I believe we are temporally disadvantaged here.  The clear glass spherical
bombs I recall were in use about 1959! And they were used in offices. The
one I remember was kept in a red dispenser on the wall of the newsroom at
our local newspaper. It was filled with carbon tetrachloride. When the
plastic halftone scanning machine caught fire, a colleague threw the carbon
tet bomb and extinguished the fire. He also filled the news room with
shards of glass that we spent much of the rest of the day picking out.
These devices were, it seems, quite popular in many places where non-water
extinguishment was  needed and they did not want the "mess" of foam.  I can
assure you that a Fairchild Scan-a-Graver would be totalled by a coat of
foam, whereas the carbon tet evaporated. Of course, it is illegal now.
 
Regards,
 
Ned Heite (Unashamedly an old fart)
 
P O Box 53
Camden, Delaware 19934 USA
Cut-Rate Archaeologist and Town Crank