• John_McMurray@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    7 months ago

    he’s serious. The old casting method for round shot was to dump a measured amount of molten lead from a tower into a pool of water 40 feet below. the molten lead would form a sphere in free fall and fully set in the water, so it was convenient to define gauge diameter by fractional weight of a pound. Twelfth pound sphere fits a 12 gauge gun, etc.

      • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        Here’s where it gets political. I learned about shot towers in passing years ago and thought that was a good idea. You learned about shot towers in passing, but then with a detailed explanation, still thought that was ridiculous. One of us is prone to rational thought and the other is not. This is a 17th century conversation happening now.

        • drathvedro@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          Ah no, it’s just that from reading this, I imagined it being poured outside, not inside the tower.

          Like, someone looking at Galileo doing his experiments dropping weights off Pisa tower, and saying:

          — What if we put a bucket underneath? What a splash it’d make!

          And another one going:

          — Yeah! And why just weights, let’s throw molten lead off! What safety concerns? Haven’t heard any

      • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        No problem. There’s always a reason, and usually a pretty interesting one, for old odd hold overs like this, but it’s been 200 years since shot towers were a thing, only history buffs and muzzleloader enthusiasts really know about these.