Counter Weight?

[63cagedfalcon]

I guessing counter weight because if I say cannonball...I'm wrong.

COUNTER WEIGHT
😉

Hard to measure,
Diameter 4.400in
Thickness 1.00
Weight 7.8#

 

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[ARC]

You dig this ?

 

[63cagedfalcon]

You dig this ?

Nope,
Just picked up from a guy that had a WW1 German helmet

 

[Gare]

I think it is a cannon ball

 

[ARC]

Definitely not a counterweight... heh

This could be one of 2 things... i am looking into something.

 

[ARC]

Possible ordinance of some sort IMO... Cannonball guy may know this one... msg him.

 

[devldog]

Cagedfalcon, what you have here appears to be a cannonball. The whole in the top would have been where the fuse once was. It's hard to see, but there doesn't appear to be any threads on the Inner circumference of the whole. If there were threads, this ball would most likely have had a brass threaded time fuse. No threads indicates that this probably would have had a wooden fuse at one time. This would also most likely make this a Confetrit' (Confederate) artillery fragmentation shell. By the looks, it appears to be a 12 pounder. I have one like yours that I found back in the 80's. Congrat's on a nice shell.

 

[63cagedfalcon]

Cagedfalcon, what you have here appears to be a cannonball. The whole in the top would have been where the fuse once was. It's hard to see, but there doesn't appear to be any threads on the Inner circumference of the whole. If there were threads, this ball would most likely have had a brass threaded time fuse. No threads indicates that this probably would have had a wooden fuse at one time. This would also most likely make this a Confetrit' (Confederate) artillery fragmentation shell. By the looks, it appears to be a 12 pounder. I have one like yours that I found back in the 80's. Congrat's on a nice shell.

Devldog,
Thanks for the good news!
I messaged the seller about where & when. This is his reply,

"Rippavilla - Springhill, TN, my ancestral home.

Home of Confederate Major, Nathanial Chaiers, 3rd TN regiment.

I am the Major's great great grandson on my grandmother's side, Margaret Hughes. She was born at Rippavilla."

That's all I've got.

Keep looking.......it's still out there!

 

[AlabamaRelic]

Possible ordinance of some sort IMO...

Like a city ordinance? Or ordnance?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

It "appears" to be a cannonball... a version sometimes called a roundshell. The precisely-measured diameter (4.40-inches) and precise weight (7.8 pounds) you reported match up almost exactly with a civil war Confederate Pentagonal "Polygonal Cavity" roundshell. (That is the Ordnance Department's name for what Devldog said.)

But for certainty of ID, I need a few more details. What is the diameter of the fuzehole?

I'm asking because the civil war Ordnance Department's prescribed diameter for a 12-Pounder caliber cannonball was 4.52-inches. You said this ball measures 4.40-inches... which is much closer to a RevWar era 12-Pounder cannonball's 4.42-to-4.44-inches than the civil war era specification of 4.52-inches.

How was this ball measured? With a Pi Tape (a Diameter-Tape), or with a Caliper? Or some other way? In my experience, using a caliper gives the most accurate results... especially if you use it to measure across the ball in more than one direction. (You measure the ball, then rotate it a bit and measure again, then rotate the ball again and measure again, etc.)

A 12-Pounder CS Polygonal Cavity roundshell's "wooden-type" fuzehole is typically about 7/8th-inch in diameter at its top... and the fuzehole is slightly tapered (cork-shaped). The RevWar 12-Pounder fuzehole is larger, and not as deep, and is not tapered.

 

[63cagedfalcon]

It "appears" to be a cannonball... a version sometimes called a roundshell. The precisely-measured diameter (4.40-inches) and precise weight (7.8 pounds) you reported match up almost exactly with a civil war Confederate Pentagonal "Polygonal Cavity" roundshell. (That is the Ordnance Department's name for what Devldog said.)

But for certainty of ID, I need a few more details. What is the diameter of the fuzehole?

I'm asking because the civil war Ordnance Department's prescribed diameter for a 12-Pounder caliber cannonball was 4.52-inches. You said this ball measures 4.40-inches... which is much closer to a RevWar era 12-Pounder cannonball's 4.42-to-4.44-inches than the civil war era specification of 4.52-inches.

How was this ball measured? With a Pi Tape (a Diameter-Tape), or with a Caliper? Or some other way? In my experience, using a caliper gives the most accurate results... especially if you use it to measure across the ball in more than one direction. (You measure the ball, then rotate it a bit and measure again, then rotate the ball again and measure again, etc.)

A 12-Pounder CS Polygonal Cavity roundshell's "wooden-type" fuzehole is typically about 7/8th-inch in diameter at its top... and the fuzehole is slightly tapered (cork-shaped). The RevWar 12-Pounder fuzehole is larger, and not as deep, and is not tapered.

Thecannonballguy
Apologies for the late reply. .
Originally used a vernier calipers but they weren't deep enough.. do I eyeballed it.
This time I used a older calibrated tape I used in production quality control, I only use for certain measurements.
You can see a method using 2 plumb surfaces & a good tape or ruler.

Measures 4.5 consistently & does have a 7/8 opening diminishing be about 3/16.

Sounds like I have a keeper

Thanks