[meteorite-list] Meteorite-wrong pics

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 27 15:21:45 2006
Message-ID: <002c01c6e26a$27c9dfb0$fc714b44_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, Dave, List,

    I'm fairly sure what you have there is a MILL BALL.
Mill Balls are the grinding media used in Ball Mills (well,
that's logical). A Ball Mill is a large, tilted, slightly tapered
cyclinder rotated with a load of mill balls and a continuous
imput of rock ore to be crushed, often sluiced with water
to remove the fine particles or grains from the crushing.
    In other words, it's humping big rock tumbler. Modern
mill balls are ceramic, antinomy alloy, or stainless steel
spheres; you can buy the stainless steel ones up to 6"
in diameter. Very pretty.
    In the XIXth century, larger cast iron balls were used,
less corrosion-resistant than stainless steel. The "pocks"
on your mill ball are crush spalls, which is why this mill ball
was discarded -- an "unround" mill ball degrades the
performance of the mill.
    As to its where- and why-fore, I suggest the lead mines
of NW Illinois ("Galena") as a possibly likely source, and
steel mill balls are still used in this way for leading mining.
But, ball mills are also used in other types of mining.

    Before I could send this, Dave Freeman pegged it as a
mill ball and Mexico Doug as waste from the Joliet Army
Ammunition Plant. You gotta be quick on this List!

    It could be older than the Joliet Plant. Wars always
seem to increase the demand for lead...

Sterling K. Webb
-------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <dfpens_at_comcast.net>
To: "G. Nicula" <treasurehunter_at_chartermi.net>; "Meteorite List"
<meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Meteorite-wrong pics


> George and all:
>
> This ball was found only a foot or two under ground and dug up with a
> backhoe.
>
> It is iron, 9 1/4 inch in diameter and weighs 110 lbs. It is perfectly
> round. Nothing else was found around it to my knowledge.
>
> Dave
> -------------- Original message ----------------------
> From: "G. Nicula" <treasurehunter_at_chartermi.net>
>> Hi Dave, do you know how deep this object was buried?
>>
>> George Nicula
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: <dfpens_at_comcast.net>
>> To: "Meteorite List" <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 12:15 PM
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Meteorite-wrong pics
>>
>>
>> >I would like to show a picture of what a friend of a friend thinks might
>> >be
>> >a meteorite but I know we are not permitted attachments in our emails to
>> >the list. Any ideas of how I can post a few pictures?
>> >
>> > The object which this person dug up (on a 20 acre rural plot in
>> > Illinois)
>> > is very round, 9 1/4 inch in diameter and weighs 110 lbs. That's
>> > pretty
>> > much the density of iron, 7.87 g/cc or 492 lb/ft3. It's surface is
>> > rusted, but it is nearly perfectly round. The rusted surface gives the
>> > impression of thumbprints but it is simply rusted. I think it's a
>> > cannonball but am not certain that old cannonballs were this size and
>> > weighed 110 lbs.
>> >
>> > I filed off a chink to do a nickel test but so far haven't the right
>> > chemicals to do one.
>> >
>> > Any ideas?
>> >
>> > Dave
>> > ______________________________________________
>> > Meteorite-list mailing list
>> > Meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com
>> > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
>> >
>>
>
>
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Received on Wed 27 Sep 2006 03:21:37 PM PDT