US2294415A - Grenade - Google Patents

Description

p L 1942- L. M. McBRIDE 2,294,415

GRENADE Filed Dec. 2, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2 FIG. 3

INVENIOR.

Lewis MMcBrLdea 7 BY $01032 ATTORNEY Sept. 1, 1942. L. M. MCBRIDE GRENADE Filed Dec. 2, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BY Lewis MMcBr-Zde ATTORNEY Patented Set. 1,1942

car-mam: Lewis M. McBride, Edgewood Arsenal, Md.

Application December 2,1938, Serial No, 243,526

(Granted, under the m of March 3, 1883, as.

amendedApril 80, 1928; 370 0.0:. 757) 2 ('llaims.

temporarily incapacitate rioters or law-breakers without permanent injury.

Modern law-enforcement ofllcers frequently resort to the use of the so-called tear gases, sneeze gases or sickening gases in order to subdue rioters or law-breakers. However, the munitions heretofore available to disperse these irritant chemicals are objectionable, in that they frequently result in permanent injury or even death.

The usual agents now used for the above purposes are chloracetophenone, commonly calledtear gas, and briefly designated CN; and diphenylamine chlorarsine, commonly called sneeze gas or sickening gas, and briefly designated DM. CN and DM are both normally solid materials which are not soluble in water but are soluble in some solvents. In order to disperse these agents into the air so that they will affect the eyes or breathing passages, it has been the usual practice to provide a burning type of grenade or candle in which the chemical agent is mixed with gun powder and the agent is thermally dispersed as the powder burns: or the agent is dissolved in a liquid which vaporizes; or the solid agent is packed in an explosive weapon around an explosive charge and the charge breaks up the agentand disperses it.

These methods all have serious disadvantages. The burning type of munition requires a large amount of fuel or combustion material in proportion to the chemical agent, and requires careful compounding, mixing, and loading in order to prevent explosion of the grenade. Furthermore, this burning type munition requires an appreciable time to disperse the agent, which allows those against whom the grenade is used to move to windward of the smoke, or to throw the grenade back toward the law ofl'lcers. Dispersion by vaporization of a solvent is also wasteful in 'requiring a large amount of material which has noirritant eifect, and requiresa pressure apparatus or explosive charge. Grenades or other weapons depending upon an explosive charge are dangerous and expensive to make, and efiective dispersion requires a heavy explosive charge whichlruptures or fragments the metal container and sometimes causes serious injury or death.

One object of the present invention therefore is a grenade having the above advantages and which is safe to manufacture and use, and which can be produced and sold at a small cost.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following description and claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein-- Figure 1 is a central section of one form of the invention Figure 2 is a central section of another embodiment;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of Figure 2;

Figures 4 and 5am side and end elevations of' the fuse and igniter of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a central section of another embodiment.

Figure 7 is a detail in section of the pull-wire fuse lighter.

This invention comprises in general a nondangerous fragmenting container, one or more irritant or disabling chemical agents in a finely divided stabilized solid form, a suitably proportioned explosive charge for instantaneous dispersion of the agent, and means for igniting the explosive charge.

As previously stated, the known irritant or disabling chemical agents such as chloracetophenone, diphenylamine chlorarsine, diphenyl chlorarsine, and capsaicin are normally solids. "If these materials are ground to powdered form by the usual methods, the particles will coalesce and form large lumps. erefore, these larger particles and lumps may ot be eifectvely dispersed into the atmosphere, ce the irritant particles must float in the air to orm an efiective concentration. I am enabled to use the simplegrenades of my present invention, however, since it is possible to obtain the normally solid chemical agents in a flnely pulverized state wherein each particle is stabilized against coalescence with adjacent particles. This is accomplished by grinding and stabilizing one or more of the for "Method of disintegration, dispersion, stabilization, and collection of solid materials."

Referring now to Figure 1, the grenade body I is a cylinder formed of heavy paper, card board, fiber board, cellulose derivative, plastic or similar easily rupturable material, which, however, will not fragment into dangerous rigid parts. Preferably the container I is made of processed paper such as is commonly used to pack ice cream. The bottom 2 and top 3 may be telescoped within or without the container I. Within the container, the flnely ground and stabilized irritant chemical d is placed, and surrounding a bursting charge ll of explosive. Charge I has a time fuse 8 connected thereto which extends through an opening at one side of top 3 and terminates in a match head 9.

An outer cover II which telescopes over the container I has a match scratcher I2 on its inner surface, so arranged that when the cover II is rotated it will engage and ignite match head 9. Cover I I is prevented from accidental rotation by a strip of adhesive tape I3 or by any other means, such as glue.

When the device is to be used the tape I3 is torn off and cover II is rotated to ignite match head 9 which in turn starts the short time fuse 8. This fuse is selected to give sufiicient delay to allow the grenade to be thrown and to reach its target. Usually about a 4 to 6 second fuse is sufficient. When the explosive charge I is fired, the fine powder 4 is dispersed in all directions in the air and will float and form an intolerable concentration for many minutes. There are no metal, wood, or other parts capable of producing injurious fragments in this grenade.

. An explosive charge is selected which will completely shatter the paper container, and yet this charge is not sufficiently heavy to cause injury even if the grenade bursts while being picked up.

Referring to Figures 2 to 5, the cylindrical body It is formed of materials described in connection with Figure 1 and has telescoped lower cover I and upper cover I 6. Within the container, the stabilized powdered chemical agent I! is placed, within which is the explosive charge I8.

Charge I8 and attached fuse I9 are secured together as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. The fuse I9 is first covered with a layer of adhesive tape or the like, and several concentric layers are wrapped around its outer end to form a snug fit into the open end of the fuse lighter 2|.

Lighter 2| is a rigid tube preferably of cardboard having a small opening extending its full length and containing a fuse igniting powder such as flash powder. The fuse i9 is then bent back on itself as seen in Figure 4 and the fuse lighter 2| is secured to explosive charge I8 as by a strip of adhesive tape. The outer end of fuse lighter 2| is flattened as seen in Figure 5 and the assembly is arranged angularly in container I4, as shown in Figure 2.

The outer end of lighter 2| is in communication with a hole 22 in cover I6 and a pull wire 23 extends through opening 22 into lighter 2|. Opening 22 is normally sealed against moisture,

- by wax, paraffin or similar sealing means, Wire 23 is secured to a metal pull ring 24 which normally rests flat against cover I6, being secured in such position by adhesive tape or glue. The container I4 is then filled with the finely pulverized and stabilized irritant agents I! such as ON or DM or other agents or mixtures thereof.

When this grenade is to be used, the ring 24 is pulled off, thus causing wire 23 to ignite the powder in lighter 2|. This in turn ignites fuse I9 which ignites charge I8 after a known time interval. Upon explosion of charge I8 the container I4 is completely ruptured and the irritant powder I1 is widely dispersed. Due to the fact that the irritant is in very fine powder form, it floats for many minutes and forms an instantaneous intolerable concentration for many minutes. There are no parts of the grenade when thrown which can cause serious injury, since the paper or cardboard is shattered, the metal ring 24 and wire 23 being pulled off.

It is well known that a time fuse must be vented to the atmosphere to prevent excessive powder gas pressure from shortening the time of burning.

This is accomplished in my grenade. since the gases from fuse I9 may pass up tube 2| and out of hole 22 in cover I6, since wire 23 is removed. A further and important advantage of this construction is that premature explosion of the grenade by flashing past or around the time fuse is prevented. By my arrangement the firing device on' wire 23 and the powder train in tube 2| are not in alignment with explosive charge I8. Therefore no flame can be communicated to charge I8 except by burning of fuse I9. Furthermore, space in the container is conserved, and any desired length of fuse may be used.

Figure 6 illustrates a spherical grenade which may be readily and accurately thrown, The container, made of materials such as heretofore described, comprises two semi-spherlcal portions 25 and 26 telescoped and sealed together as at 21. Portion 26 has a depression 28 to accommodate ring with attached wire 3|. Wire 3| passes through a hole in portion 26 to firing tube 32, fuse 33, and charge 34, arranged as previously described. The powdered irritant 35 surrounds charge 34.

Referring to Figure '7, numerals I9, 2| and 23 are shown therein as in Figure 4; and 22 is as shown in Figure 3. The pull-wire 23 passes from the exterior through the hole 22 into the interior of the lighter. In the interior of the lighter, the pull-wire passes axially of the lighter through a flash-powder or match mix 36 positioned in a cup 38 and ends in a corrugated and coated portion 40. In operation the pull-wire 23 is pulled so that the coated and corrugated portion 40 passes through the flash-powder or match mix 36, igniting the latter. The flame is transmitted to the fuse I9. When this pull-wire is pulled, a seal is broken and a vent is formed at the prevlously sealed hole 22. The construction of the fuse lighter is similar to that of the fuse primer of Woodbury of record, and no claim is made to the igniter per. se'.

All chemical agents coming within the scope of the use of this invention, which are normally solid substances, can be so finely divided and permanently stabilized in such subdivided condition as to be highly effective as irritants, thereby requiring only sufflcient explosive force necessary to project them into the atmosphere.

The invention is not limited to the specific details of construction shown herein by way of illustration since various changes may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention nor exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A grenade comprising a hollow closed container of destructible and readily rupturable material, and having an aperture in the wall thereof, a dispersible charge of powdered, normally solid irritant chemical warfare agent of a character temporarily incapacltating but non-injurious to persons, and with the particles thereof stabilized against coalescence, substantially completely filling said container; an explosive charge, a time fuse, and a fuse igniter, respectively, embedded in the dispersible charge; said explosive charge and fuse igniter being disposed laterally and out of alignment relative to one another, and said fuse having one end thereof connected to one end of the fuse igniter and an opposite end connected to said explosive charge; and said fuse igniter embodying a tubular part having a through bore aligned with the aforementioned aperture in the wall of the container, and a pullwlre extended from said tubular part and ugh the wall aperture, said wall aperture and said pull-wire being of such diameters that the pull-Wire substantially normally seals the aperture, and said pull-wire being adapted for manipulation to ignite the fuse and substantially simultaneously with such ignition to break the seal for venting the fuse through the aligned bore and aperture.

2. A grenade comprising acontainer of destructible and readily rupturable material, a dispersible charge in the form of a normally solid irritant chemical warfare'agent selected from the group consisting of chloracetophenone (tear gas) and diphenylamine chlorarsine (sneeze gas) and having the particles thereof stabilized against coalescence, substantially filling said container; an explosive charge, a. time fuse,, and a fuse igniter, respectively, embedded in the dispersible charge with the fuse connected at one end to the explosive charge and at an opposite end connected to the fuse igniter; and said fuse ignlter embodying a pull ignition wire sealed through the Wall of said container and accessible exteriorly of the latter for manipulation to substantially simultaneously ignite the fuse and break the seal to provide' an open vent for'the fuse.,

LEVJIS M. MCBRIDE.

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