Balls
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
The following table gives the weight of cast-iron, copper, brass, and lead balls from 1 to 12 inches diameter. To obtain the weight of balls larger in diameter than is given in the table, ascertain the number of cubic inches contained in the sphere by multiplying the cube of its diameter by .5236; then multiply by the weight of a cubic inch of the metal composing the ball, as follows: For cast-iron and tin, multiply the total cubic inches, as found by the above rule, by.263, and the product will be the weight in pounds. For copper, multiply the total cubic inches by .317. For brass, multiply the total cubic inches by .282. For lead, multiply the total cubic inches by .410. TABLE SHOWING WEIGHT OF CAST IRON, COPPER, BRASS, AND LEAD BALLS FROM 1 TO 12 INCHES DIAMETER. Dia. Cast Iron. Copper. Brass. Lead. Dia. Cast Iron. Copper. Brass. Lead. 1 .136 .166 .158 .214 7 46.76 57.1 54.5 73.7 1 1/2 .46 .562 .537 .727 7 1/2 57.52 70.0 67.11 90.0 2 1.09 1.3 1.25 1.7 8 69.81 85.2 81.4 110.1 2 1/2 2.13 2.60 2.50 3.35 8 1/2 83.73 102.3 100.0 132.3 3 3.68 4.5 4.3 5.8 9 99.4 121.3 115.9 156.7 3 1/2 5.84 7.14 6.82 9.23 9 1/2 116.9 143.0 136.4 184.7 4 8.72 10.7 10.2 13.8 10 136.35 166.4 159.0 215.0 4 1/2 12.42 15.25 14.5 19.6 10 1/2 157.84 193.0 184.0 250.0 5 17.04 20.8 19.9 26.9 11 181.48 221.8 211.8 286.7 5 1/2 22.68 27.74 26.47 36.0 11 1/2 207.37 253.5 242.0 327.7 6 29.45 35.9 34.3 46.4 12 235.62 288.1 275.0 372.3 6 1/2 37.44 45.76 43.67 59.13
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The arithmetic in this 1892 founding table is still exactly right: the cube of the diameter times 0.5236 (that is π/6) remains the volume of a sphere, and the density figures are close to modern values — lead at 0.410 lb per cubic inch still matches the accepted 11.34 g/cm³. What has moved is the work around the table. Foundry hands no longer reach for a printed table at all, and heavy cast-iron and lead balls of this kind have largely given way to forged or cast steel and ceramic media in ball mills, while lead has been squeezed out of many uses on health and environmental grounds — the United States and Britain both restricted lead shot for waterfowl hunting from the 1980s and 1990s. The one figure a modern handbook would nudge is copper: 0.317 is a little under the usual modern value of about 0.323 lb per cubic inch.
Written for this edition, 2026.