Shrap′nel.
（Ordnance.) A hollow projectile for cannon, invented by General Shrapnel of the English artillery. As originally constructed, the projectile consisted of an iron shell filled with balls, sufficient powder being mingled with the balls to burst the shell when the fuse ignited the charge. It is also called spherical case-shot and was designed to attain a longer range than common case-shot or grape. The bursting charge is designed to be of just sufficient strength to open the shell without scattering the balls, which should continue their flight. The improved shrapnel has its bursting charge in a cylinder in the middle of the shell. [2169] The diaphragm shrapnel has its powder-chamber separated from the balls; the interstices between the latter being filled up with coal-dust. Shrapnel are commonly filled with leaden musket-balls, melted sulphur or bituminous matter is poured in to fill up the interstices, and a chamber sufficiently large to contain the bursting charge is bored out beneath the fuse-hole.
