DocRock
member
I'm liking battery...and Neolithic shotgun shell fossil.
Thanks. I agree with JohnKSa that it is a zinc-carbon battery. It's similarity, superficially, to a shotgun shell or flare is uncanny.A closer look at the ends suggests there was never a rim. I guess not a flare cartridge, then.
I have no idea what that could be.
That's funny . I agree, it's a battery, but it does resemble a shotgun shell fossil, ha, ha.I'm liking battery...and Neolithic shotgun shell fossil.
Thanks for your erudite answer. Really appreciated. I had considered that it might be a battery, but the batteries I looked at claimed to have, as I remember, 25% steel, so I assumed all batteries would react to a magnet, and this object didn't. I researched zinc-carbon batteries and everything about this matches.Magnets only check for a few types of metals. There are many metals that are not attracted to magnets. Many more that do not than do.Fired shotguns shells are mostly empty (what normally fills them is ejected upon firing) and are therefore quite light.
It does not appear to be firearm related to me; it certainly isn't a shotgun shell.
The last picture showing it split open (especially showing the black rod down the middle) makes me think it is a zinc-carbon battery.
Thanks for your answer. I think JohnKSa got it right. It appears to be a zinc-carbon battery.I say certainly not a cartridge of any kind, too consistant through the length of it. As was previously suggested, it appears to be maybe an electrical component.
Thanks Kudu. It appears that JohnKSa got it right. It seems to be a carbon-zinc battery.Was the center possibly hollow? If so, looks almost like a primitive insulator for wiring
Yes, I think you're right. I had no idea about the other uses for the zinc-carbon battery. It made me smileCenter piece is probably the carbon rod from the battery. Used to cut open carbon-zinc batt and sharpen to s point, use jumper cables and 100 amp generator in military vehicles to "peck" at lock hasp to open when someone lost key. Also can do emergency temp slot weld
Time travelers went back into time to hunt dinosaurs and forgot to police their brass. They left some batteries in Iraq, also. Looks like about the right caliber/ gauge for some of the smaller ones. I concur with battery in this case.It’s a fossil of a 10 million year old shotgun shell.
Good thing it's a battery. When I first saw the cut away picture I thought a explosive projectile with the fuse up the middle missing it's nose cap. Looks to be about the size of a 20-30mm cannon. But it didn't go boom when you hit it. If it did we would be still wondering what it was and what happened to you.