Here's a cast-iron object. The one in the middle is the one I'm talking about.
Dimensions: Height 22 in. Base diameter: 6 in. Weight: About 50 pounds. Bore: 2 1/4 in. The bore is a perfectly cylindrical hole that is open at the top and ends about one inch from the bottom. The bottom is solid. The large letters "CG" are cast into the item. Could it be some kind of old firework projector?
It has no vent, but even today, fireworks launching mortars use a quickmatch along the side of the tube, or a wire with an electric squib in the lift charge.
We don't know. Please help us with ideas. We found this item in the northeastern USA, but it looks like something that may have come from the UK.
We looked up initials CG under iron founder and learned that there was a Charles Gascoigne, who was superintendent at the Carron Works in Falkirk, Scotland during the late 18th C. He got in some quarrel with Carron and went to Russia where he cast cannon for the Czar until his death in 1806.
Here's a pic of the item between two large thundermugs, for comparison. The second pic is an old engraving, a concept of a "firemaster." Look closely, it shows a lot about how thundermugs were used. The character's legs look a lot like the device I'm trying to find out about.
