cannon ball? metal canister SOLVED

[lcgerard001]

My wifes grandfater owned a excavating bussiness for many years. We were cleaning out his shop and i came accross a couple things that i dont know what they are. the first is a stone or rock ball not exactly round with some chips missing. it weighs a little over 6 pounds. I have gotten it wet and it dont really change color. The second is a galvenized metal can with no marking on it. There is a small half loop hook on the inside the lid fits tightly on top. Unforentatly nobody that is around has any idea where he got the items from. Her grandfather kept everything he ever had or found and his shop was packed. we also found a grist stone or mill stone burried under years of stuff. I wish i knew where he found these. Sorry for my bad spelling any help or thoughts would be great thanks alot.

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

Your photo shows that your grand-dad's iron ball is "out-of-round." So, speaking as an Artillery specialist, I'm sorry to have to tell you that any metal ball which is "out-of-round" is absolutely not a cannonball. The reason is, being out-of-round could cause the cannonball to jam inside the cannon's barrel during loading or firing -- and that is extremely bad news for the cannon's crew during combat. So, an essential part of an army/navy Ordnance Inspector's job was to closely check every cannonball for "perfect roundness" (using what is caalled a Ring Gauge)before it was issued to the Artillery crews. If it failed the perfect-roundness test, the Ordnance Inspector condemned it and it was sent back to the manufacturer.

Now, about what your granddad's out-of-round ball actually is:
Nearly all "out-of-round" iron balls are rock-crusher balls from the Mining & Stonemilling industry. Unlike cannonballs, rock-crusher balls don't need to be perfectly-round. If you watch the Discovery Channel you will occasionally see a show about the (modernday) mining of precious metal ores, in which rock-crusher balls are used (inside an enormous crusher-machine) to break up large chunks of ore-rich rock from the mines.

 

[lcgerard001]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

Im not sure if it is iron as a magnet will not stick to it. But what you are saying makes sense because we are in michigan and we had lots of iron ore smelting oprerations around. thanks

 

[Jason in Enid]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

Your photo shows that your grand-dad's iron ball is "out-of-round."

He stated that it was stone, not iron, so it's clearly not a cannon ball or from a ball mill. I can't think of any historic references for stone balls.

 

[lostcauses]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

I suspectthe ball is from some game, maybe the early version of carpet ball which was a bowling variation.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

I just remembered what the canister reminds me of. It looks like a miner's lunch pail. It would have had several smaller containers that stacked inside of it, and probably secured with a strap.

 

[lcgerard001]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

I just remembered what the canister reminds me of. It looks like a miner's lunch pail. It would have had several smaller containers that stacked inside of it, and probably secured with a strap.

it looks like there was some kind of leather or some sort of strap around the handle but it is very brittle and crumbles away any idea what the hook loop thing inside was used for thanks for the help never thought of the miner / railroad lunch box

 

[lcgerard001]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

I suspectthe ball is from some game, maybe the early version of carpet ball which was a bowling variation.

never thought about a game ball as i googled it i found some very similar for various games plus a game called thunder ball where they rolled it across the floor to simulate thunder. I want to try it but wife says no on our newly redone hardwood floors lol. thanks alot have had this for couple months and couldnt figure it out guees my mind wanted it to be some kind of shot. any ideas on a age or time frame these were from?

 

[Subterranean]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

Native Americans used stone balls in a game. Might this ball be one of those?

 

[lcgerard001]

Re: cannon ball? metal canister

thanks for everyones help

 

[Jason in Enid]

thanks for everyones help

OK, so what's the answer?

 

[lcgerard001]

sorry the ball is mosdt likely a old game ball. Kinda like botchie ball. The canister is most likely a home made railroad lunch pail after looking into the direction of lunch pail i learned that alot were homemade. the loop inside was to hold the trays in to kinda lock them in place thats for the help pointing me in the right direction