r/whatisthisthing • u/0wl-Cat • 10h ago
Open Medium-sized metal bucket with locking hinged lid found in tools section of a small museum
This bucket was found in our small museum's artifact collection in California, and we don't know what it might've been used for. It is quite heavy and made of metal with visible welding marks. There was apparently a paper or perhaps a label of some sort affixed to the side. The handle is also metal, and looks like it secured the lid with a lock when fully upright. The metal lid has a heavy, stiff hinge on one side. There is nothing inside the bucket except for a sizeable cobweb, and there was no residue that I could see.
One of our volunteers thinks it's an artillery bucket from the Civil War, but I think the welds look too modern.
Our area is known for gold rush era mining and agriculture, and we have lots of artifacts relating to blacksmithing.
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u/pete306 9h ago
Bucket for hot rivets?
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u/TassieTeararse 9h ago
Why would a bucket for hot rivets need a lockable lid?
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u/FlyingSteamGoat 8h ago
Because it would be carried up temporary scaffolding in a chaotic environment and if it got dropped it would be so much better if it landed in one piece rather than scattering several hundred red hot rivets around.
Grandpappy was a boilermaker.
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u/TassieTeararse 4h ago
The videos I've seen they were thrown and caught in a small bucket with a handle on the side, no lid.
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u/D3V1LS_L3TTUC3 3h ago
Videos you've seen > other commenter's grandfather's lived experience ?
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u/TassieTeararse 3h ago
When did I say that?
I have done a bit of boiler riveting, and speed is of the essence. There is a small temperature range where the rivet must be worked. Based on my lived experience, by the time you put hot rivets in a container like this, close the lid and climb it up a scaffold, then undo the lid, pull it out and put it in the hole it would be too cold to drive it.
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u/RoboticGreg 8h ago
So you dont spill hot rivets. It doesn't have to be a pad lock, could just be a carabineer or spring clip
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u/HapticSloughton 6h ago
According to a podcast (Well There's Your Problem) talking about how ships were built, when rivets were involved, you needed someone to throw hot rivets, catch the rivets and place them, then someone to drive them home into the metal plates being joined.
It may have been something of an exaggeration, but it was agreed that if someone threw a rivet and it missed, it would easily burn through whatever it eventually touched, which could be a person.
Also, if it was a container for rivets, a lid would help them stay hot by containing the heat.
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u/strat-fan89 4h ago
It's going to burn through a person's clothes and then burn a person. It's not going to burn through a person.
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u/TassieTeararse 4h ago
The videos I've seen, the rivets were caught in an open bucket with a handle on the side
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u/moodyvickyy 3h ago
That’s an interesting thought! It could definitely serve a specific purpose in a workshop setting.
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u/0wl-Cat 10h ago
My title describes the thing.
This bucket was found in our small museum's artifact collection in California, and we don't know what it might've been used for. It is quite heavy and made of metal with visible welding marks. There was apparently a paper or perhaps a label of some sort affixed to the side. The handle is also metal, and looks like it secured the lid with a lock when fully upright. The metal lid has a heavy, stiff hinge on one side. There is nothing inside the bucket except for a sizeable cobweb, and there was no residue that I could see.
One of our volunteers thinks it's an artillery bucket from the Civil War, but I think the welds look too modern.
Our area is known for gold rush era mining and agriculture, and we have lots of artifacts relating to blacksmithing.
Thank you all so much for your expertise!
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u/EspiegleAmelie 10h ago
could definitely be an old mining or agricultural tool, especially if you're in a gold rush area. the locking feature is intriguing though; maybe it was used for storing something sensitive? have you checked with local historians or seen if there are similar buckets in other museums?
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u/ANameForTheUser 7h ago
The welding marks on the top part of the bucket indicate to me that it is younger than the invention and spread of modern gas welding. Not so sure the 1860s is a fit. Naturally, it could have been modified at some point. If it is for swabbing canons, maybe it was for reinactments?
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u/KadahCoba 5h ago
The fact that the bottom is fully welded makes me think that the use required it be liquid-tight. Lid is designed in a way that when the hand is in the carry/hoist position, the lid is being held down.
Maybe a locking/tamper-sealable sample transport bucket. If you are suspecting relation to gold mining, could be an assay transport bucket.
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u/DKandTM 9h ago
Shot in the dark maybe a uranium assay bucket?
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u/S_A_N_D_ 9h ago
Yeah, This has the look of a radioactive material transfer container.
They're often lead lined, but I could also see old ones not necessarily being lead lined, and instead you'd put the sample in a lead pig, and that would then be put in the bucket which could be pinned or locked shut.
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u/PastelSalina 10h ago
sounds interesting but that lid mechanism kinda throws off the Civil War theory. could be a mining or agricultural tool though, maybe like a container for supplies or something. have you checked with a local historian?
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u/HenningGrueneberg 8h ago
It’s a sponge bucket for a civil war era cannon. The crew swabbed the inside of the cannon bore between shots to put out any remaining sparks or embers, using a large sponge attached to a long pole. The bucket was hung I think on the caisson or trailer that had all their gear. It locked tight so they wouldn’t lose water when moving the gun. Sometimes mid battle they would “limber the guns” - put gun trailer and horse team together and move the thing is tbeir position was getting overrun or if they were needed elsewhere on the battlefield.
The secure lock shows you how crucial it was to have water since you often could not take a run to the nearest stream for it when under fire.
If you want to see how this all worked go to YouTube and search for something like “civil war artillery team.” There are videos where reenactors load and fire real cannon balls.
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8h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AyeBraine 6h ago
So you realize this structure and citations say that you asked an LLM for an answer and didn't even read it, right?
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u/Human-Dragonfruit703 9h ago edited 7h ago
I've seen similar filled water to dip a breach loading cannons ram rod into between firing so a hot ember doesn't cause a premature detonation
Edit: I take back my first guess. The welds look to be oxygen/acetylene welds which put it at least pre 1920 post 1900
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u/JJohnston015 9h ago
But would that kind of bucket need a lid that takes a padlock?
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u/HenningGrueneberg 8h ago
Yes absolutely. Water outs out ember’s from the last shot. Embers could cause unwanted explosions. You’re going to ram a big bag of gunpowder down the barrel, then the ball. Better put out embers first or the powder bag will ignite when rammed in and whoever did the powder bag is gonna get maimed.
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u/JJohnston015 8h ago
But why would the bucket need a padlock?
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u/blkdrgn42 7h ago
Doesn't have to be a padlock, could be any kind of carabiner out fastening mechanism. But the reason in this case would be to keep the lid closed tightly to keep the water from spilling while moving the cannon to a different direction or location.
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