obi wan Hales lettering

HI there.
Does anyone out there know what is written around the vane ring on an obi wan hales grenade ?

Cheers folks

Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! I get to beat teecrooz to the answer!

Yes, there were several different windwanes used on Hales Grenades. Some were completely plain with no wording.

My two, gifted to me by teecrooz, say " THE COTTON POWDER Co Ltd. LONDON HALE'S PATENT"

He was also kind enough to let me know an answer, to a question similar to yours, that I had asked him, the answer was that some of the grenades say "Roburite and Ammonal Ltd, London"

From here... http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=246428&page=5&p=4128700&viewfull=1#post4128700

Awesome, thank you very much Ridire Firean. That should help me a lot.

You're welcome! One of these days I have to track down someone who has one of these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqmDOBtixHU

I have big plans for my Roman's Mk1 FX windvane! Which reminds me, I think I need a blank clamp too.

That's a great piece of kit in the link. Thanks for that, ill get saving up

Ive seen a fair few images of the lettering on the vane ring. They look like they have been stamped into the surface, some look like they have been done with a flat letter punch on the curved surface as some corners of the letters seem to be missing. Am I correct in thinking this? Also it looks as though the letters are about 3mm tall but as I have never seen an original so its hard for me to tell.
Do you think this is correct or are they etched into the surface.
Looking forward to your reply.

You're pretty close, the letters on mine measure out at 7/64" which translates to 2.80mm.

I have seen some with larger lettering though. My understanding is that the letters vary, same as the grooves in the grenade bodies, depending on where they were manufactured.

Don't ask me which is from where, I'm not nearly that far along yet in my understanding of all of the Hales Grenade's vast nuances.

If I had to hazard a guess... I'd say the lettering was rolled on, maybe even at the same time the lip was formed on the ring. The letters are too perfectly aligned and spaced to have been individually punched onto the ring. The letters were probably placed on a specially made wheel that either spun the ring, or spun with the ring as it/they turned in opposite directions like gear wheels. Maybe it was hand driven like those penny presses at amusement parks and tourist sites. All of this is conjecture of course, but it's fun to play "How'd They Do That?".

I hearby challenge teecrooz (that's 'Mr. Hale's Grenade' to all of you not 'in the know'- who is also in the running for 'Mr. Balance Pipe', but that is neither here nor there) to track down the tooling that was used to stamp the lettering on the Mighty Hale's Grenade's Windvane Ring!

I've also hypothesized that the ring may have been heated to make it expand, put in place on the fan blade, and quenched to shrink it in place. Or that it was rolled or put in a press to swedge the "emitter end" in place. Though I think there'd be more physical evidence on the inside of the ring from it being compressed into the fan blades if that was the case.

There's actually two "lips" on the ring...the super obvious one that acts as a wind scoop on the grenade body side, and an ever so slight curling of the edge on the rifle rod side. The larger groove around the ring creates a ledge on the inside of the ring on which the fan blades butt up against, and the smaller lip grabs the fatter, bottom edge of the fan blades on the rifle rod side, securing the ring onto the fan section.

Oh, I forgot to add that I think one suggestion for why the letters appear half-struck, besides different manufacturer's techniques, is that they could have been over polished by collectors. All of the letters on my two windvanes are perfect. The rings themselves may not be quite perfect, from 100 years in the French countryside, but the letters were perfectly struck/rolled at the time of manufacture.

Oh man are you not going to like my reply! There is different stamping even on just the Hales. Some appear to be hand stamped as the letters do not line up, and some are perfectly in line. I will try to take some pictures when I find some time.