U.S Experimental Shinkle Grenade

Invented by Major Edward Marsh Shinkle of the United States Army Frankford Arsenal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Click the pictures for larger images

Shinkle in 1941

Here is a bit of new info from Rex. As the Shinkle grenade was being developed the Trench warfare section recieved a cable gram from the American Expeditionary Forces stating they did not want an impact grenade. So development was stopped and the production of the Mk1 grenade was started. In 1918 they recieved another cable gram stating that they now required an impact grenade, so production was started again. Probably just to late as the war ended. In August 1918 there were only 800 in inventory. There were 2 models. the first was purely an impact grenade (this example ) and the later model was an impact model with a delay pellet. Many thanks to Rex for this information.

The grenade has a large sprung steel lever that clamps around the body and is then secured by the usual pin. But when the pin is removed the lever remains firmly fixed to the grenade and has to be prized off ??? The fuze is an allways type that is very sensitive.

As no pics or info is available at the moment, i have had a go at some drawings of the fuze mech. They are not to scale or acurately measured, I have just attempted to show how it works.

Heres an original sectioned drawing showing all the inner bits Cheers Darryl.

Click here for the Fuze Mechanism Diagrams

As soon as the grenade lands or is knocked the striker weight moves left or right like a pendulum and knocks the striker of the pin. the striker is now forced down by the large spring and will hit the primer or detonator at the bottom inside the top hat shaped holder underneath the striker housing. Thus detonating the grenade.

Here is the fuze in a safe condition with the lever in place. The top plug has an off centre hole in the base where the striker(green) and striker weight (red) are held by the pin in the left side of the plug. The plug has a small hole in the top where a locking pin (Red) fits. The pin enters the striker and pushes down a ball bearing on a spring. The lever holds this pin in place. While the pin is in place the striker is locked.

When the lever is removed the pin is ejected by the spring and ball bearing in the striker. the fuze is now armed and the striker is only just held by the pin in the left side of the top plug