Topic: Fire Grenades

[Frank]

Not seen very often!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120160921802

[Max]

Ooh I like them!     Just wondering what kind of chemicals were in them...have to do a little snoop around Google for the answer... 

[David E]

H20?

[Frank]

  2  david

http://www.antiquebottles.com/firegrenade/ says chemicals!

Interesting that few of the links work now... knowledge gone

[David E]

Funny, I always thought water was a chemical!

[Frank]

It is, but only one. "s" 

[Anne]

But it's made of two chemical substances... 

I read here http://www.thegavel.net/grenade.html that most of them contain salt water but some were filled with carbon tetrachloride, more about them here: http://www.insulators.com/go-withs/firegren.htm

[David E]

Ah, you're just fanning the flames now, Anne

[Frank]

Carbon Tet seems sensible but it is nasty stuff! Odd that it is not flammable being so volatile. In the 50's, when it was still safe, it came in bottles with a pad on and you would rub it onto ink stains on clothes and fingers to make them vanish - saved me from many a scolding.

All you ever needed to know about..

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts30.html#bookmark02

 :spls: Oh my god, I must have ingested via breathing and skin  I'm dying err maybe.

[Anne]

Some of the fire extinguishers used to contain it too.. I have a memory that they were the black ones (when they went into the colour coding of extinguishers.) Mum told me they had carbon tet ones when she was in the WAAF and they used to use them to get stains off uniforms too.  Carbon tet was one of the things used by dry cleaners at one time I think.