Grenade

grenade, Fr. There is a sort of grenade which is thrown out of a mortar. It is sometimes used for the purpose of annoying the besieging enemy; in which case quantities are rolled down the rampart into the fo é, or ditch, upon the workmen or miners. A grenade resembles a bomb or shell, with this only difference, that the grenade has not any handles to it. There are some grenades, called grenades à main hand-grenades, whose calibre is equal to that of a four pounder. The charge is from five to six ounces of gunpowder, or thereabouts. They are extremely serviceable on many occasions: but particularly so to throw among the men that are working in the trenches; numbers of whom they must inevitably wound. The vent of a hand-grenade contains about six lines, or half an inch. The following proportions belonged to grenades, according to their several diameters in former times; they have been much improved. Grenades whose calibre is equal to that of a 33 pounder, contain about 6 French inches or more diameter, 8 lines in thickne , and 16 pounds in weight. Grenades whose calibre is equal to that of a 24 pounder, contain 5 French inches 5 lines diameter, six lines in thickne , and 12 pounds in weight. Grenades whose calibre is equal to that of a 16 pounder, contain 4 French inches 9 lines diameter, 5 lines in thickne and 8 pounds in weight. Those that weigh 6 pounds, have 3 French inches 5 lines diameter, and are 5 lines thick. Those that weigh 5 pounds, have 3 French inches 2¹⁄₄ lines diameter, and are 5 lines thick. Those that weigh 3 pounds, have 2 French inches 8 lines diameter, and are 4¹⁄₂ lines thick. Those that weigh 2 pounds, have 2 French inches 4 lines diameter, and are 4 lines thick. Those that weigh 1 pound, have 1 French inch ten lines diameter, and are 3 lines thick. Those that weigh three quarters of a pound, have 1 French inch 8 lines diameter, and are 3 lines thick. Those that weigh half a pound, have 1 French inch 8 lines diameter, and are 3 lines thick. Those that weigh a quarter of a pound, have 1 French inch 6 lines diameter, and are 2¹⁄₂ lines thick. These proportions were formerly attended to in the old French service, with occasional deviations from the strict measurement of the lines; as it was supposed to be of little consequence whether the grenades fitted the mortars exactly. It was, indeed, generally thought advisable to adapt their sizes, so that they might be thrown out without the least resistance or compre ion. Grenades were directed to be thicker at the breech than elsewhere, in proportion to their several diameters. Durtubie, in his Manuel de l’Artilleur , gives the following succinct account of grenades. That writer observes, “that besides bombs or shells, and howitzers, hollow ve els made of iron in globular shapes, which are called grenades, are frequently used; gunpowder is poured in through the cavity or vent, called in French lumiere , into which a fuse loaded with a composition of combustible materials is introduced.” There are two sorts of grenades. Those distinguished by the name of grenades de rampart , are rolled from the top of the parapet into the ditch; they are equal in calibre to that of a 33 and a 16 pounder; and they weigh 16, 11, and 8 ounces. The other species is called grenades à main . These are thrown into the covert way, and the trenches, . Their calibre is that of a 4 pounder, and they weigh 2 pounds. The ordinary thickne of grenades is four lines throughout. It will occur to our military readers, that by this account a considerable alteration has taken place in the casting of grenades, as the intermediate differences have been consolidated; hand-grenades, instead of being thicker at the breach, are uniformly of the same consistency. It cannot, however, be thought superfluous to preserve an account of the original dimensions.