Bob wire fence stretcher.
Any chance you grandfather was a teacher of some sort and this was made to illustrate basic mechanics of gearing?
Or a sales prop for someone to show clients?
All in all I have no clue.
It's too flimsy for a wire stretcher. For a good tight wire, I have one of these that's been in the family for many years. It's not on the original rope.
These also work very well although with this you have to pull most of the slack out before you can hook it up. The block and tackle will pull a lot more slack.