And finally I found this in my archives:
a roll of 17th/18th century matchcord for kindling hand grenades!
The grenadier just had to take out the wooden plug, pull a small length of match off that quill, light it and set fire to the fuse of the grenade. After throwing the grenade he would just push the match right back into its wooden case and replug it, and the glow would die for lack of oxygen.
Now ain't that a perfect device?
Photographs: Armin König, Germanic National Museum (GNM) Nuremberg.
Best,
Michael
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