Please help identify this lead....thing...

[WILCO]

It's a lead isotope cannister.
Also known as medical lead.

[country gent]

Decoy weight for a pterodactyl decoy

[Hannibal]

Decoy weight for a pterodactyl decoy

Lol!

[lightman]

I think its an Isotope container, the 31# one. The picture looks like its missing the part that goes inside. If you want to PM me a phone number I can text you a picture of one thats not as weathered as yours.

[Whole Bunches]

I doubt it’s an isotope container. Two sides are thinner and two sides are thicker…wouldn’t uniformly keep the radiation inside if the rays had enough energy. Too complex inside. Typically the inside was round so the walls would have a uniform thickness and strength.

Retired Navy Radiation Safety HMC

[racepres]

I doubt it’s an isotope container. Two sides are thinner and two sides are thicker…wouldn’t uniformly keep the radiation inside if the rays had enough energy. Too complex inside. Typically the inside was round so the walls would have a uniform thickness and strength.

Retired Navy Radiation Safety HMC

That...And I have never seen one that large...and None without a Top/lid.. Worked in the industry in the mid '80's
ours were like 2-1/2" diameter, X 3-1/2" tall, 1/4" thick, with a top!!!
Note; I could be Off by up to 1/2-3/4 of an inch...as I still don't know what 6" is!!!! I blame the Canoe Club!!!!

[sureYnot]

I agree with sureYnot that it doesn't look like it could take much abuse suspended by the holes at the top, and with Winger Ed and others that it looks like a gate weight of some sort. Any chance it's a counterweight on a lift gate (sort of like a railroad or parking lot single-arm gate)? That might explain the relatively pristine inside, because once pinned in place, it doesn't move on the bar, but also the external markings, weathering, and abuse.

That sure makes sense.
At this point, I'm starting to think it's nothing more than a 20lb dumbell to help fend off the "old" that seems to be creeping into my arms. lol

[jsizemore]

I've messed with some large garage doors that were made of steel. Usually just a steel skin on the outside. Most were for tractor trailers and a couple were for boat houses. Some used a chain to roll the door up and down and had a counterweight rolled up on a drum or pulley system to off set the weight of the door. The amount of travel negated the use of a torsion rod and spring. Looks like your lead counterweight would have a L or T shaped handle where a short leg would stick down in the lead weight. A longer handle would stick out to the side in alignment with the yoke at the top. Maybe made of wood. The rope would attach at the joint of the L or the other short leg of the T. When the door was raised up and the counterweight came down there was a pair of angles bolted to the wall separated by the width of the counterweight just above the tabs cast into the weight were you see the wear marks. Rotate the T or L handle 90 degrees to the side between the metal brackets and the door is latched open. Of course the door is slightly heavier that the the counter weights. Also could have been used for heavy drapes or curtains on a stage or flags or banners in a gym or sports arena. Like somebody else mentioned, if could be attached to a rope on a fire door.

[Whole Bunches]

That...And I have never seen one that large...and None without a Top/lid.. Worked in the industry in the mid '80's
ours were like 2-1/2" diameter, X 3-1/2" tall, 1/4" thick, with a top!!!
Note; I could be Off by up to 1/2-3/4 of an inch...as I still don't know what 6" is!!!! I blame the Canoe Club!!!!

Taking the Way Back Machine to 1979-1981, the pigs that molybdenum 99 came in weighed about 32 pounds. 22 for the main container with a 10 pound lid. They were round and thick. Cast nice bullets as-is, about #2 hardness. After nuclear medicine was done with the contents, they were stored by Radiation Safety in our locked storage area. Once a month we’d check the oldest ones for residual radioactivity and release them if safe. What Nuc Med did with the released pigs, I don’t know. This was Bethesda Naval Hospital.

Nuc Med let me take all I wanted for casting, as that was only a drop in the bucket compared to what was shipped into the hospital every week. Some smaller pigs were very soft. I simply cast samples with the variety until I found what worked for me. Ah what good times. Still have a few in the bottom of a chest type gun safe to make it heavier.

[poppy42]

I think it’s a counter weight that goes in the bottom of an alien flying saucer. It keeps it centered while the spaceship spins.

Don’t be ridiculous everybody knows aliens don’t use lead! They use kryptonite!

[ulav8r]

Looks like a bunch of boolits to me.

[WILCO]

Looks like a bunch of boolits to me.

Well said.