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Cannon ball identification

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Rebjr

Pilgrim
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Several years ago I was removing equipment from an old foundry building here in my hometown. Records show that during the mid 1800's they manufactured armament (no discription given). On the floor next to the forge base I noticed that a steel plate had been attached to the floor. Upon removal I could see that the 3" wooden floor had been burned through. Further investigation revealed a 10"dia.56 lb.solid iron cannon ball that had apparently dropped on the floor and burned it's way through to the dirt below. I still have it and was wondering if anyone might have an idea of what type of artillery it might have been used in. Thanks
 
Ten inch Columbiad, Rodman, or mortar are all that size. See www.civilwarartillery.com for more info and good pictures.

However, no 10 inch solid shot weighed a measly 56 pounds. How accurately have you measured the ball's diameter? It could be smaller than 10", and it could be hollow.
It also could be something other than a cannonball. I once had a "cannonball" which was likely to have been a big steel ball used to break big hunks of coal into smaller hunks of coal.
Whatever it turns out to be, it's a nice find and a great story.
 
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A 10 solid iron ball should weight about 132 lbs.
http://gunneyg.info/html/ShotWeight.htm

An 8 inch solid ball would 67 lbs.

A 42 PDR 6.84 bore diameter would weigh 43 lbs.

Go to the website Trent mention up htread and go through the links for heavy smooth bore projectiles and you might find you cannon ball.

Also and especially if you are over 50 or so and you are remembering what it weighed and measured, rew weigh and remeasure. I know for a theis is necessary over 50 and for sure over 60.
 
You guys are both right. I hadn't seen it for quite some time so I dug it out and it measures 7.5". I didn't weigh it but my throbbing middle finger tells me it must be close to the 56 lbs that I remember, and yes, I'm 58. Thanks for the link and I will look it up.
 
Clean and examine it closly for a seam, hollow shot were cast in two hemispheres and welded together. The fuze holes were drilled before charging. I found a 12 pounder spherical case shot and could find the seam. At the same time,I don't see a 10 inch spherical case shot listed in the tables. Largest shown is 8 inch. Jim
 
notascrename said:
Clean and examine it closly for a seam, hollow shot were cast in two hemispheres and welded together. The fuze holes were drilled before charging. I found a 12 pounder spherical case shot and could find the seam. At the same time,I don't see a 10 inch spherical case shot listed in the tables. Largest shown is 8 inch. Jim

How would cast iron pieces be welded?
 
The cast iron we see today is not the iron of yesterday. Cast iron is today recycled from engine blocks and other broken scrap. Each time its re-smelted it looses some of its utility, requiring more virgin ore to be added to give it strength. Rifle barrels were made from iron blanks, 14 inches long,5 1/2 inches wide,with the edges bevelled so to form a close joint when the plate is formed into a cylinder. The blank started out .5625 inch thick. The only iron we see today is cast. By the 19th century standards, "steely" was a defect of iron.
 
Looking at my post, I realised I didn't answer your question. Iron, brought to a welding heat was cleaned and hammered together. it welded. Seems weird in the days of steel and electric welding.
 
Two types of iron were produced in the 18th and 19th century. Wrought iron which is soft, ductile and has a low carbon content may readily be forge welded. Cast iron is hard and brittle with many times the carbon content of wrought. To the best of my knowledge, cast iron cannot be forge welded - thus the question of how the cast iron "halves" would be welded. Forge welding involves hammering extremely hot pieces together with a flux - a process that would seem almost certain to shatter cast iron sphere pieces or to deform a hollow wrought iron sphere. Where did you see the process of making a hollow spherical shell from two cast halves described? I have not had much luck finding information on how the early shells were made.
 
Now that is interesting, never seen that before-welding. I have seen where they were cast hollow.
 
Any way you could post a photo of it?
Not to ask a stupid question,are you sure its a cannon ball? The reason I ask is could it be a meteor? because they look like cast iron and are heavy,if it is, it would be worth more then a cannon ball.
 
OK,I made a set of calipers and got an exact diameter of 8", and a weight of 66 lbs. There is somewhat of a seam around it that looks like a mould mark.

rebjr1
 
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Copy the line called image code that pops up below the picture...it pre coded so all you have to is copy it and paste it in the reply

Pretty cool ball!!
 
A welded seam in a shell would be the weakest point and upon bursting you would most likely
have two halves...... not the most effective use of a shell......

Iron Mongers had the tecnology for hollow casting
around a core a cored ball would have a hole already in it from the core process after casting
all that remained to do is dig out the core and taper the hole or thread it for fusing.

they still use this method for producing things like the practice handgrenades you see at the surplus stores.
 
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