Honestly, this week was a gamble. Here is the original item in question.
Who is the winner? I think I have an answer - but really, I am the loser. I had no idea what this item was, but I posted it anyway. I figured someone would post some absolute internet proof as to its origins. There was no proof (but I just found some).
Many of you were saying ice-bomb. That seemed like a good idea, but I just couldn't verify that. The first link I found was this link to the University of Maryland Physics demos. On there was a description (but no picture) of a Sargent-Welch ice bomb. That lead me to search some more and find this site from Stony Brook SUNY also for an ice bomb - but with a picture:
The Answer: I am going with ice bomb that someone decided to fill with lead (don't know why). Some suggested it was for storing mercury - but would it have a round bottom in that case?
The winner: Crazy, but Fran won again. Fran is the New York Yankees of blog contests. Bonus points go to Cleon who suggested the reason it is filled with lead.
Update: Someone (you know who you are) asked offline what the heck is an ice bomb? I guess that is important. Basically, water is wacked-out. When water turns into a solid (which we call ice) it expands. For an ice bomb, if you contain the water and leave no space, the expansion will crack (or maybe explode) the container. Even if the container is made of steel. There.
Another update: Andy found this official picture of the CENCO ice bomb - www.cencophysics.com/flask-form-ice-bomb/p/IG0039251/
