slogan "You can always take one with you". Arguments rumbled on and there were endless delays. Early versions of the sticky bomb were prone to leaks as well as breakage in transport. There were understandable concerns over the explosive charge, pure nitroglycerin is notoriously susceptible to the slightest knock but the mixture developed by ICI proved to be very safe even if it should get into the hinges of the storage boxes. By December 1940, fewer than 66,000 had been produced and the rate of production was disappointing at five to ten thousand per week. It was suggested that the original order of one million be reduced to 200,000. Minor improvements to the design were made, of which the most significant was to replace the glass flask with plastic. Finally, after passing all the required tests, the sticky bomb – now the No. 74 grenade Mk II – was accepted by the Ordnance Board; it was put into full-scale production and it became a service issue. On 14 May 1941, Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Jacob reflected: Between 1940 and 1943 approximately 2.5 million were produced. Design The grenade, hand, anti-tank No. 74 consisted of a glass sphere in which was contained approximately of semi-liquid nitroglycerin devised by ICI. The sphere was covered in stockinette which was coated with a liberal amount of birdlime, an extremely adhesive substance from which the nickname 'sticky bomb' was derived. A casing made out of thin sheet-metal and formed of two halves, was placed around the sphere and held in place by a wooden handle, inside which was a five-second fuse. The handle also contained two pins and a lever; the first pin was pulled out to make the casing fall away and the second to activate the firing mechanism in the grenade. This primed the grenade, with the lever being held down to ensure the fuse was not triggered; then the user would run up to the tank and stick the grenade to its hull, using as much force as possible to break the sphere and spread the nitroglycerin onto the hull in a thick paste. Another alternative was for the user to throw it at the tank from a distance. Either way, the lever would be released and the fuse activated and the grenade would then detonate. The grenade did possess several problems with its design. Users were urged to actually run up to