The Hanes Excelsior Civil War Hand Grenade,One of two grenade designs to be mass produced during the

The Hanes Excelsior Civil War Hand Grenade,One of two grenade designs to be mass produced during the American Civil War, the Hanes Excelsior hand grenade was the invention of W.W. Hanes in early 1862.  The Hanes grenade was a simple weapon, merely a cast iron ball with a hollow center which was filled with gunpowder.  Grenades had been used for centuries, however they never became very common until the 20th century due to unreliable detonation mechanisms, such as fuses.  In the 18th century specialized soldiers called “grenadiers” experimented with the use of grenades in warfare, by they were discontinued after when it was found that the grenades were just as dangerous to the user as to the enemy. The Hanes grenade suffered from the same problem of having an unreliable detonation system.  Spaced evenly among the grenade were ten protruding nipples upon which percussion caps were placed.  When thrown, the force of the cap striking the ground struck a spark which detonated the grenade.  The percussion caps used were not the same type of caps used to fire percussion muskets and revolvers, rather they were special grenade caps produced by DuPont which used a very refined form of mercury fulminate, causing the caps to be highly sensitive to percussion.  While this ensured that the grenade would detonate reliably (which it didn’t), it also made the grenade very dangerous to carry unless its percussion caps were not in place. Any bump or jostle of the grenade could cause an accidental explosion. Then of course a soldier would have to cap the grenade whilst in combat. To solve the problem, the grenades were stored in special rubber cases, but accidents were still common.  As a result no sane soldier would want to carry one.  Thus they were rarely used when issued. -- source link

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