Can anybody identify this object

[Diver0001]

Last weekend there was an accident in the lake where we do a lot of training.

A diver found the object in the attached picture. Took it with him and was inspecting it at his car when it exploded in his hand and blew a couple of fingers off.

My question is: can anyone positively identify what it is?

Please don't speculate. I only want to know if someone is *sure* what this thing is.

Thx

R..

 

[Tigerman]

Its part of a signal flare

 

[Jim Ernst]

Yep... Signal Flare..

Isn't that the entire device though?

I believe it is the entire device but I could be wrong!

Diver0001. Is the guy that found it going to be OK, I mean can they reattach his fingers?

 

[diversteve]

If I zoom in on the image, I believe I see Signal Recal(l) with Delay? underneath it. Which lends credence to it being a signal flare. The holes at the top might've been for a parachute. Googling Parachute Signal Flare shows some similar but more modern examples.

 

[Wayan]

It is an underwater diver recall device, designed to make a Loud noise, nothing to do with flares.

 

[Diver0001]

If I zoom in on the image, I believe I see Signal Recal(l) with Delay? underneath it. Which lends credence to it being a signal flare. The holes at the top might've been for a parachute. Googling Parachute Signal Flare shows some similar but more modern examples.

Yeah. That's what the text looks like to me too.

Some signal flares have a cap that you unscrew and an ignition cord that you can pull, which is what it looks like this one has, but I've never seen one made from copper before and I've never seen one that even remotely looks like this or heard of one that blows up when you pull the ignition cord.

The idea that it might be a diver recall device is interesting. That might explain why it was underwater. I googled that but didn't find anything that looked remotely similar to this either.

So I'm back to where I started. I still don't know for sure what it is.

Jim, as for the victim, I don't know him personally but evidently there was a lot of damage done to his hand. They did find the fingers but I don't know anything about the extent of his injuries other than what someone who was at the scene told me, which is that they put the fingers on ice and he was taken away by ambulance.

R..

 

[trogloxene]

Underwater Launched parachute flare.

from patentstorm

Underwater launched parachute flare - US Patent 4335656 Description

A signaling body to be launched underwater having a fuze body, a time delay element, an ejection charge and at least one carrier having a pyrotechnic composition attached to a parachute. The ejection charge is ignited by an electric squib which is detonated by voltage from a sea water battery. The battery is sealed from sea water until a valve opens to permit entry of water into the fuze body. An electronic delay module is electrically connected between the sea water battery and squib to delay detonation of the ejection charge until the signaling device has assumed a stable vertical position at the water surface

Sean

 

[DandyDon]

Bummer! Certainly something that could happen to any of us. I think that The Netherlands still has some WWII ordinance being found but doubt it's that old. I used to know a diver in NC who is said to have brought something back to the boat from a WWII wreck that required the bomb squad at dock. I've picked up some bullet pieces at off of an Calf island used for target practice, too.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

It's Dangerous. It looks dangerous and its unfortunate that the diver that brought it up sufferred an injury as a result of his stupidity. I guess he only got bit by Darwin this time so hopefully he has learned a lesson about touching stuff that look like it might explode.

John

 

[Diver0001]

It is an underwater diver recall device, designed to make a Loud noise, nothing to do with flares.

I think you might be right.

Here are more pictures (with scale) where the text is easier to read

link

I think you can clearly read "Signal" "Recall" and "Delay" on it.

You can also read "N.E.C. Approx." with what looks like maybe a number after that. I'm guessing that N.E.C. might mean "Northern European Command" (related to NATO)

Under that you can read the stamp from the LOT number.

I read on the Dutch forums that someone at the bridge building engineers here apparently identified it as some kind of thunderflash thing that they use for recalling divers.

I also read that the diver's fingers weren't blown off. Only part of one of them was and I guess he's lost the top of his left pinky. The ring finger was badly mauled too but I guess that's ok. The explosion was pretty powerful though because from what I read it broke other bones in his hand. My guess is that the "delay" on the side of the thing probably meant that once the trigger was pulled out that there was a delay before it went off. In any event, he pulled the cap off and it didn't do anything for several seconds and then went off in his hand. It's pretty lucky he didn't slip it into his pocket when it didn't go off right away...

R..