18 pounder shrapnel shell desk light

[Stuart Fedak]

Text removed as information is no longer current

[Lynn Eades]

My thought was....... "What does it look like?"

[Ed Storey]

DO NOT CLEAN IT. You will devalue it and ruin the patina. Just leave it as it is.

[Lynn Eades]

Thank you for posting the pictures Stuart. An interesting piece.
Now that I've seen it, I still have no idea about what sort of shade you could use. Ed's advise is great!, but on the shade, try a females (constructive) advice.

[Tony Wheeler]

Wonderful piece Stuart, thanks for the pics. My first thought for the lampshade would be a traditional banker's desk lamp, which I've always liked. They're still being made so you could probably adapt the fixture. Better than a frilly domestic lampshade IMO. Also I'd be replacing the plastic lead and plug with some retro stuff, ie. cloth sheathed lead and bakelite plug.

[Mike Cecil]

Interesting, and a common battlefield relic, as the case of the 18pdr Shrap essentially stays intact upon initiation of the bursting charge. I see yours has no rifling marks on the driving band, so a new/unused production item, rather than a b'field relic (like the one I used to have: now at the AWM).

I was amused by the CWM caption on their sectioned example: whoever wrote it fell into the trap if describing the shell as exploding in the air and shattering, which is simply not the case: it was a far more sophisticated round than that!

Nice curio.

Mike C

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Stuart

I have seen similar lamps with a steel pot helmet for a shade and in my opinion the proprotions do not look good nor does it allow any light to shine through.

If it was mine, I would look for an after market repro "Tiffany" lamp shade of that period in a size that would match the height of the shell. The Tiffany lamps are glass segments held by lead tape and usually arranged in beautiful patterns. Would be nice to find a Tiff shade in a variety of "poppy" red segments.......

Just do not test the fuze with a hammer !!!!!!

Cheers

[motto]

You can't leave it at that Mike! You've made comment on a topic of particular interest to me, projectile design, construction and behaviour. I think I know how the shrapnel shell functions but you obviously know for sure. Can you go over the design features and operation of the round as I'm sure others would like to know also, or do we have to wait until the book comes out?

Dave

[Mike Cecil]

I didn't think it was that much of a mystery, Dave.

The 18pdr 'Shrap' - can't remember the exact term off hand (Edit: 'Shell, Shrapnel, QF, 18-pdr') - consisted of an outer casing, with a wide mouth, threaded to accept a fuze holder for the VT-P (Variable Time - Percussion) fuze. The thread of the holder was shallow and short, which is significant. Held within the casing were a whole bunch of steel balls (Edit: actually either mixed metal of antimony-lead or cast iron, not 'steel'), held in a medium (I think, shellac?: Edit: it was Resin) with a hollow down the centre of the shell to the base. In the base was a small bursting charge, from memory, Black Powder. Can't remember if the hollow tube was a long fuze or open. (Edit: the tube was a central metal tube that screwed into a steel disc that sat above the bursting charge, which was contained in a tin cup in the base of the shell casing.)

The shell functioned by the time fuze, at the pre-set time of flight, flashing down the centre of the shell to the bursting charge in the base, or by impact on target. The bursting charge then did two things: slowed the outer casing, and pushed the contents (all the balls) forward, popping the fuze holder and spent fuze from the shell casing and pushing all the balls through the wide mouth of the casing. The balls were directed forwards along the axis of the shell at the time of initiation (termed the 'cone of dispersion'), like a shotgun round, rather than scattered in all directions as would happen if the shell casing was designed to disintegrate (which would also take a far larger bursting charge). The now vacant and slowed casing, usually still intact, fell to earth. The fuze also fell to earth more or less intact. The medium (resin) holding the balls in place inside the casing disintegrated as the balls were forced forwards through the wide mouth, and served to increase the 'puff' signature of the burst to aid in observation, along with the black powder bursting charge.

The HE shell casing, by contrast, was designed to shatter when the explosive charge within was initiated, the destructive force being both the explosive (concussive) force and the jagged metal fragments from the casing.

Mike C

[Gordon Yeo]

Here is a picture of a shell.

[Mike Cecil]

Yep, looks like the one. Thanks

Mike C

[Gordon Yeo]

Here is a, very poor quality, picture of lead balls found in a farmers field near Passchendaele. The penny in the top of the picture is to give a scale of size.

[motto]

Thanks Mike, that's exactly the sort of information that I was hoping for. There was a lot of that I didn't know and I imagine that applies to most onlookers.

You've got to love this forum.


Dave

ps I remember seeing (and have a photo of) a turkish skull on display in a little museum in Krithia on the Gallipoli Peninsular with one of these balls lodged half way through right on top. The 'tin hat' was introduced to prevent or reduce such casualties and most certainly did so.