Large SPHERES....what are they?

[stranger]

Found this in an field where farming has taken place for years and years...any ideas at all? I'd guess it to weigh close to 20# total. The rod connecting the two spheres is solidly attached and about 3/4" separates them. Also, the rod is about 1" in diameter.

 

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[bill gent]

bar shot def

 

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[Bluezman]

Monty, I'm with you.
I didn't say anything about "delete". I hope not. I was thinking more along the lines of "add", when I mentioned a pole.
Bluezman

 

[AKiwi]

For my 2 cents worth..... they look like the balls off a governor device used on a steam engine....

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

Looks the same... but yours is in much better shape.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...=/images?q=bar+shot&gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=en&sa=G

 

[chong2]

wow, i think monty was drunk at the bottom of page 2

 

[Monty]

No, I'm teetotaler. Haven't had a drink in nine years. It makes me say silly things so I had to quit. No sense making a fool of myself, I being so serious and astute in all matters. M nty

 

[chong2]

k, just checking and thats awesome you havent touched a drink.

 

[Sleepless]

Seems I recall that people who were using teams of horse, mules or oxen sometimes needed a way to temporarily tie their teams for a while. If there were no trees to tie to, they would need some sort of an item to do that with and that they carried relatively light weights for that purpose. Some horses are taught to "ground tie", meaning that you can just drop the reins on the ground and the horse thinks its tied and will not move from that spot. Oxen with rings in their noses will not move if tied to an object, however light it might be in comparison to their weight. It may be made from cannon balls with the rod attached in some way, but I'm betting its for tying a plowing team so that an individual can take a lunch break. Stranger did say it was from old farming country.

Bob

 

[lonesomebob]

PBK Where are you ??

 

[billjustbill]

The old windmills used to pump deep wells had to have weights used for bringing the tail around and shutting it down. The downwind versions needed a large counterweight sticking out the front to offset the weight of the odd shaped set of blades, too. Look toward that perspective.

Bill

 

[drywasher]

old time scales weights ........

 

[PLUMB50]

WOW WHAT A SET OF

 

[chong2]

wait........ so this has never been solved.............................................................................. right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GL]

Scale counter weight. The short shaft fits in a notch on a scales balance arm.

 

[sniffer]

how about part of an articulation joint of an early tractor. I remember seeing pictures of a early four wheel drive tractor from the 30's, seems to me it was made in Illinois, I believe in Moline

Sniffer

 

[MonkeyBoy]

Re: Large Balls....what are they?

Wow, I'm off for a couple of days and tons of new posts. Welcome to my misery...Glad someone else is obsessed with figuring out what these things are. Here are a few comments:

Distance between the balls is approx an inch....BARELY a finger width.

Connecting rod is solidly attached and from what i can tell and not threaded and screwed on. With that said, they have been a field for a very long time and rust would have prevented any threaded or sliding action to work properly now.

No way it could be a barbell, although that's what it looks like at first glance. Distance between isn't wide enough.

I say 20#....i havent weighed them, just a guess...I can weigh them if that would help any.

Barshot....As much as I'd like these things to be exactly that, I do find it difficult to believe that to be possible. Location of the find....middle of farm country AND the bar shot pictures I have seen are much farther apart. I suppose it would be possible to get transported here, but that would be like finding a shark tooth out in a field - know what i mean?

Weight of some sort? By far the most logical idea to me. The distance between them would make it possible to attach via a rope, or the rope could have been rolled up around the shaft.

No signs of wear of any sort on the balls makes this a logical conclusion also - but what for?

One final thought, just thought of this as typing this. It has been noted that the balls have a cut out area larger than the shaft...could there have been a larger "sleave" over the top of the connecting rod? This would have changed the "gear ratio" of one wind of a rope. Maybe a wooden sleave that has decayed over time? Just a wild thought, not sure why a sleave over the rod would be necessary, but could possibly explain the larger diameter in the balls.

Ok.. the funny thing this this post it.. last weekend I found my first sharks teeth.. dug up in the middle of a field!!! so

 

[Michelle]

OVER.........