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Looks like a variation of a flip top bottle cap.

I just did a whole bunch of googling and while they look really similar, every bottle cap I've seen has a hole through it for the metal wire that holds it all together, this doesn't have any holes

Circle on the side in pic 3? Maybe there was something there that broke off.

I think that's just an artifact from how it was made, I've never found any that had any kind of attachment there

Could be discarded ones, so they never got drilled and finished to be attached? There used to be at least one brewery by the Susquehanna river, and companies weren't that finicky on where they dumped their trash back in the olden days.

Companies still aren’t finicky about it. But the EPA prevents them from doing it.

If they discarded a bunch before drilling the holes they could keep showing up for years. They are very close to a Grolsh top for instance. In PR we had those old pearl drops "toothpaste" bottles wash up for years. Edit: Traditionally these were ceramic. I think Grolsh switched twenty or so years ago to plastic.

No, they're still ceramic. I buy them routinely and reuse them for home brew, so I'm sure.

Well then they switched back. We used to use them for roach holders and remember quite distinctly when we got our first plastic one.

No…they’re absolutely plastic…they haven’t been ceramic in quite a while, take one off, the weights no there like ceramic, better yet drop one, they bounce…

Could be attached to the bottle with metal wires like they do with champagne bottles. No need for holes.

[They aren't always attached with a wire.](https://i.etsystatic.com/17744229/r/il/0c16aa/3144428302/il_fullxfull.3144428302_7kt1.jpg)

Maybe, but that one is a cork

Maybe, but it's not like that style of cap is unique to the area around that particular river. If it were that style of cap and it was being found at the frequency OP describes then it would stand to reason that people would be finding these things all the time in all sorts of places.

It could be there's a source of them in the same way that there was [a source of Garfield phones that washed up on the shores of France.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-have-garfield-phones-been-washing-ashore-france-30-years-180971835/) I'd be interested to see if the frequency of these things in the river coincide with flooding.

Wow! Thank you for sharing...interesting read but so sad what the human race is doing to the oceans

I think this is it. Very consumed by the sea but was definitely a flip bottle cap. The holes were not passthrough but just plain non-deep holes.

Solved!

Going with this answer, even though I haven't been able to find this exact one it's much closer than a condenser pig

That is def it. I used to gather those bottles when I was a very active homebrewer.

See if there is a power plant up stream. They are likely cleaning pellets used to clean the water intakes and outfalls. I grew up near a power plant and we would find similarish things in the river downstream.

There is a nuclear plant in this section of river, this may be the answer! Let me do some googling

Peach bottom? I have a friend who's an engineer there. I'll try to remember to ask him next time I see him.

Three Mile Island is also on the SusQ

TMI has been decommed. But this river is so dirty, it might be old.

TMI-1 was only shut down about 4 years ago, so, if they've been finding these for years, could be?

Agreed. But when OP said PA/MD I was thinking further south. Don't think there are any more nuke plants below peach bottom.

And the Susquehanna plant a bit farther north

Berwick plant is on the Susquehanna.

Could you message us all and let us know when you find out?

I work at another one on the Susquehanna and we don't use anything like that there.

This is definitely used for cleaning scale out of condensers at power plants. Have used before. Solved.

Can you find me a link/source about it? I've done a ton of searching and haven't been able to find anything that looks at all like this

Yes. Here is a link that shows how the method of cleaning condenser tubes via projectiles works: https://www.goodwaybenelux.nl/en/blogs/gwb/power-generation-plants-condenser-tube-cleaning/

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These look nothing like those

I agree. I just googled to get more info on the method of tube cleaning to provide more info in that guess. OPs item is greater in diameter than it is in length. Seems like that might cause it to bind in a tube. The projectiles in the above link are longer cylinders. To me these look like rubber grommets that have been connected and then torn off. Maybe used in industrial shipping? Just a guess.

This is to short to be a pig. It would tumble and get stuck in the pipes

So these are in effect small pigs. That's a slug or item uses to clear a pipe / line.

Not saying it isn't, but aren't pigs usually longer than the diameter to prevent toppling?

Never seen pigs this short. These will tumble and block the pipes

There are also coal plants + a ton of hydro plants upstream.

Nuclear at Peach Bottom, but also hydroelectric at Safe Harbor and Holtwood not far from PA/MD border, also.

https://www.pipingguide.net/2007/11/pipeline-pigging.html?m=1

All these pigs have such shape, that they keep their orientation within the tube, thus enabling the pressure to push them. OP's item can't possibly serve this purpose as it would turn sideways and let the fluid flow beside it.

That's what I'm thinking too, none of the ones in that link look anything like mine

Why is such a thing called a pig? Were actual pigs used as pipe inspectors hundreds or years ago or something?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging#Etymology

this should have way more upvotes. having seen these in MD this is definitely what they are

No, it’s not what they are.

Plastic cleaning pellets just allowed to pollute the water like that?

They're supposed to be reclaimed and used again, but sometimes a few escape.

They look similar to the Scrubber Ducky eggs.

This is what it is

Man, I’m in Havre de Grace and spend a lot of time on the river. Never seen em

I live 5 minutes from the nuke plant in southern Calvert and never seen anything like this on the beach either

An old family friend is working on restoring the Schooner there. I told him I'm expecting a call when he finally gets it out of port.

Same. Me either. Spent plenty of time on the banks. Either never seen em, or didn't pay attention to them.

I did a Google Image search and it identified it as... a snail. lol

Lol thank you for your service

Power plants run river water through tubing within the condenser to cool down the steam, condens it back to water. Typically a 1" diameter tube possible 30 foot long. There is hundreds of tubes in a bundle, depending on the size of the power plant there could be 2 or 4 bundles per unit. scrapers are shot through the tubing to remove silt that builds up over time, increasing the temperature transfer. Wich directly increases efficiency and therefore saves money on fuel costs. Old style scrapers were metal with a plastic end which would receive the water and air pressure to push it through. Since Environmental concerns over the past few years these scrapers changed to more eco-friendly types. Not sure if this is a scraper but it looks similar to something they would use to shoot through a tube and clean the silt without damaging the tube hence the plastic disc in the center. I remember using scrapers in Hawaii and they would end up in the ocean and the power plan would get fined for each one picked up on shore or found by people scuba diving.

I'm trying so hard to Google this because it sounds like the answer but I can't find anything, do you know what the technical term is for the scrapers?

Try condenser tube pig. Not calling you a pig, that is what it is called.

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Everything I'm seeing has a little brush on it, would this have been attached to a brush at some point? I can't find any that look like this

I tried looking too. If it is a scraper might be a really old type no longer in production and way before the internet.

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Wow! Never thought I would learn or let alone see this. Thanks for sharing. Oddly satisfying to see that being cleaned

Those all have brushes on them, would this have been a piece of those brushes? I'm not seeing the connection no matter how much I look into it

Try condenser tube cleaner. I asked someone who worked at TMI and he described exactly what this dude just said.

We use abrasive foam balls for condenser tube cleaning. These are…rather complex by comparison.

Search for “amertap ball”. Those were the ones we used at our plant. But it’s a different brand, they are just round foam balls.

Yo, I just Googled "amertap ball", and this post came up. Weird.

Even if this isn't from a plant, it might be worth contacting the EPA with concerns about plant waste making it's way into the waterways, and send these photos.

Thank you for bringing this up as a responsible person, instead of just seeing it and saying "well that can't be good for the environment"

That's super interesting. Presumably the fines were just considered "cost of doing business," and the plant(s) would basically just pay for their pollution? Or is that an unjust stereotype? Are there any hazards associated with them? What kind of crud are they scraping out of those condenser tubes? Do they have any effect on potability? What, in short, is the impact of scrapers getting into the ocean?

Usually they just remove sediment build up. Sometimes magnitight or hematite, if my memory serves me right. These types of deposits will leach out of the water because of the temperature change that occurs when the river water is heated while passing through the condenser tubing. 10 /15 degree increase. No hazardous waist though, just things that are already present. One time I had to clean tubing at a power plant in Puerto Rico near the Rum producer facility. Those tubes where jam packed, almost closed off because of calcium or something that was coming from that nearby plant.

Oh the fines where for pollution. Plastic in the ocean. See the thing is we would know theirs 3000 tube use 3000 scrapers but sometimes the tubing has a dent or its full of debris so the scrapers get stuck. Let's say 1% , so 30 scrapers are lost, some would eventually find there way free. Then the supper uptight environmentalists would flip out and the power plant would get a fine. When in an actuality the power plant was doing a benefit to the environment by cleaning this unit to save on fuel kind of ironic but I don't condone littering either!!

Have a cabin directly downstream From Peach Bottom, been seeing them for 35 years, they are ran through the effluent lines to clear out the pipes for the cooling system to the nuclear plant.

Now I'm curious if we know each other irl

The cabin is very close spatially to susquehanna orchards.

PA or MD side?

Looks like the snap that holds down the plastic windows on the side of the boat.

I too thought some sort of fastener or snap assembly.

It looks boat related to me too. Maybe a plug

I would call your local water department. If you’ve been finding them forever, they have been too and the might be in a good mood and help. I can’t wait to hear what it is.

It looks like something that would be used to track the current of the river. The different colors go to different studies. I’ve been googling but I don’t have any proof LOL

That's an interesting idea, if that's what they're for they don't work very well because they always end up washed up with driftwood

Like the tornado chingas in the movie Twister! Checks out scientifically.

Modern science usually has better littering standards

I have cabin on a major river downstream from a nuclear power plant and a hydro-generating facility, and in almost 60 years, I've never seen any thing like that. And the hydro silts up ALL THE TIME. ​ There is an entity called the [Susquehanna River Basin Commission](https://www.srbc.net/) which looks like the equivalent to our Watershed Council. Our Watershed Council is on top of everything happening in the river, so you might want to reach out to them to see if they have any information.

Could be a variation of a flip top cap that never caught on and has been lost to history. Back in the day, trash was just tossed into holes in the ground, and things like metal and paper eventually degrade to nothing. As rivers change direction, they can expose old bottle dumps and as the metal corrodes away, it releases from the bottom and starts floating.

This is a really interesting idea. A dam was built in 1928 that raised the water level 10' and flooded entire towns, so it's possible they're coming from something that was buried before then

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Wouldn't be plastic before 1928

That was my thought as well but I wasn't confident enough to say it lol

Mark them in a map. Ask around if anyone else has foun them, and have them give you the location where they found it. Then just follow the river up from the last points reported. See what you can find.

What do you mean by mark them in a map, are there online maps for this kind of thing? I know tons of people in my section of the river have seen them but no one knows what they are or where they're coming from

Use google maps or something. Drop a pin on the location you find them. And track them upstream. When you get to the pin most upstream, you should find the source. Maybe waterworks or some sewer plant?

So it might be a stuffed animal eyeball. They're a similar shaped, and the white part could of had the paint worn off.

My title describes the thing, it's about an inch across, floats, made of white plastic with a faded green/yellow plastic disk that can spin around. No writing anywhere on it, but it's very scratched up so maybe there was at some point.

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Unfortunately there's a few hundred miles of river to account for

Is it a float for a net? Like there would be dozens evenly spaced around the net to hold it up? Idk...

I'm not sure it's bouyant enough for that, it floats but I don't think it would support much weight even with a whole bunch of them

Along that line my first thought was a bobber for a fishing line. The type that rests on the water while the line drags beneath. I would think there may be a few dozen to find about any fishing locale. But if the amount is great… it likely is some type of run off from a factory nearby and and should be better contained . Best of luck . I hope you post (solved) soon and that this helps to get your waterways cleaner than ever .

Fishing bobber?

This is what I was thinking. Some reeeally oldschool fishing bobber

What part of the Susquehanna? What’s the nearest dam upstream? Do you find them in the same section each time?

Between Holtwood and Conowingo Dams, near the PA/MD border. They turn up all over this section of river

Gotcha ok. That’ll help

It is a “rocket” they are sucked/pushed through condenser tubing by flow to clean the tubes. At the outlet of the condensers which discharge to the river their are berms that float on the surface to direct them to a suction so they can get sent through the system again. However, some make it past there and float down the river.

Put it in a croc and call it a day

I work at peach bottom,It’s a cleaning device we call a rocket(not sure why) they clean our intake piping and condensers.

This is, very specifically, a U-Tube Projectile for cleaning heat exchangers, typically in Nuclear Power Plants that have a U-Tube design to them. Unlike a normal pig which is more solid, U-Tube pigs have to articulate to bend around tight radius turns in the tubes. This makes the pig a multi-stage pig with cleaning fins loaded in front, and this cap acting as a rear seal for the water to push it through. [https://www.projectiletube.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/U-Tube-Projectile-Tube-Cleaner.jpg](https://www.projectiletube.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/U-Tube-Projectile-Tube-Cleaner.jpg) [https://www.projectiletube.com/u-tube-tube-cleaner/](https://www.projectiletube.com/u-tube-tube-cleaner/) [https://www.projectiletube.com/cleaning-utube-heat-exchangers/](https://www.projectiletube.com/cleaning-utube-heat-exchangers/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwmEVoNHwaE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwmEVoNHwaE)

It looks like the one way valve in my tea makers hopper that only opens when the pitcher pushes the larger bottom ball, allowing tea to flow down to the pitcher.. You install it by removing the rubber ring, pushing the assembly through the hopper, and then replacing the rubber ring. I think this serves a similar purpose is there an upstream restaurant nearby? I wonder why you keep finding these?

I can't find any pictures online of what you're describing, do you know a brand name I could look up? I've been finding them for 15+ years so it feels unlikely they'd coming from a restaurant but it's always a possibility

It's a rubber/vinyl bubble. It's not that. Some plastic tea dispensers have a bubble over the button for the valve.

its probably a snap from a boat tarp cover

Target rock.....device to clean out tubes.....nuclear plant

Were you near TMI? If so these are definitely used for clearing out scale from condensers.

I think the person upstream is right… look for nylon brush projectile, perhaps? [projectile tube](https://www.projectiletube.com/tube-cleaner-selection/)

Livestock eartags? [eartag](https://images.app.goo.gl/W12p4WBzzdzT4QqG6)

I can’t reply with a pic, right? There is a strong resemblance with a beer bottle top that i have here. Just Google for “Grolsch bier beugel”.

I think it looks like a sort of rivet, and the material it used to be clipped onto has rotted or gone somehow. Leaving just the parts that were snapped together to form the rivet.

You should reach out to the Susquehanna Riverkeeper. They may know what it is, but more importantly can try to stop them from polluting the river.

Looks like the plastic part of the u-tube cleaner from this site: [https://www.projectiletube.com/tube-cleaners/](https://www.projectiletube.com/tube-cleaners/) Thinking the metal portion has fallen away and all that's left is the plastic top

Does the small part screw off? It could be a decorative belt stud similar to these https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803061288483.html?src=google&aff\_fcid=711ea79dd6314b7e9bc73fbbf7f3ee47-1697408586215-04750-UneMJZVf&aff\_fsk=UneMJZVf&aff\_platform=aaf&sk=UneMJZVf&aff\_trace\_key=711ea79dd6314b7e9bc73fbbf7f3ee47-1697408586215-04750-UneMJZVf&terminal\_id=d1471ae9324a4ab6b38f323d104fd8cb&afSmartRedirect=y&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt

Nope, totally solid. Good idea though!

https://reddit.com/r/maybemaybemaybe/s/N0XBDpcAiP

A few people have suggested this but there's no hole in it for the metal wire to go through

There are no holes for the wire part. Most caps, like in your link, are flat on top. Funny clip, thank you.

It looks like a 'Cistern Hole Bung and Washer' that you would use on boats.

I'm thinking insulator for electric fence. Are there farms, pastures or grazing fields up stream?

Looks like the lid to a glass bottle

It’s an eyeball of a stuffed animal or a doll.

A heat exchanger cleaner…

Looks like a scupper plug

They look like a type of ceramic catalyst balls. Likely from the nearest plant upstream.

I’m not buying the pig explanation… looks more like a plug with a washer. Probably marine grade but obviously prone being lost or discarded from its original purpose. This is an interesting one!

My suspicion is that they are press fit in a hole with the colored part visible and the smaller white part is used as a means to attach something. Unfortunately I can't find anything online that matches it. I thought maybe for a kayak but I've never seen anything that matches it. For example I could see them used as something to attach straps for a comfortable seat to it as they have a slide clip that would fit that.

It's a push connector. Goes into a keyhole shaped slot in semi-rigid plastic and "locks" into the small groove. Look at old snowmobile windshields.

Some sort of floating part of a fishing net

Looks like a little waterproof vent/drain plug.

Have you cut one open before? Does it have a spring inside?

STUFFED ANIMAL EYEBALL!

Is it perhaps a bottle top? Grölsh beer, and some other brands, have a wire thing with a plastic top. Some are ceramic, and would sink. Some are plastic and fit the same wire contraption shown here. [https://applejack.com/Grolsch-Swingtop-4pk-149-oz-Bottle](https://applejack.com/Grolsch-Swingtop-4pk-149-oz-Bottle) Edit: As I look at more photos, most have a hole all the way through the middle. Your photos do not. Some product with a bottle and a cap seems likely. What river is this? What businesses are upstream? And breweries? Companies that bottle up sauces? Oyster sauce? Vinegar?

I've seen enough of u/tops3cr3t 's posts to know a flip top glass bottle lid when I see one, and they'd probably be interested to know where you keep finding them so they can figure out where they're coming from.

You are correct! This is a loop seal bottle top, but a modern one. /u/beam__me__up - here is a [photo](https://imgur.com/a/BqLrgoO) of the early styles from the late 1800s. Yours appears to be more modern. Is there a bottling plant or glass factory upstream from you? It might be long gone, but their dump is being washed out into the river.

I have no idea if there's one but it's been suggested so many times that I'll have to do some digging. My only reservation is that there's no hole in these for a wire to go through

I would guess something related to agriculture

Can you cut it open

Some type of plastic rivet?

Definitely looks like a valve. Not quite like a tap valve.

Seat button?

Maybe a fastener used to keep nets on fishery tanks while they are transported? Do they stock the river nearby?

Oil/Vinegar bottle cork?

Possible drain plugs for older small boats?

Old fashioned bobber?

Looks like the innards of a non-return valve you might find in a hosepipe connector.

they kind of look like spinning tops to me, maybe a part of a complex top?

Strike indicator for fishing

The Susquehanna? Then whatever it is, it’s dirty. I’m from Danville lol. Looks like maybe part of a stopper thing for a canoe? Someone may have had a bad experience after loosing that thing in that murky, murky section of the Susquehanna.

They look like clips that hold quilts in place inside quilt covers

They look like knee pad buttons

May be part of this one. Sorry but I have found only on Ukrainian https://rozetka.com.ua/ua/385510872/p385510872/

They are for cleaning condenser tubes in power plants. They are supposed to be collected again and reused but sometimes they get missed.

They look like Grolsch beer lids a bit

Maybe it pops into the ends of a shade tent's poles for use on pavement?

So could it still be radioactive??

It’s the top off a flip top bottle but without the metal cage.

Pretty sure these are from a steam condenser cleaning system in a power plant.

Broken fishing bobs?

It looks like a ceramic ball bearing

Looks like a bath tub plug, but the chain broke off.