Anyone found anything like this..
Rich
Don't know what it is.
Found metal detecting.
Joe Roberts
"Rich" wrote:
>
> Don't know what it is.
>
> Found metal detecting.
It could very well be a clock pendulum, as you said. Does the hole go all
the way through from one side to the other?
Joe
Rich
"Joe Roberts" <cdex3_at_comcast.net> wrote in message
news:p8qdnSsO2LP7CLbV...@comcast.com...
Yes it does.
Folks on alt.horology trying to identify it as well.
Rich
Greybeard
The image is of the typical directions of a map or compass. To me it first
appears nautical. Pendulums were typically adjustable in length by a nut
on the shaft below the weight, so the glass pip in the hole would be
problematic. Further, a pendulum weight would minimize width and maximize
height to reduce the arch and keep the box narrower. The hole is 90 degrees
off for that use. Even the clock's chain weight would have been oriented
to the narrower. Further, a pendulum's period is affected solely by
length, unaffected by the mass, so the small holes on the face would have no
effect or purpose. The glass also discounts the weight being strung on a
rope with others as a convenient way to transport lead as a commodity. This
was hard to discount, as the two small holes drilled in the face do appear
to be an effort to create a conformed weight after casting. I tried to
envision it as the weighted end of an astrolabe's pointer, but the glass,
again, would be inappropriate and the small holes unnecessary. It would
be an appropriate material. size and motif for a map paperweight, but
adjusted for mass and on a glass wand? A scale's counterweight would
account for the small holes, but the glass is the spoiler,
Thanks for the puzzle.
Greybeard
Rich
"Greybeard" <no...@jose.com> wrote in message
news:Qq7Yj.16683$_g.7806@trnddc07...
What about a plum bob?
Jim Sewell
No thanks, not that partial to fruit... LOL (sorry)
Jim Bob
Greybeard
Greeks and Egyptians as still being shaped like an old fashion tear-drop
fishing weight, bottom heavy to stabilize the mass on a string, and very
pointed to provide a precise center-of-mass reference to the ground. The
shape of this artifact would be unstable on a string. It would only be
stable if the glass were a long rod with the weighted lead fob near one end.
Definitely not a practical combination for a field surveyor to carry.
The glass is the main clue and the main problem, as every common adaption of
the weight as a moving part becomes too fragile when attached to or tipped
by glass. It would need to have a static, non-moving function to be
practical, and then possibly as decoration, given the artistic relief.
Lead stoppers in glass bottles were common, and if the artifact were
attached to a glass stopper for a small bottle, used to hold the stopper
down tightly to keep a liquid sealed, that would work. The small 1" size
would act well as a finger grip for a small diameter stopper. But drop it
once and the lead would pound the glass stopper into fragments.
Are we having fun, yet?
Greybeard
"Jim Sewell" <sewe...@lineone.net> wrote in message
news:70cbdf82-cb5b-44d0...@f36g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
Joe Roberts
intact and can we see a photograph of it?
Joe
Rich
There was a piece of glass in one end of the hole. The glass bit was
taken out and lost.