US2762303A - Hand grenade explodable into fragments of predetermined physical characteristics - Google Patents

Description

C. HAND GRENADE EXP C. FAWCETT LODABLE INTO FRAGMENTS OF PREDETERMINED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Filed May 22, 1951 IN V EN TOR.

CECIL C. FAWCETT BY ATTORNEYS! United States Patent HAND GRENADE EXPLODABLE INTO FRAG- MENTS 0F PREDETERMINED PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS Cecil C. Fawcett, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army 1 Application May 22, 1951, Serial No. 227,585 '1 Claim. (Cl. 102--64) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described in the specification and claim may be used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

ghe present invention relates to military hand grena es.

Broadly stated, the object of my invention is to provide a military grenade that is adapted for easy projection by hand so that it has a positive lethal effect on an adversary, yet is harmless to the one who throws it.

Another object is to provide a grenade having substantially the same shape and size of a baseball, and making possible its controlled fragmentation by incorporating therein of pre-cformed fragments having desired ballistic properties.

Although military hand grenades are well known to the prior art and in various forms have been used extensively by military forces for many years, they have always been considered to be a defensive rather than an offensive weapon. This was primarily because the user invariably has been forced to throw himself on the ground or hide behind some suitable protection when ever he would throw the grenade, as invariably it would be thrown a relatively short distance and, upon explosion, might cause injury to the party who threw it.

To overcome this limitation there have been many different means devised with the object of having the grenade thrown a maximum possible distance, and to control the fragmentation as to size and distance of each particle s flight so that they would have a lethal effect upon the target but be harmless to the thrower. Examples of such prior art constructions include such means as engraving or notching the walls of the shell with the object of having the fragments break up along the inscribed lines, loading the interior of a hollow sphere or other container with variously shaped metal or other particles, and utilizing a number of small barrels radiating from the center of a sphere and each containing a small projectile. Although each of these and other forms represented attainment in some measure of the desired goal, they still left something to be desired, and for numerous reasons were unacceptable for use by the armed forces of the United States. By my present invention, however, which essentially consists of impregnating a maximum amount of pre-formed, pre-evaluated lethal particles in a metal or plastic matrix that comprises the grenade casing, the disadvantages of prior art grenades have been overcome and the aforementioned objects have been superbly accomplished. This will become evident upon review of the following specification and the annexed drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 represents an external or plan view of my novel grenade showing its spherical shape and the preformed metal particles which are impregnated in the matrix that forms the grenade wall; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 to show the hollow grenades internal appearance, as well as that of its wall cross-section.

It will be noted that the drawings do not illustrate any 2,762,303 Patented Sept. ll, 1956 explosive matter or means for detonating same, as these elements may suitably take the form of any conventional material and construction. Since my invention is concerned solely with the case wall structure, and since by my novel construction of the grenade casing I have accomplished the aforementioned objects without requiring special explosive or detonating means, there is no need for these conventional elements to be discussed herein.

Preferred military requirements of the American defense forces call for a grenade which will be lethal at a distance of 15 feet-from the point of its explosion, but which will be perfectly safe and harmless at a range of 60 feet therefrom. The test of lethalness used by the military is, roughly speaking, the ability of a grenade fragment to penetrate a 1-inch pine board at 15 feet. It has long been envisaged that in order to insure that the service man throws the grenade a minimum distance of 60 feet which is to be consideerd the safe zone, it would be highly desirable to make the grenade simulate a baseball as the majority of service men are familiar with such balls and are able to throw them 60 or more feet with ease and considerable accuracy. For this reason I have incorporated my inventive improvements in a grenade which is spherical in shape and of a size and weight which rather closely approximate that of the well-known baseball.

In a number of experimental models of my grenade, I have found my inventive improvements to work very satisfactorily when the grenade casing 10 is made from aluminum, or similar light metals, in which has been impregnated the maximum number of particles that can possibly be incorporated in the size of grenade that is made. For example, in a grenade whose casing is roughly 2 /2 inches in overall diameter, and has a crosssectional wall thickness of approximately inch, I have found it possible to employ an average of 2300 steel pellets, each weighing about A of a grain. These pellets 12 may be made of various materials and shapes. I have found, however, that steel pellets of the size indicated have the desired lethal effect, and if made in irregular shapes serve to offer a maximum amount of wind resistance so as to assure their becoming harmless at 60 feet from the explosion site.

It will be obvious that plastic or other materials may be used as the matrix 14, the choice thereof depending upon such factors as tensile strength, weight, cost, etc. One requirement is that the matrix must be readily disintegrated and not adhere to the imbedded particles upon detonation of the grenade. Among the other variables which may be found desirable to alter are the size, weight, and density of the particles 12, as these factors will be affected by the type and amount of explosive to be used.

It will be obvious to those having general skill in the art that my inventive improvements lend themselves to low cost, mass manufacture by such means as the wellknown lost-wax method of precision casting, injection molding, etc.

Actual test of hand grenades incorporating my abovedescribed improvements have revealed highly satisfactory accomplishment of the above mentioned objects. Instead of the grenade Wall breaking up into fragments of uncontrolled size and shape as has been the case with prior art counterparts, the matrix of the present device becomes relatively pulverized and the preformed fragments, being of sturdier composition, hardness and tensile strength, remain individually intact and are thus scattered within the range of the grenade as aforesaid.

It will therefore be seen from the foregoing that I have provided a military grenade that is adapted for easy pro- 3 jection by hand so that it has a positive lethal efiect on an adversary yet is harmless to the one who throws it; and that I have provided a grenade having substantially the same shape and" size of a baseball, and making possible control-led fragmentation by incorporating pre-formed fragments having desired ballistic properties.

It should be understood that my inventive concept is not to be limited to the illustrative form here shown and described, but rather is broad in scope and should be limited only by the appended claim.

I claim:

In a military offensive type hand grenade which afliords to the user maximum protection against harm from the grenade after it is thrown and exploded, a substantially spherical casing of approximately 2 /2 inches in diameter comprising a matrix made of a material whose wall thickness is approximately A; inch and which is readily disintegrated upon explosion of the grenade, and approximately 2300 irregularly shaped steel fragments each weighing about of a grain impregnated 4 in non-uniformly spaced relationship in said matrix but readily disassociated therefrom upon explosion of the grenade, the said fragments being of such size, shape and weight that upon the grenades explosion they will have a lethal effect within and only within a radius of approximately 15 feet from the point of explosion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,539,609 Taylor May 26, 1925 2,109,479 Gibbons Mar. 1, 1938 2,330,490 Hibbs Sept. 28, 1943 2,377,675 Chate et al. June 5, 1945 2,564,751 Cook Aug. 21, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 488,026 France May 24, 1918 491,085 France Jan. 22, 1919

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