Shrapnel

shrapnel

Originally, a type of projectile invented by the British artillery officer Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), containing small spherical bullets and an explosive charge to scatter the shot and fragments of the shell casing. A time fuse set off the explosive charge late in the shell's flight, when it was near opposing troops. The resulting hail of high-velocity debris was often lethal; it caused most of the artillery-inflicted wounds in World War I. In World War II a high-explosive bursting charge that fragmented the shell's iron casing made shrapnel balls unnecessary; the term shrapnel came to be used for the shell-casing fragments.

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shrapnel [′shrap·nəl]

(ordnance)

Small lead or steel balls contained in a shrapnel case which is fired from an artillery piece; the balls are projected in a forward direction upon the functioning of the fuse.

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Shrapnel 

originally an artillery shell filled with round shot. Shrapnel is primarily intended to strike live, exposed targets. It was named for an English officer, H. Shrapnel, who in 1803 proposed filling an artillery shell with cast-iron case shot, thereby intensifying the shell’s effect. Exploded in the air at a predetermined distance from the target, shrapnel was highly effective and was widely used in World War I.

Shrapnel was replaced in the 1930’s by the more powerful fragmentation and high-explosive fragmentation shells. The late 1960’s witnessed the introduction of shrapnel-type artillery shells filled with dart-like projectiles, or fléchettes, intended to strike unconcealed enemy personnel. There are up to 8,000 such projectiles in the US 105-mm shell, each fléchette 24 mm long and weighing 0.5 g. Thrown from the shell as a result of centrifugal force and the pressure of the powder gases of the bursting charge, the fléchettes are scattered in a conical pattern.