Original Item: Only One Available. Totally inert and non-functional, this is an original rare WWII T-13 "Beano" hand grenade, offered in great condition. The T-13 was an experimental hand grenade developed by the Office of Strategic Services (which later became the CIA) in the latter years of WW2. The grenade is marked EKC 7 on the body and FUZE, T5, indicating the manufacturer, the Eastman Kodak Company. It is also marked GRENADE T13 COMP A in yellow on the side, indicating that "composition A" explosive was used. Like all deactivated ordnance, this grenade is Not Available for Export.

The COMP A marking identifies the explosive filling specified for this version as Composition A, an RDX-based military explosive. The body has additionally been permanently stamped INERT.

This example remains in very good overall condition for such a scarce experimental wartime ordnance artifact. There is considerable age and handling wear with areas of heavy paint loss across the body, while the important original markings remain visible. The pull ring remains firmly in place, and the distinctive spherical configuration and fuze assembly present particularly well.

Development of the Beano grew from an Office of Strategic Services project seeking an unconventional hand grenade that could take advantage of the familiarity many American servicemen had with throwing a baseball. Eastman Kodak became closely involved with the program and produced experimental grenades and components at its secret wartime Lincoln Plant in Rochester, New York. The OSS was dissolved in 1945, and portions of its personnel, experience, and intelligence functions subsequently contributed to the organizations that preceded the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947.

The original concept called for a spherical grenade approximately comparable to a baseball in both dimensions and handling characteristics. Early examples proved too light for satisfactory throwing and fragmentation performance, however, and development eventually settled on a total weight of approximately 12 ounces. Experiments were conducted with different body materials and explosive fillings before thin steel construction and Composition A were selected for further development.

One of the Beano's most innovative features was its impact fuze and in-flight arming system. Rather than employing the conventional timed-delay arrangement used on most American fragmentation grenades, the Beano was intended to become armed during flight and detonate when it subsequently struck a sufficiently resistant surface. Before throwing, the user retained the weighted, knurled “butterfly” cap while withdrawing the initial safety pin. Once released in flight, the cap separated and a cord paid out from the fuze mechanism until a secondary safety device was withdrawn, allowing the impact fuze to become armed.

The concept offered an important theoretical advantage over a conventional timed grenade. Because detonation was intended to occur upon impact, an enemy would have little or no opportunity to retrieve the grenade and throw it back. Producing an impact fuze that was simultaneously sensitive enough to function reliably and safe enough for combat handling proved considerably more difficult. Development revealed failures to detonate on soft ground as well as dangerous premature functioning.

The Beano went through numerous experimental designations and fuze changes as development progressed. On January 29, 1944, the Ordnance Department formally identified one developmental configuration as the Grenade, Hand, Fragmentation, T12, using the Fuze, Grenade, Impact, T5. Additional development ultimately produced the T13 series represented by surviving examples such as this grenade, and T5-series impact fuzes remained closely associated with the program.

Approximately 10,000 Beanos equipped with the original T5-type fuze were sent to Europe for operational field trials. A report dated March 22, 1945 recorded that 2,742 grenades had been thrown, with approximately ten percent failing to function, principally when landing on soft surfaces. More seriously, five premature detonations resulted in two men being mortally wounded and forty-four others injured. On March 29, General Joseph Stilwell, commanding Army Ground Forces, ordered testing halted and production suspended while the fuze problems were investigated.

Development nevertheless continued in an effort to produce a safer and more reliable arming system. On June 15, 1945, production was ordered stopped and existing stocks were to be destroyed or retained pending development of an improved fuze. Several subsequent configurations were investigated, including redesigned impact mechanisms and a more conventional safety-lever arrangement, but the end of World War II removed much of the urgency behind the program. Remaining examples were ordered destroyed, contributing substantially to the rarity of original Beano grenades today.

The T13 Beano remains one of the most distinctive experimental weapons associated with American unconventional-warfare development during World War II. This example is particularly noteworthy for its surviving EKC 7, FUZE, T5, and GRENADE T13 COMP A markings, which directly associate its principal components with Eastman Kodak's work on the program. Its evident period wear and paint loss are consistent with the experimental nature and subsequent history of these grenades, while its permanent INERT marking establishes its present status as a non-functional historical display artifact. Given the limited wartime development program, documented problems encountered during the 1945 European trials, and subsequent destruction of remaining stocks, surviving original Beano grenades represent an especially scarce area of WWII American experimental ordnance collecting.