Without going into any details we can’t find anything on google about it (I’m rather savvy with google too)
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-glass-fire-extinguisher-fire-mist-xh
This is exactly what we found. Says it DOESNT have CTC in it but we’re not sure what it does contain as I can’t find any records or accounts of this- one thing that is known is that it fell and broke and still worked in the sense it vaporized into a gas- however whatever the chemical was ate the finish off the floor.
We had an emergency crew take care of the situation and they figure it was pretty harmless since it WASNT CTC (carbon tetrachloride) as it said on the label but being a man who needs answers I can’t just let a mystery go like this without at least trying to get someone who might know something or find something out
So please if anyone knows what non CTC chemicals were used in older “Fire Grenades” or you can find a lead as to who the manufacturer was or where they were based it would be of great help
As a fire extinguisher collector I've seen lots of speculation on what is actually in the CTC-free grenades, since it was often kept a trade secret. It is known that they contained some sort of early halogenated compound(s), in the same halocarbon family of chemicals as CTC and the later Halon 1211 and Halon 1301.
More than likely it is something along the lines of chlorobromomethane (which was replacing CTC in portable extinguishers starting in the '50s) or 111-trichloroethane, an industrial solvent that had limited use as a fire extinguisher. It could also have contained any number of more complex halocarbons, since the only requirement to be used in one of these things was that it had to be nonflammable. (this was made in the days before mandatory labeling of contents.) It could also be a mixture of any of these.
Although less toxic than CTC, most of these early halogen gases were still pretty nasty. CBM would stop your heart, and 111-TCM would cause birth defects. That being said, for safety reasons I don't keep any grenades in my collection whether or not they contain CTC.
Unfortunately the only way to ever really find out what was in it would have been to sample it and run it through a spectrometer/GCMS.
I've seen Halon 2402 just like this. 2402 leaves everything it touches clean and shiny! 2402 is very heavy and smells absolutely terrible.
I've worked with chlorobromomethane and this stuff doesn't have a terrible scent but can cause birth defects or infertility.
Extremely insightful! This helps a metric ton I can’t thank you enough, industrial solvent sounds a hell of a lot like something that would eat the finish off of a floor