TCSchultz Posted April 28, 2019 Share #1 Posted April 28, 2019 About 10 years ago a woman that I know had cleaned out a house in Maine that she had bought and found a case of prototype grenades called the Hell Ball that were made by the Keyes Fibre Company of Waterville, ME along with the patent paperwork from an inventory named Miller. At the time I just want to recoup my spend so I flipped the entire case to another dealer who end up selling them to a well know dealer who advertises here on the forum who pieced them out on his website. Needless to say I was disappointed after the fact that I didn't keep one but as luck will have it another picker turned up an extra one recently that a neighbor of the original seller had gotten as a gift from her. So now I have one again that I can share with you all. The grenade is inert and consists of a round housing with a screw in fuse assembly with a metal ring pin that was to be used to fire the fuse. The material appears to be a type of plastic possibly bakelite and is grooved to shatter on explosion. Being plastic it would have been impossible to find with an x-ray so anyone wounded with this would have been out of luck needless to say so I suspect that's why the US Government declined it but not sure but perhaps the production version would have been metal. If anyone has a copy of the paperwork that was sold with the hellballs please post it here as I can't find my own at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted April 28, 2019 Share #2 Posted April 28, 2019 Now that's interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted April 28, 2019 Share #3 Posted April 28, 2019 Very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorin6 Posted April 28, 2019 Share #4 Posted April 28, 2019 Kind of reminds me of the ceramic grenades the Japanese started using in 1944. Very neat item. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digi-shots Posted April 28, 2019 Share #5 Posted April 28, 2019 Very cool... reminds me of the Beano grenade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colt thompson Posted April 30, 2019 Share #6 Posted April 30, 2019 Those are tough to find. I've been searching for a while with no luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colt thompson Posted April 30, 2019 Share #7 Posted April 30, 2019 Hit reply too quick. Here's some documents that I have saved to my hard drive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance Posted May 1, 2019 Share #8 Posted May 1, 2019 I agree that it looks like a beano. Interesting that neither ended up going anywhere (at least I don't think they went anywhere). I had a chance to buy a beano once but I couldn't satisfy myself that it was inert (and the seller didn't know) so I passed. Your Keyes Fibre grenade is a beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted May 1, 2019 Share #9 Posted May 1, 2019 Awesome thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Dentino Posted May 1, 2019 Share #10 Posted May 1, 2019 A very cool grenade. Never seen one of these before. It indeed does remind me of a beano. Is the outside made of plastic or some similar material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dskjl Posted May 1, 2019 Share #11 Posted May 1, 2019 Something unknown to must of us if not all, what a wonderful find, congrats!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digi-shots Posted May 1, 2019 Share #12 Posted May 1, 2019 Plastic, I believe. Made by Keyes Fibre - same folks that made grip stocks for the m1911A1 pistol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USARV72 Posted May 2, 2019 Share #13 Posted May 2, 2019 Early V-40, nice very rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frostbite Posted August 31, 2020 Share #14 Posted August 31, 2020 Hi There I just came across your post, nice item, do you still require a copy of the paperwork I may be able to help you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverplate Posted September 1, 2020 Share #15 Posted September 1, 2020 Amazing technology for the time. Very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaBomb Posted September 1, 2020 Share #16 Posted September 1, 2020 Amazing piece! Thanks for showing us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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