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Info wanted on the US Shinkle Grenade

paul the grenade

paul the grenade

Well-Known Member
Shinkle1.jpg
Hi everyone.
Ive had an experimental shinkle grenade in my collection for a good few years now and still not found any good info on it.
I need to know how it was armed as the lever is sprung steel and clamps around the body and needs to be prised of to arm the fuze. I presume there is some sort of devise that was attached to the gren so it would pull the lever of as it was thrown but this is an educated guess.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers, Paul.
 
Because I didn't want to create a new thread I thought I'd update this one.

Below are the photos of the Shinkle that I just finished cleaning and de-rusting. I've also provided an exploded view of the grenade to show how everything goes together.

Paul, once you cleaned yours up, what did you put on it to protect it? I can't find any specific color that these were painted so I'm guessing a clear coat is probably best.

Mike
 

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Hopefully someone has a cleaner version of this drawing. It is a portion of the original Ordnance Department drawing entitled Shinkle Hand Grenade, Concussion Type, Experimental, dated Nov. 30, 1918. The grenade was the invention of MAJ Edward Marsh Shinkle who at the time was stationed at Frankford Arsenal in Pennsylvania. His idea of an impact fuzed hand grenade was undertaken and prototypes made and tested. About the time they were close to program completion word was received that the commanders of the AEF did not want an impact grenade so the program was halted and efforts shifted to the MK I grenade. Later in 1918 word was received that the AEF did want an impact grenade and production of the Shinkle was started again. The war ended before major production could be achieved though and the grenade faded into history. In August of 1918, there were only 800 in the inventory.
The fuze is a very sensitive all-ways-acting type. A small rod in the center of the fuze pushes down on a ball and spring assembly securing the firing pin. When the safety handle is removed the rod is ejected and only a small pin on the side of the fuze holds it in place. Impact jars the striker from that pin and the cocked spring drives it into the primer. A puzzle to me, and others, is how the handle separates from the grenade when it is thrown so it can arm. There is no spring to push it off and it wraps so far around the body that I would think it would be difficult for any airflow to remove it.
Shinkle was born on 9 Jan 1878 and graduated from West Point in 1901. He retired from the Army as a Brigadier General on 25 Oct 1941.
I'm anxious to see what others can dig up on this somewhat elusive grenade.
 

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Bob,

That's the same drawing I have and I have yet to find a more complete version.

Mike
 
shinkle

The Shinkle is a percussion grenade, meant to explode on contact with the ground. The spoon is removed manually by placing two fingers over the upper end where the safety pin is. After removing the pin, you would flip off the spoon and jiggle a small steel ball out of the bottom. The grenade is now armed and the slightest jarring will set it off. This was a very dangerous grenade. Mine snapped off (inert of course) when I dropped it three inches onto a padded carpet. At two inches it remained armed. The little hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I saw how sensitive this beast is......
 
Shinkle

Here is a correction to my previous post-It was 20 years ago that I had a complete sectioned Shinkle grenade and I remembered something wrong. If you look at the detailed photo of all the parts in an earlier post, you see a small part with a post, the furthest part to the right. When assembled, the post goes up through the spring and pushes aside a small steel ball which holds it in place. After knocking off the spoon, you jiggle this part with your finger tip and it is pushed out by the spring. This is the final safety feature, the grenade is now armed to explode on impact. I was told that this grenade never made it very far in trials because it was far to dangerous to use.
 
Great pictures Mike.
My one is as found. ive not touched the outside, just left it as it is.
I too have the negative picture and not much else.
hopefully someone out there has some more stuff.
I often thought that the loops on the lever which was known as the "Ragsdale stripper" were for the attachment of a lanyard or something similar so that it can be armed at a safe distance from the thrower.
Paul.
 
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I do not have anything on the instructions for throwing the Shinkle, but the guy who would remove the safety pin, remove the handle and shake the grenade until the arming safety pin fell out, then throw it had better have a VERY smooth throwing action with no jerks in the movement. As stated, the fuze has a cocked striker and is very sensitive. Again, I have no documents on the testing or acceptance, but even in those days of not as much emphasis on safety as we have today I find it difficult to believe that a grenade with such a sensitive fuze would make it into production and potential flielding if it was designed to be thrown after it was manually armed. In the hands of the troops that would have resulted in more friendly casualities than the pivot handle of the Mark I. Has anyone unearthed some official fuze/grenade functioning information? Also, the majority of the ones I have ever encountered or seen have been traced to the Baltimore, Maryland area. I have had three of them pass through my hands over the years and have seen several more in collections and they all trace back to the same general region. Anyone know where they were made...Baltimore area perhaps?? I don't think Frankford Arsenal was geared up to mass produce them. Shinkle commanded Picatinny Arsenal in the early 1920's and it is possible (but not probable) they were made there. Any ideas from anyone??
 
EODGUY said:
Also, the majority of the ones I have ever encountered or seen have been traced to the Baltimore, Maryland area. I have had three of them pass through my hands over the years and have seen several more in collections and they all trace back to the same general region. Anyone know where they were made...Baltimore area perhaps?? I don't think Frankford Arsenal was geared up to mass produce them. Shinkle commanded Picatinny Arsenal in the early 1920's and it is possible (but not probable) they were made there. Any ideas from anyone??
Click to expand...

The majority of the ones found that I know of have been recovered in the MD/DE/NJ area. The grenade was manufactured prior to his commanding Picatinny and I believe he was at Abberdeen at the time of the patent so the Baltimore area would make sense.

I'm digging through the OCM reports and hopefully can find where he submitted it for testing.
 
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