Penetrating intracranial injury caused by an unusual home-made iron pyrotechnic device

Abstract

Herein, a potentially dangerous explosive home-made device used for fun and entertainment is described. It consists of two iron parts connected with a U-shaped thick wire: a wedge about 8 cm in length, which fits into a hollow cylinder, filled with a small amount of nitre (the mineral form of potassium nitrate). Striking the device onto a hard surface creates a spark inside it, which burns the nitre, producing a very loud bang. We are in possession of such device in our forensic museum collection. We present a case from 1937 related to the use of this explosive home-made device. A boy was injured using it, as the wedge hit him in the left temporal region and entered his skull. The major initial consequence was a localised brain injury, without any bleeding. Delayed presentation resulted in intracranial infection – purulent meningitis due to open craniocerebral injury, which was the cause of death three months later. The potentially dangerous home-made explosive iron device presented here was in use mostly by children from the end of the 19th century until the early 1970s, when it was replaced with less dangerous and cheaper Chinese firecrackers and fireworks.