Images(3)

Shot, Case

Object number2018.28.2

Manufacturer Allegheny Arsenal

OriginPittsburgh, PA

MediumIron; Lead; Sulfur pitch

Credit LineGift of Pittsburgh Police Bomb Squad

DescriptionTwelve-pound (12 lb.) spherical case shot. Iron sphere containing lead case shot balls. Threaded circular depression on one side (for fuze) with one bored hole at center. Inert.DimensionsDiameter: 4.563 in. (11.6 cm)
Historical NotesSpherical case shot (artillery shell) unearthed in 2017 during construction in Lawrenceville at the site of the Allegheny Arsenal. Members of the Pittsburgh Police Bomb Squad were called to examine the cannonballs. The officers removed three of the cannonballs from the site and removed the explosives, this is one of those three.Label TextUsed heavily during the Civil War, artillery spherical case shot consisted of a hollow iron ball filled with lead balls suspended in a sulfur matrix and a bursting charge. A pewter Borman time fuse, screwed in at the top, would ignite the bursting charge and shower shrapnel on enemy soldiers and animals.

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