of a German Kugel from WWI era... I would still believe it to be merely a tightly compressed BP delay train. (No reason to get all fancy with the fuse if the charge is simply BP, eh? But Bert already said that earlier).

If you're interested in the pull-wire igniter portion, forget searching the for this on the web and look into strike anywhere matches... Just my 2 cents. Six to one is half a dozen to another.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/festergrump/novkugd.jpg

[Jacob Kell]

If BP train was used, I wander what kind of it, what was added? The simple cannon fuse consisted of cardboard tube with tightly packed BP, in the open space it can function as delay, but since it combusts instantly in enclosed space it couldn't have been used inside grenade fuze.

Modern grenades have zirconium based smokeless trains, but ww1 and ww2 grenades had vented smoking fuses, and it's strange I can't find information on these. I guess old fuses could be easily improvised.

And, festergrump, where I live there are no strike anywhere matches, but I made many quite reliable impact and pull igniters using safety match heads and sandpaper. It's important to ensure that striking paper doesn't contact matchheads directly, but only when you pull it outwards, when you make pull igniter. I am into constructing volkshandgranate types right low.

[Jacks Complete]

Jacob, fill out the country part of your profile, it doesn't give much away, but it will give us all a big lead in helping you find things.

Most places still sell strike anywhere matches, try asking for them specifically.

I should imagine any of the many "slower" BPs would do for the train, tightly packed to give a consistent burn time. Then a fast burning type for the main charge.

[Jacob Kell]

I live in Croatia. I also can't find "flowers of sulphur", so I made sulphurless BP with lime-tree charcoal that burned really slow. However, I never tried pressing it in the tube for delay, as I was under impression that confining it even inside the open tube would tremendously increase the burn rate. I tried it with kno3/sugar 60/40 mix and it worked well. I guess even better would be to cast it into aluminum tube or epoxy the solid stick inside, but I have yet to figure out how to cast so thick melted mass into a small pipe. And I wander if pressure of exiting gases exerts enough force on burning train to keep it compressed and nondisturbed when you throw the grenade? If that's correct, I won't bother making a solid delay.

[Jacks Complete]

You can probably find sulphur at the chemist/pharmacist in small amounts. Also try the DIY/plant shops, and ask about how to cure the aphid problem you've got. They sell sulphur candles designed to deal with that problem. However, for the fuse, you want a slow burn rate. Try your slow mix compressed and see what happens. You might find it is still too slow.

You can extrude your sticky mixture into a tube fairly easily with a syringe.

[defiant]

Try searching for "grenade" on the US Patent website, and then reviewing those patents filed during the WWI era.

++++++++++

That'd only pull up grenades by class, as pre-70's patents aren't text-searchable.

NBK