MESSENGERS OF DEATH.

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2644, 13 October 1919, Page 7

MESSENGERS OF DEATH.

The hand grenade is by no means a modern invention ; in fact, the French used it as early as 1594, naming it after the pomegranate because of its resemblance to the fruit.

After a long period of disuse it made a reappearance during the siege of Port Arthur. Since then there have been many developments, and the grenade as used to-day is a very complicated and delicate mechanism.

The Americans have paid particular attention to it —their Patents Office has considered no fewer than 300 designs. At the beginning of the recent war the Russians used crudely-made grenades that cost little over a shilling apiece. But the casualty lists of the users being nearly equal to the enemy’s, it was not a. popular weapon, and was soon dropped. The grenade used by the British is known as the Mills pattern. It is operated by a timing device set for five seconds. After being thrown it works in this way : A lever is automatically ejected, lotting go the striking-pin, which releases and fires the cap igniting the fuse. This burns for five seconds and ignites the detonator, which explodes the charge of powered ammonal. The fragments of the grenade, numbering about sixty, scatter in all directions, and are effective within a radius of 100 ft. The shell of the grenade is of cast iron, and is lacquered on the outside with a solution of gum shellac and methylated spirit to prevent rust.