Cast Lead weight. What the function?

[Reverend B*IKE*]

I found this on a man made lake that gets drained every winter. I was wondering if anybody might know what its used for?
the golf ball can give you an idea of size.

 

[romeo-1]

Best guess...balast weight.

 

[taz42o]

If its very soft its probably pure lead if it has any hardness to it then it might be babbitt for pouring bearings.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Lost ingot? Does it have an exact weight, for instance, 3 lbs.? I don't think something that is 2 lbs. 12 1/3 ozs. would be an ingot. Gotta have some continuity.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I'm thinking ingot, also. You make those in handy, meltable sizes for when you need to cast lead into specific shapes.

Make handy weights, though.

 

[trikikiwi]

Are you sure it's Lead?

I would have picked it to be a Zinc anode.


http://www.trade.cn/product/61381.html

A Zinc block can seem quite heavy. Also, I may be seeing things, but your block appears to have slight projections where straps might have been attached.

Cheers, Mike

 

[steelheadwill]

interesting find.
I work a site where a lot of lead casting was done, everything from fishing jigs to late colonial era coins.
Got what looks to be a duplicate of your ingot, my 'B' weighs in right at 3 lbs.
The others are different weights up to a 30 lb monster, (thought it was a gravestone when I started to see it in the DEEP hole it came out of)
Mine is definitely lead, zinc may be dense, but lead is HEAVY