What is this Lead Cylinder?

[JWFilips]

Hi Folks,
A friend of mine was doing some salvage work during the dismantling of an old gas station. He found a large cable of wire attached to this Lead cylinder ( Measures 15 inches x 3 inches) where they ripped out the underground fuel tanks. He knew I cast boolits so he gave me this thing to cut open and use the lead..
Just want to know what it is before I do any cutting!

[Cowboy_Dan]

The wires make me think it is grounding for the pumps to reduce the risk of sparks. The lead would be used like wire conduit to prevent the wires from oxidizing and losing conductivity.

[Retumbo]

Probably just an underground...non sparking..."junction box"

[Mytmousemalibu]

Be careful in case its full of asbestos or something else nasty.

[lightman]

I get a lot of lead from a phone company contact and their old splice covers looked a lot like those. I'm not sure what you have as the wire is bigger than phone wire. Cable sheathing is said to be 98% or so pure so you are looking at soft lead.

[Spector]

Could it be an old anode?

[mold maker]

Could it be an old anode?

If an anode it could be zinc, to retard the rust on tanks and plumbing in the ground. Scrape a clean surface and apply acid. Bubbling will ID zinc.

[bangerjim]

What everybody above said! Test and verify. Anodes are generally antimonial lead for strength and longer life.

But then it could be a nuclear device left behind by aliens from 2 million years ago?!?!?!?!?

[jabo52521]

Really, Jim. Really!!

[JWFilips]

it could be a nuclear device left behind by aliens from 2 million years ago?!?!?!?!?

Yeah! ....that's what I was afraid of!

[williamwaco]

Not sure since the source doesn't match but in the olden days, the telephone companies used a lead cylinder that looked exactly like that to connect telephone cables.

[bstone5]

Telephone cable cover, should be a lot of small wire going thru the lead.

[lightman]

I've melted a lot of phone cable. I don't think thats what is is. The wire looks bigger than phone wire and there is not another smaller pipe on the other end.

[SSGOldfart]

Just a old junction box for splicing cables and wires the older pumps worked on a relay system controlled by the cashier. The systems were explosive proof,so every thing was sealed
How many did you get? What do you want for it(good lead)

[uncle joe]

counterweight for a level indicator?

[Nose Dive]

Yup...Cowboy and Spector have nailed it.... [in my old 'refinery tank farm hand' opinion]... we're looking at old pieces of cathodic bed protection system....new ones come more 'open'....wrapped up with plastic screening.....and much longer...say 15 feet long.... gotta dig a deep hole for them....

Suggest you make sure she is 'empty' before adding any heat.... pull some of the wire out....tip it upside down...maybe drill a few holes in it....slowly...carefully. ..from a top center position...then roll her over...

I have seen these little honeys end up full of hydro carbons from old tanks, tank farms, gas stations...yes...FULL OF LIQUID HYDROCARBONS......Please be very careful before adding any heat..... I drilled one with a 3/8's bit once.... only to have gas run out of the hole..... I pulled some wire out...washed with water...drilled a few more holes.... and then gave up.... got the band saw and cut it in have circumferentially. Ugh! I was a MESS...MESS...MESS...and 'HOT".... any 'heat'...BINGO!! we gotta a real problem.... and being dug up from 'under the fuel tanks'...makes me a bit concerned...

BE AWARE...you are gonna have a MESS ON YOUR HANDS with what comes out...(told you three times) but, once cleared of all wire, grud and corruption... with more soap and water washing...it did smelt out fairly well.

Just don't get 'greedy' with a torch until you know the thing is clean and EMPTY.... But...WILLIAM WACO and SSGOLDFART could be dead on right and me dead on DUMB and WRONG!! [I have been wrong before] But if was 'burried' in a tank farm...I have seen 'things' come out of the ground from some 'old refinery tank farms' that would make your hair curl....I know...because what little hair I have left....is "CURLY"....... We demo'd an old 150K barrel 'product' tank once...an old bolted tank, no welded seams.... You should have seen what we dug up under that tank base.... I came away with more than 500 LBS of good lead....but all was cold cut,,water washed..soap washed at the refinery 'wash pad'...and smelted out doors with sawdust and sulfur until the cows came home. I guess...over the last 35 years...I hauled about 4,000 lbs of lead out of these old refineries and chemical plants in 5 states, three islands and 4 foreign countries. You would be surprised how they built 'old things in the old days'....[remind me to tell you what we tug up from under a major electrical substation on an island I worked at once]..

And, I could have had 25,000 lbs of lead (and trouble) if I was a stupid fool and hauled out the old batteries. Yes...refineries have UPS systems and ALL of them have batteries...and lots of them and we changed them out every 5 or 8 years..... Not to mention the fire pump batteries...trucks..heavy equipment... BUT...I knew better then and know better now...NEVER CRACK THE SHELL on a battery for smelt material. NEVER.>>EVER...not once!!

The last time I got rid of the UPS batteries... it took...a stack of "PACKED" paper work 38 & 1/2" tall [THAT IS OVER THREE FEET OF PAPER WORK] to get that mess out of the refinery... I know...I measured all of it before we called for shipment. City,,,state,,,county..USA..legal, EPA, OSHA, HAZCOM..Lawyers, Loyd's of London...DOT of State, USA, inspectors..inspectors who inspect the inspectors!!.....Gessss...I'm getting that headache all over again!! And when all was in place, the load in the 18 wheeler tractor...the Driver showed up Friday at lunch time and said NO! Locked up the truck...and went home!...True story.... He showed back up on Saturday morning...I had to call out 3 equipment operators, 2 warehousemen, two clerks, a maint supervisor and ME to unload the trailer...let the driver inspect each shrink wrapped pallet...repacked two pallets, and loaded them to his satisfaction before he would sign the first manifest. This took 8 hours of OT on a Saturday...

But boys and girls...it was HIS LOAD...HIS BACKSIDE if there were any 'ISSUES" during the 4 hour trip to the re-claimer's site or ANY issue with the paper work. He took 1/2 of it. I shipped the other 1/2 via 'Security Shipping'...and no,,not USPS,,,No Fedex... No UPS Brown...but three fellas who showed up 'armed', in suits and ties...in a black Lincoln. There was 'no back seat' in the Lincoln. I love Uncle Sam... but I too,,,do not like fish kills in Lake Michigan.....

How did I get off on this? Well... a smelter on this site was 'digging into' smelting some batteries... We cannot be that careless...Please no.

Remember...'it ain't fun if your hurtin'.....

Nose Dive

Cheap...Fast...Good. Kindly pick two.

[Retumbo]

Take an axe and have at 'er

[Mike W1]

I spliced and retrieved the lead from a lot of TELCO cables. That looks like one EXCEPT we never buried anything that deep and if you look at the wires in the pictures it resembles the sleeves from when wires were twisted, sometimes soldered, and then had an insulating sleeve slid over the wires. Those would have all been inside the large closure. At the point where the picture shows things it would have been a tight group of wires. I'd go with the advice of the previous poster. BTW we opened those things with a little "chipping knife" and small hammer. That lead is soft except at the wiped joint where the solder was wiped on.

[BNE]

Mr. Philips,
See this post: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...nalysis-for-Pb