Competing Designs of the Hand Grenade

the first serious grenade was devised by English inventor William Mills in 1915 the mills bomb as it became known weighed about 0.56 kilograms and consisted of a perforated cast-iron casing that would split in numerous fragments when detonated the casing was filled with high explosive TNT flakes down the center of the bomb was placed the striker and timing fuse connected to a detonator placed to one side in the explosive material the striker was spring-loaded and held in place by a safety lever or spoon that lay against the outside body this was kept in place with a split pin and ring the Grenadier would hold the bomb tightly in one hand and with the other remove the safety pin he would then lob the bomb like a cricket ball with an extended arm motion once leaving the throwers grip the safety lever would spring away releasing the striker which would ignite a primer cap and the delayed chemical fuse would burn for four seconds then trigger the detonator and the main charge there were other types of British grenade but the Mills bomb was the most popular by the end of the first world war over 33 million had been thrown by British and Commonwealth forces two other notable types of grenade were also produced by German and French forces the French pineapple grenade had an impact fuse that would detonate on hitting the ground the German stick grenade or style hunt pranitha Schmidt Medel consisted of a hollow wooden handle about 10 inches long attached to a metal canister at one end at the other end of the stick a cap is unscrewed to expose a string which when pulled activates the fuse Mystik aided greatly in throwing the grenade some distance in trench clearing several Grenade canisters could be bound together around one stick and thrown into a trench for effect during the Second World War more examples of effective designs appeared the Russian hand grenade operated the same way as the mills bomb but had the striker assembly outside the main body permitting more explosive charge to be packed in the United States iconic pineapple grenade was an effective defensive weapon the striker mechanism exchanged the tubular striker and spring for a hinged design once the pin was removed and the grenade tossed the safety lever was jettisoned by the spring-loaded hinge striker one should note that the habit of GI soldiers to dangle their grenades from their pockets by the safety lever was quickly discovered to be hazardous not only could the safety pin be snagged and accidentally pulled but the weight of the dangling grenade could warp the shape of the lever in some reported cases enough to cause the striker underneath to be released and activate the grenade another development during the first world war was to fit the Mills bomb with a plate and shaft at the base this was then inserted into the barrel of a Lee Enfield rifle and a blank round loaded the gun was aimed and fired the escaping gases would lob the grenade up to 60 feet repeated use of the rod resulted in damage to the rifle barrel so other mechanisms were devised such as a cuppa Tashman fitted to the barrel these two used the escaping gases of a blank round to propel the grenade some distance one French design used live ammunition to launch and activate the grenade the bullet would pass through a hole in the center of the grenade and trigger the fuse with an electrical connection the escaping gases would then propel the grenade upwards high tolerances of manufacture were needed for this less successful version today hand grenades come in a variety of canister or spherical shapes but retain the same basic firing mechanism weapons designed to fire just grenades did appear as early as the 19th century and have been carried through to the modern arms era with models like the u.s. m79 grenade launcher that fired a 40-millimeter grenade up to a maximum range of 400 meters it found some popularity amongst US forces in the Vietnam War the common design and more recent times is to include a grenade launcher with the modern assault rifle the US m16 and Soviet Kalashnikov standard infantry weapon both have a grenade launcher designed to be slung under the rifle barrel and actuated by a separate trigger housing it is another war machine that improves the firepower of a single combat soldier

Channel: Copperpot Gaming

Views: 2,200,489

Rating: 4.7889171 out of 5

Keywords: movie, famous, film, actress, politician, WarMachines, interview, celebrity, biography, actor, bio

Id: r4Rwe-N8s_I

Length: 5min 19sec (319 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 23 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Elgarr2]

I really do love r/videos u get to see and learn some cool stuff

[u/HaltheDestroyer]

Really surprised they didn't mention the MK19 Automatic grenade launcher....probably the most destructive grenade based armament next to ordnance dispersion bombs..

[u/brwonmagikk]

those underslung russian 40mm launchers are so janky

[u/WillSisco]

The first grenade launchers could only shoot 60 feet? Why even use them? Wouldn't throwing be easier?

[u/plushiemancer]

Bad video. It doesn't explain the difference of offensive high explosive grenade vs defensive fragmentation grenade.

Fragmentation grenades kill with it's launched fragments. The fragments fly further than how far a person can throw, therefore It can only be used by defenders from inside a safe position such as a trench.

High explosive grenades kill with it's concussion power from the explosion itself. It's damage radius is much smaller and can be safely used by offensive soldiers on the march without worrying about wounding oneself.

[u/habdoh123]

Why is Roy from The IT Crowd talking to me about grenades?

[u/Bluestank]

Step 1: pull pin

"Ok"

Step 2: throw like a cricket ball

"Uhhmmm"

...

[u/Talkaze]

Not the Holy Hand Grenade? PASS

[u/[deleted]]

Nice upload. thanks