Nudelmannrichter
Well-Known Member
Hi folks,
I came across this inert projectile and wonder what this may be.
The principle looks similar to the French La Hitte types but in detail it's way different.
Material is cast iron, the "Buttons" seem to be a Zinc alloy.
Inside there was a cylindrical stack of sinlge shrapnels als made from cast iron, stacked around a container that was probably loaded with black powder for fragmentation.
The cap was fixed by 4 screws which seem to have been intended shearing off on fragmentation. These screws have an outer thread diameter of 7,5mm and a pitch of 19/inch.
This seems to be a realitvely uncommon thread, no Witworth or similar.
The fuze thread has a core diameter of roughly 26,5mm and a pitch of 7/inch. This looks also uncommon.
For the time I would consider this item has been made (about roughly 1865-1875), imperial sized threads were not unusual at all apart from France and Russia which both used metric.
The "fuze" itself looks more like a blank off plug and is made from massive wood with kinda felt band around and small hole which looks like intended for a safety pin. I am not sure if this wooden plug is old, but may well be. There is definitely no igniting system inside. Not a center hole at all.
I am curious from which army this might be or at least from which country. It might be a sample from a manfacturer or engineer for presentation purposes. Possible rejected and never commissioned.
It is always to consider if this may be a phantasy product of a skilled faker but on the other hand this would be quite complicated to make just for a piece nobody knows and nobody needs.
Anyways, maybe one of you experts has a clue what this is.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers, Nudel
I came across this inert projectile and wonder what this may be.
The principle looks similar to the French La Hitte types but in detail it's way different.
Material is cast iron, the "Buttons" seem to be a Zinc alloy.
Inside there was a cylindrical stack of sinlge shrapnels als made from cast iron, stacked around a container that was probably loaded with black powder for fragmentation.
The cap was fixed by 4 screws which seem to have been intended shearing off on fragmentation. These screws have an outer thread diameter of 7,5mm and a pitch of 19/inch.
This seems to be a realitvely uncommon thread, no Witworth or similar.
The fuze thread has a core diameter of roughly 26,5mm and a pitch of 7/inch. This looks also uncommon.
For the time I would consider this item has been made (about roughly 1865-1875), imperial sized threads were not unusual at all apart from France and Russia which both used metric.
The "fuze" itself looks more like a blank off plug and is made from massive wood with kinda felt band around and small hole which looks like intended for a safety pin. I am not sure if this wooden plug is old, but may well be. There is definitely no igniting system inside. Not a center hole at all.
I am curious from which army this might be or at least from which country. It might be a sample from a manfacturer or engineer for presentation purposes. Possible rejected and never commissioned.
It is always to consider if this may be a phantasy product of a skilled faker but on the other hand this would be quite complicated to make just for a piece nobody knows and nobody needs.
Anyways, maybe one of you experts has a clue what this is.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers, Nudel
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