Ehrhardt Brisanzschrapnell
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Brisanzschrapnell c/10 C. It was
composed by two distinct parts : the Schrapnellteil,
an ordinary shrapnel with rear burster (S), and the Granatteil, a thick-walled high explosive head (O). The cartridge
was charged with smokeless powder and was equipped with a screw primer. Granatteil. The head contained, besides a little bursting charge (o), the
detonator (d) and a special quadruple acting fuze (f), which could work in four
different ways : as time or percussion fuze for shrapnel, and as percussion
fuze with or without delay for H.E. shell. The head was forced into the body
and not screwed in it, to make easier and more regular its detachment from
the shrapnel. The size of the H.E. shell was greatly reduced in order to make
room for the shrapnel. The smoke-producing charge was removed, making
impossible to observe the fall of the shrapnel. The bursting charge (o),
composed by only Schrapnellteil. The shrapnel was the main part of the
projectile and was composed as usually by : steel body with copper driving
band, steel diaphragm, steel central tube, lead bullets and the base bursting
charge. The bullets were not packed in colophan, like in ordinary shrapnel,
but in Doppel Zünder c/1907. The special quadruple acting fuze, [see Brisanzschrapnell c/10
B] introduced in 1907 (D.R.P. 200.313, 15 September 1907), was made of
aluminium. It had control a plate (Schaltplatte)
(I), mobile around the shell axis, inserted between the girdle of the fuze
(G) and the bottom composition ring (a). It had a hole (e), filled with
pressed black powder, drilled on it. Two channels were bored in the girdle :
one (h) conducted to the central tube of the shrapnel, the other (k) to the
detonator cup. With percussion fire, the percussion mechanism (P) acted
directly on the detonator (d) and the projectile was employed as H.E. shell.
With time fire, if the hole (e) of the plate was in front of the channel (h),
the flame was transmitted to the shrapnel charge (s), if it was in front of
the channel (k), it was transmitted to the shell charge (o) by means of the
detonator (d). The fuze was also equipped with a delay mechanism. The fuze
was equipped with a safety device against the bursting into the bore. It was
composed by a pellet of black powder (q), placed in front of the firing pin
of the time fuze. When the shell was fired, the firing pin ignited the
primer, but the flame was transmitted to the bottom composition ring, only
after the burning of the pellet of black powder. |
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Operation of the Brisanzschrapnell. When burst in
air, the flash from the fuze was transmitted round the high explosive buster
to the base charge of the shrapnel. The bullets were blown out in the usual
way and the head went on and detonated on impact, affording a valuable means
of observing and correcting the trajectory of the shell. |
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When burst as
percussion shrapnel the high explosive charge stored in the head detonated
and the bullets and the splinters were blown out laterally. The Trotyl filled
between the bullets simply exploded, but if the shell hit anything, the
detonation of the high explosive buster in the head was transmitted to Trotyl
and the shell acted as a mine shell. The head buster served also to keep the
bullets off the ground and rendered the projectile more effective than the
ordinary shrapnel when it burst on graze. With
percussion fire, when the Brisanzschrapnell
burst, the Schrapnellteil produced
on the average 68 splinters weighting more than |
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Ehrhardt |